I am the AMA 2014/01
Jerry Smith
Aircraft designer, photographer, and writer
Q: How did you get involved with model aviation? JS: I was 10 when I received a model airplane kit for my birthday. Not long after, I had my first airplane ride in a Waco 10. This was the beginning and it infused a passion for model aviation that has lasted my lifetime. It has been interesting to live through the advancement of RC technology; I have seen and experienced much of it.
Q: How has model aviation impacted your life and/or career? JS: In the late 1960s I became interested in building and designing my own airplanes, drawing plans, and writing about what I did—passing this along through the model media. Don Dewey, publisher of RC Modeler magazine, offered me the "For What It's Worth" column, which I wrote for 30 years before the magazine folded.
During the early 1980s, I helped Les Hard with the International Miniature Aircraft Association (IMAA) newsletter during its formative years. Then in 1988 I went to work for Lanier RC and spent 15 years there. Through all these years it has always been model aviation—a passion that never left me.
Q: What disciplines of modeling do you currently participate in? JS: I have never been the best pilot I thought I could be, but getting them up and down in one piece seems to satisfy my demands, along with flying many different types of airplanes. I spent many years using glow engines because that was all we had at the time. Then, in the early 1980s, I became interested in Giant Scale and began flying gas-powered aircraft. I remember, back in the day, one of my gas airplanes was a Brown Jr.–powered Megow Commander.
Today I have no glow engines, but I fly large gas models and electric airplanes. My interests throughout the years never turned to helicopters.
Q: What are your other hobbies? JS: I became interested in photography in the 1970s to have total control over my articles, which required pictures submitted to the magazines. I studied from books I purchased, and after many years of practice I feel proficient with a camera in my hands.
For the last 10 years I have focused on photographing model airplanes in the air and have been fortunate to have some magazine cover shots. All of this took much practice to accomplish. Photography has fed my passion for model aviation and now, at 88, I am still able to fly and write about model airplanes. With good eyesight, there is no age limit in our hobby.
Q: Who (or what) has influenced you most? JS: It is without a doubt Carl Goldberg. I knew him well and we used to discuss model airplane design every time we met. I remember one point of discussion was how Carl used to place his so-called wing spars down the center of the rib, rather than on top and bottom. This was always a topic of conversation with us and it got to be fun after a while. I respected Carl and his knowledge of model aircraft design and learned much from him. He was a good friend to all modelers.
Q: You designed several models for Lanier RC. What was most important to you when designing a model? JS: While working with Lanier RC, my goal was to present airplane kit designs that would be desirable, well accepted, and popular with modelers. The very first Stinger was designed by Wayne Voyles, Lanier shop foreman; it was an 84-inch, G62 design. I took that design, made some changes, and developed four different sizes of Stingers, which became very popular. I wanted to promote the Lanier RC image with good RC model kits—that's what I really had in mind.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
