District V Report - 2004/03

March 2004 169
I ATTENDED and stayed all day at the
Jacksonville, Florida, Control Line (CL)
Rebel Rally sponsored by the Coastal Control
Liners. Gene Martine was the contest director
(CD). Gene acquired the Whitehouse Naval
Landing Strip for the weekend. The paved
strip is 11/2 miles long and 300 feet wide.
Incredibly, Gene and company were
hosting CL contests for Combat, Racing,
Stunt, and Speed all on the same day, both
days. The events were staggered the entire 11/2
miles of the runway.
Gene was somehow able to be at all the
places at the same time. He reminds me of
Bob Freels with the Tennessee Eagles and
Jose Soto with the Apopka, Florida, club. Bob
and Jose can also be in 10 places at the same
time. Don’t ask me how.
Members of the Coastal Control Liners
club sponsored and officiated the affair.
This photo partially describes the action.
My friend Tom Dixon is in the foreground,
adjusting something. The CL models are on
the runway. Their lines are stretched to the
right, on the ground, toward the center of
the runway.
Meet Kimberly Schmieder on the left; Mike
Schmieder, the field and safety officer;
directly behind him is Ron Witt; John
Wegenka holding the Club of the Month
flag; Jim Catevenis, club secretary; club
president and CD Gene Matine. Gene is a
new AMA associate vice president (AVP)
for CL.
Shown are two famous CL pilots, A.T.
Wright and Santo Rizzotto. Santo is from
Merritt Island, Florida, and is president of
the Space Coast Aero Modelers. Santo told
me he was the best man at AMA president
Dave Brown’s wedding when Dave and
Sally got married.
There are 25 color pictures of this CL
event on the District V Web site at
www.modelair.org.
I attended and stayed half a day at the
O.T.O.W. Flyers’ On Top of the World funfly
in Ocala, Florida. On top of the world
barely describes the area. It’s more like
another world. The field is in the middle of
exclusive, luxurious, expensive residential
homes. You have to drive through two gates
to get to the field.
This picture is worth 2,000 words. Here are
spectators, fliers, families, and model
airplanes as far as the human eye can see.
If I may be allowed the luxury of an
exaggeration, to overstate the truth, almost
everybody in the State of Florida was there.
Everybody I saw looked happy.
Members of the O.T.O.W. club officiated
and hosted the big fun-fly so I asked if they
would line up for a minute for a magazine
picture. The front row is accurate (14)
kneeling: George Boehm, Glenn Angle,
Larry Riehl, Charlie Baker, John Hall, Paul
Beyer, Bob Broblenski, Charles Garrett,
Lester LeBlanc (club president), Del
Sherman, Ed Beck, Bob Vance, Walt
Harder, Sid Sherman, and Bob Albert. The
top row, standing, is not quite as accurate.
While I was writing names members kept
coming and going. All the names
mentioned here for the top row are in the
snap and maybe a few extra are mentioned.
Doug Ensley, Paul Atkinson, Ross
McDonald, Gerald Payne, Mary DeGirolamo,
Bill Beardsley, Al Briguera, Paul Brayton,
Bob Keopp, Bill Billenstein, Jim Hyde, Ed
Clark, Nelson Hays, Gene Trousil, Charles
Smith, Glenn Schaotz, Leo Fargo, H.P.
Jenks, Bob De Grossa, Tony Siloramo,
Charlie Waugh, Will Marlette, Bill Rose,
Herb Brokof, Dick Borges, Dale Jorgensio,
Chuck Frederick, Bob Mullarkey, and Carl
Cerwanka.
Stan and Paula Magen (L) are helping Aline
and Lester LeBlanc hold the AMA Club of
the Month flag for the picture, Nelson Mayo
(R). The airplane is an Ultimate 46%, 2-
cylindar, 15 hp engine. Pictures of this
event on the District V Web site.
I attended and stayed part of two days at the
Sarasota.RC: Squadron’s 15th Annual
Scalemasters Qualifier/Corvin Miller
Memorial Contest. To get the names
correctly, I mailed a blow-up of the photo to
club treasurer Al Jensen.
Pictured, front row (L-R): Tony Fara, Larry
Gill, Dick Lux, Thom Arbuckle with Jack the
Dog, Dennis Dahlstrom, Vince Veltri, Jon
Hay, Ricardo Varisco, Logan Arbuckle,
Warren Winkler, Chris Buell, and Joe Fast.
Standing in the rear (L-R): Frank Kagele,
Peter Mack, Jerome Speth, Don Barnard, Al
Jensen, Joe Wright, Ken Ross, Lew Vaughn,
Howard Brooks, David Cohen, Tom Smith,
Brad Fuller, Bob Lorenson, Eric Hall, Bill
O’Leary, Alan Stileman, Phil Bender, George
Jenkins, Don Janssen, Jim Holloman, Laura
Long, Richard Leffert, Mike Winter, Alan
Innes, Bill Sterka, Mike Buell, Trip Galasso,
Tom Arbuckle, Jim Hess Jr., Norm
Chanoski, Art Baechtold, and Dave Barry.
Here is an interesting snap: three club
presidents and a member holding a dog.
The dog is also a member of AMA, license
number 672753, and is listed as a Junior
member at 7 years old. His name is Col.
Jack Arbuckle and he is wearing his
uniform. (L-R) Jim Saiff, former president of
the prestigious TRAC club in Tampa, Bob
Hart, and Phil Bender, president of the
Sarasota RC Squadron. Phil is a president.
Without my asking, Phil escorted me from
one end of the runway to the other and
helped me get pictures of fliers and models.
Thanks, Phil. There are 30 photos on the
District V Web site.
At the last Council meeting, I requested an
Award of Excellence for the Sarasota RC
Club, received it, and presented it to them.
This AMA club with 305 members is one of
the 11 or 12 largest clubs in the United States.
(Are you reading this, George Jenkins? I
hope.)
District V Report
Alabama / Florida / Georgia /
Mississippi / Puerto Rico /
South Carolina / Tennessee
Jim McNeill
Vice President
617 South 20 Avenue,
Birmingham AL 35205
Tel.: (205) 322-2127
Fax: (205) 252-2654
E-mail: [email protected]
District V Web page: www.modelair.org/
Note: For a listing of all district volunteer
workers please consult the previous issue of
Model Aviation or the above Web address.