Joe Jopling was awarded the Carl and Beth Goldberg Vital People Award on December 5, 2014. He was appreciative to receive national recognition for what he has done for the Fort Worth Thunderbirds Club for the past few years. During his acceptance, Joe related a small story about how memorable this award is since one of his first airplanes was a Carl Goldberg Zipper he built and flew when he was part of the Fort Worth Gas Modelers Association.
The Johnson Space Center RC Club (JSCRCC) celebrated its 50th birthday and I asked Benny Beherns to go in my stead. He sent me the following report.
“On the evening of December 11, 2014, JSCRCC celebrated its 50th birthday as a club. That’s quite an accomplishment considering all of the changes in model types, equipment, and flying styles that have occurred throughout the years. Congratulations!
“It was a great evening, great program, and a great sit-down dinner in a ballroom environment—very well done. The attendees included current members, former members, local club officers, guests, and significant others.
“Mike Laible, president of JSCRCC handled the emcee duties and did an outstanding job of keeping the program interesting and on track. The program included a continuous slide presentation of the club’s 50-year history. There were special slide and video clip presentations by Mike and a great ‘journey down memory lane’ talk by Dave Hoffman.
“As many may know, one of the cornerstone accomplishments of this club was the modeling and proof testing of the concept to utilize a modified Boeing 747 to transport the space shuttles. Actual scale models of both the 747 and Shuttle were successfully flow and the emergency shuttle release concept was proven utilizing the models.
“Guest speaker Paul Spana, Exhibits Manager of Space Center Houston, gave a great and informative presentation on the history of the design and development of the 747 to carry the shuttle along with a presentation on the design and efforts underway at the Space Center to complete a full-scale display of the actual 747 with the Shuttle Independence mounted in the carry position.
“The ballroom was lined with Model of the Month winners displayed and at the close of the celebration, a vote was held to select the club’s Model of the Year. This honor was won by Charlie Teixeira presenting his beautiful Skyshark TBM Avenger.”
Dr. Larry Kruse of Lawton, Oklahoma, has been inducted into the 2014 AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame. Larry has been affiliated with the sport for more than 50 years and has been a successful competitor and a prolific writer for model aviation publications. He was a staff writer for Flying Models for more than 40 years, and wrote a monthly column for the magazine for 32 years.
Listed in his competition achievements are 15 Nats championships, three National Association of Scale Aeronautics’ Flight Achievement awards, and more than 350 wins in regional and national contests. He is probably best known for his writing for the modeling press, having published 55 of his original model aircraft designs, 41 original model aircraft designs for other modelers, and more than 700 model aviation-related articles since 1973.
The award was presented by AMA District VIII Associate Vice President Bill Holland. Since 1969, an average of seven modelers throughout the nation is accorded this honor each year. The Hall of Fame Award is “In due recognition of distinguished achievement and meritorious service of outstanding significance which have furthered the interests of model aviation.”
Previously, Kruse had been named to the National Free Flight Society Hall of Fame in 2005 and to the Flying Aces Hall of Fame in 2010. He is currently an active member and secretary of the Lawton Area Fun Flyer Society radio control model club.
Hope to see you all at the field!
