District VIII—Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
Mark Johnston, Vice President
December and January seem to be slow months for events in District VIII. I have started to fill my schedule for the year and am looking at events that I plan to attend.
Associate Vice President (AVP) Jack Matlock presented a Superior Service award to Ed Valls of the Tri-City Flyers for his hard work and dedication to the club and to AMA.
Ron Stanfield has served District VIII for the past 13 years as an AVP in Arkansas and has decided it is time to step down and do other things, such as building and flying more at home. We will miss Ron. We thank him for all of his hard work and dedication to District VIII and AMA, and I want to wish him the best of luck.
Cecil Collum will be taking over as the AVP in Arkansas. He has been building model airplanes since the 1950s. Cecil enjoys scratch-building and all types of models. He has served the district as a state safety coordinator for Arkansas for a year or two. Cecil served in the U.S. Army in the 1950s. Please help me welcome him to the District VIII team.
For New Year's Day I went out to a local field to get in my first flights of the year. The temperatures were in the low 40s with winds of 5–8 mph. I figured there would be a fairly big crowd, but that was not the case. Roughly 12 people had come out to get a few flights in. It was a good day for flying until about 11 a.m., when the winds kicked up to 15–20 mph, ending the day.
Marlin, Mike, and I try to fly together when we can. Marlin has been a great help to many people at the field, helping them break in new aircraft.
At the last AMA Executive Council meeting, a new National Aeromodeling Historic Landmark was approved: the North Blimp Hangar Building No. 28 in Tustin, California, at the Marine Corps Air Station. The site is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The site hosted the Indoor Nats from 1952–1967, where several indoor records were set. This year it was the only location nominated for the National Aeromodeling Heritage Program.
I mention it because there is a site in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with the same designation. The Albuquerque Radio Control Club, along with the City of Albuquerque, built the stand and motor.
The requirements for a site to be recognized are on the AMA website. There are currently only four sites in the country:
- 2003 — Torrey Pines, California
- 2005 — Clapp Field, New York
- 2006 — Maloof Airpark, New Mexico
- 2014 (October) — North Blimp Hangar Building No. 28, Tustin, California
Nothing has been nominated or approved since that October addition.
Hope to see you all at the field!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
