Fifty Years of AGS Aerobatics
by Bob Noll
THE FOUNDERS OF the Aeroguidance Society (AGS) of Endicott, New York, added an important item to the club’s original bylaws 50 years ago: that the club should sponsor an AMA sanctioned contest every year. These original club members recognized that competition was important to the growth of RC aeromodeling and that the event would be important to the growth of the club itself.
I won’t bore you with the round-by-round description of this year’s competition, but I will describe the personality of an event that has endured for 50 years and achieved a significant milestone.
In 1955 the only competition for RC airplanes was flying aerobatic maneuvers, or patterns. That first one-day contest was held at Tri-Cities Airport in Endicott, New York. Only a single flightline could be used because of equipment limitations, and most of those contestants flew rudder only, using escapements for control-surface actuation. A few had throttle control, but for most it was fly until the engine stopped.
The AGS and the sport of RC have come a long way since those early days, and the club has hosted an RC Aerobatics (Pattern) contest every year since it was founded in 1954.
The event left Tri-Cities Airport after 23 years and moved to a private airport in Greene, New York, where the club held its Silver Anniversary Contest. Tri-Cities is a village airport, and there was no longer enough space to contain the flying while keeping the main runway active. The airplanes in the late 1970s simply needed too much sky for the style of Pattern flying of that era.
When the Greene airport was no longer available, the club searched again and found a wonderful site at the Blue Swan Airport in Sayre, Pennsylvania—approximately 40 miles west of Endicott. Considered one of the finest locations for an Aerobatics event, the contest has remained there except for one year, when the airport was unavailable because it was to be sold. The sale never happened, and although the site is no longer an airport we have been able to get permission to hold the contest.
I’m sure those founding club members never envisioned that the contest would see its Golden Anniversary. However, it had become the premier Pattern event in the northeast and continues to be so to this day.
Club support for this gathering has been outstanding, and finding club members to help at the contest has never been a problem. This is in spite of the fact that many members must travel more than 100 miles during the two-day event.
The Golden Anniversary contest was held August 6-7 this year—a weekend that provided outstanding weather, with low winds and pleasant temperatures. Little did I know when I agreed to be CD for this event that I would do so for 40 years. I've only missed one year during that time, because of an out-of-state work assignment in the early 1970s.
Many contestants arrive Friday afternoon, and the field is opened for practice at 3 p.m. The traditional gathering at a local restaurant Friday evening has become a "hangar session" that many, along with their wives, look forward to. Many wives attend the AGS contest and have developed wonderful acquaintances.
This year breakfast consisting of eggs, pancakes, sausage, juice, and coffee was served each morning at 8 a.m., allowing the contestants to arrive before breakfast. Flying began at 9 a.m. each morning.
Saturday evening a local caterer arrived with a delicious chicken dinner. Open flying lasted from after dinner until after dark, with many foamies in the air all the time.
Because of the Golden Anniversary celebration of the AGS and the contest, AMA President Dave Brown and AMA District II Vice President Dave Mathewson attended the event. Saturday evening, just before dinner was served at the site, Dave Brown presented AGS President Frank Gioffredo with the AMA President’s Award.
This is a rare honor and was given to the AGS for its half century of contributions to AMA and aeromodeling. The AGS does many things in addition to holding the Aerobatics contest. The district vice president of the NSRCA (National Society of Radio Controlled Aerobatics) presented our club with a Certificate of Appreciation for its accomplishment.
Many big names in RC Aerobatics have competed at AGS contests in the past 50 years. Howard McEntee, Walter Good, Hal deBolt, Vince Bonema, Tony Bonnetti, Ed Izzo, Ed Keck, Marty Meyers, Jim Martin, Ivan Kristensen, and others have traveled to the picturesque area of the Southern Tier region of New York to challenge their friends.
The most notable visitor to the contest was Bruno Giezendanner, who is the reigning two-time F3A (RC Aerobatics) World Champion. Bruno, his friend, and their wives were vacationing in the US and wanted to attend a local RC contest. A friend of theirs in New Jersey told them they should go to the AGS event, so they made the trip to Endicott. I loaned Bruno my Yankee, and he went on to win the top class for the weekend.
As I look back at the contests that have been held since I joined the AGS in 1959, I have many fond memories. They range from the two-day, single-flightline events, where Ralph Jackson, Dick Allen, and I judged all the flights, to contests that included Scale and Pylon in addition to Pattern. Competitions with entries numbering in the 60s were common during Pattern's heyday, and three flightlines were used to provide the contestants with ample flights.
How many more years this prestigious contest will continue is anyone's guess. However, the club members still enjoy the experience and are willing to keep it going. And because of the founding members' foresight, the bylaws will probably not change to eliminate the requirement of a yearly AMA sanctioned contest. MA
Bob Noll [email protected]
Intermediate trophy winners: Scott Anderson, first place; Kevin Gableman, second; John Pavlick, third.
Advanced-class trophy winners: Scott Smith, first place; Ron Lawrence, second; Bev Cowell, third.
Masters trophy winners: Steve Miller, first place; Joe Lachowski, second; Frank Granelli, third.
FAI trophy winners: Dave Lockhart, first place; Danny Landis, second; Ken Velez, third.
Saturday’s Sportsman trophy winners: Ed Helinski, first; Bill Markovitz, second; Bill Birkett, third.
Sunday’s Sportsman-class trophy winners: Bill Markovitz, first; Tom Warda, second; Jeff Hatton, third.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
