Paul Geders Leader Member and Carl and Beth Goldberg Vital People Award recipient
JS: How did you get involved with model aviation?
PG: I have been involved with model aviation since I was about 7 years old, making solid wood kit models. I was inspired by seeing a yellow-and-blue, tissue-covered Super Sinbad towline glider built by my two older brothers hanging from the bedroom ceiling.
My oldest brother, Art, built and gave me a ready-to-fly Control Line Scientific American Boy with a Cox Baby Bee .049 on it for my 10th birthday. That birthday present turned me into a self-taught CL model airplane flier, and I’ve been in love with all forms of flight since.
JS: How has model aviation impacted your life and/or career?
PG: I joined McDonnell Aircraft Co., now Boeing in St. Louis, in 1963 and retired in 2011 after 48 fantastic years. Modeling played a significant role in my career. Many of the things you learn in modeling are directly related to full-scale aircraft, and vice versa.
In the later stages of my career, I was fortunate to be a part of a four- to six-man team in the Phantom Works Scaled Systems Shop (S3) where we designed, developed, and flight-tested scaled air vehicles via radio control with full-up flight data recording systems. The lead of the S3, Bill Butters, was also a modeler. Our primary hobby became our livelihood.What a great job!
Modeling directly impacted ideas which led to my being a co-patent holder on five patents—the other four individuals involved were also AMA members—and one that I hold individually relative to continuous moldline technology.
During the last several years of my career, I was the test pilot for a vehicle that several aerodynamicists outside of Boeing said would not fly. It was known then as the Persistent Munition Technology Demonstrator (PMTD). The PMTD did fly after several iterations and is still being developed as the ScanEagle Compressed Carriage UAV. I miss the hardware, and the imaginative people with whom I had the pleasure of working.
JS: What disciplines of modeling do you currently participate in?
PG: I started with CL flying, then hand-launched gliders and Pattern, and then I got bit by the racing bug. [I] flew Quickee 500 in the Midwest area for years with the likes of Craig Grunkmeyer, Danny Kane, Marcus Blanchard, and Mike Tallman. [I] was the head CD of the ’96 and ’97 Nats Q-40 contest.
Our club, the Spirits of St. Louis R/C Flying Club, has been racing Sig Four-Star 40s for more than 22 years, and warbird Pylon Racing for 35-plus years. I participate in both.
I love indoor and outdoor electric foamies. I like duplicating in foam some of the vehicles we built in the S3 shop. I have a few Scale airplanes, several sport models, electric ducted-fan jets, hand-launched gliders, small electric helicopters, CL models … well, to tell you the truth, there are more than 50 ready-to-fly airplanes in my shop. I love rebuilding all types of modelling engines.
Building is probably the greatest discipline of all, especially when you create something that has never done before.
JS: What are your other hobbies?
PG: The great game of golf!
JS: Who (or what) has influenced you most?
PG: I joined AMA in 1957 when I met “Wild Bill” Netzeband (AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame member). My brother Art and Bill probably influenced me the most. Art started it on my 10th birthday and Bill was very helpful, talented, and creative. He took us to contests and I respected him for his out-of-the-box thinking, which I believe rubbed off on me a lot!
JS: What advice would you give someone interested in working in the aviation industry?
PG: Always follow your dream. The future of aviation is and will be even more amazing. Again, I was very fortunate to work in the Phantom Works where that future is being dreamed about and brought into reality.
