In the Air - 2010/11
AMA Recognizes Longtime Pair of Volunteers
On August 12 this year, longtime Academy volunteers Ron and Jane Morgan were presented with the AMA Couples Award.
The honor was created in 2009 to recognize couples/teams who have volunteered much of their time and effort in support of the Academy. The first recipients were Bob and Rae Underwood.
Except for the period from 1987 to 1993, Ron has served on, or has been the head of, the Nats management committee since 1966. He has been the contest director (CD) for the Nats, has received many awards from the AMA, and has been active within his club and district.
Jane has also volunteered at many Nats, and she is currently a member of the AMA Scholarship Committee.
Congratulations, Morgans, and thank you for your tireless and ongoing involvement in the AMA and its endeavors.
—AMA HQ
AirVenture: A Hands-on Flight Experience
The relationship between model and full-scale aircraft, as well as the partnership between the EAA and the AMA, was evident at the 58th annual AirVenture Oshkosh, held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, July 26–August 1.
Horizon Hobby and Hobby Lobby were at the event with booths showcasing aeromodeling products. Members of the AMA staff were set up in the EAA AirVenture Museum with displays and tons of gliders to give away and be flown.
Hands-on action was available throughout the week. The KidVenture campus featured opportunities for attendees to fly RC and CL models; the popular make-and-take area, where there was building and coloring; and RC flight simulators.
This was the Northern Aces Air Show Team’s sixth year of supporting AirVenture Oshkosh. Its members provided approximately 1,200 guests with RC flight experiences during AirVenture.
The amount of time that these pilots put into the event and the long list of items they took to AirVenture were amazing. They brought:
- 30 electric-powered models
- nearly 100 Li-Poly batteries
- more than 2,000 gliders
- numerous other supplies
A total of 54 pilots from several CL clubs celebrated 16 years of volunteering at KidVenture. These well-trained volunteers provided approximately 1,000 flights to those who were looking to be “connected” to a model. Two circles were often used to accommodate the large number of eager youngsters who were looking to go for a “spin.”
I even took a turn in the circle, and found that the Tough Baby is a great trainer to use with guests and beginners. As with all of the first-time fliers, the volunteers gave me encouragement throughout the flight experience.
The club members also put on air show–style demonstrations twice a day, featuring pulse jets, autogiros, CL Combat aircraft, and Precision Aerobatics displays.
AMA groups are invited back to AirVenture each year because of their level of professionalism and willingness to promote our hobby and sport in a safe and exciting manner. The volunteers did a wonderful job of providing hands-on aeromodeling experiences to the public this year, as was evident by the smiles on the participants’ faces.
We are fortunate, as an organization, to have members who are willing to share not only their passion, but also their time to promote the hobby. EAA AirVenture and KidVenture serve as the perfect backdrop for introducing aeromodeling to aviation enthusiasts from around the world.
MA
—Jay Smith Assistant Editor
History Preserved:
The Collection of the National Model Aviation Museum
The National Model Aviation Museum Archives contains records of aeromodeling and the AMA, including documentation about early model airplane clubs. One of these pieces is an overview of the Jordan Marsh–Boston Traveler Junior Aviation League (JAL), which was published in the Boston Traveler.
Jordan Marsh & Company (a Boston department store chain) and the Boston Traveler newspaper formed the JAL in 1929. Their first public address introducing the club was made on April 6, and 1,500 people attended the event.
Speakers included the JAL’s leading organizers:
- Edward R. Mitton, Jordan Marsh’s vice president of merchandising
- Joe Toye, chief editorial writer for the Boston Traveler
- Capt. Willis C. Brown, who eventually became an AMA president; he started as an instructor for the JAL and later became the director, staying with the organization through 1940
According to a piece in the June 6, 1936, Boston Traveler:
“The Jordan-Traveler Junior Aviation League was formed with but one object in mind; to give the boys and girls of Boston and vicinity an opportunity to receive at each weekly meeting reliable information and instruction from qualified experts in the aviation world, thus guiding their interest in aviation ...
“The club was founded on the belief that the transportation of tomorrow will be through the air, as that of today is fixed to land and water.”
News about the JAL was published in the Boston Traveler each Friday. Weekly meetings were held on Saturdays from September through June.
Contests that attracted most of the JAL membership were held the first Saturday of each month. Most other Saturdays featured meetings at which aviation notables of the time would discuss topics that dealt with aviation.
According to an undated Boston Traveler newspaper clipping, Amelia Earhart once attended a JAL meeting. She handed out miniature gas engines as awards to three boys whom the club had sent to the Nats in New York that year.
Club membership also included the opportunity to attend an occasional aviation-related movie at the local theater.
The NAA sanctioned the JAL’s annual New England Championship Model Airplane Contest, the first of which was held May 30–31, 1930. Competitors flew both indoor and outdoor events, and it was dubbed “the little Nats.” The two competitors with the most points won a trip to the “big” Nats.
The JAL had a weekly newsletter, Wing Overs, which was edited by Albert Lewis (who later became the second AMA president) and written by JAL members. The publication promoted itself as “the oldest model airplane weekly in the world.”
In April 1934 the JAL became a branch member of the Junior National Aeronautic Association (Junior NAA). By 1935, membership in the JAL exceeded 4,000.
The club waned during World War II, as many JAL members went to war. Trying to bring back the spark after the war proved to be impossible, and the organization closed its doors in 1948.
However, in the almost 20 years that the JAL was active, it inspired thousands of children to reach for the skies, both with their imaginations and with their airplanes.
The information in this article was derived from various newspaper clippings, Wing Overs, and other materials maintained by the National Model Aviation Museum Archives. If you have materials documenting the history of aeromodeling that you would like to donate, please contact the museum.
—Jackie Shalberg Museum Archivist
The AMA’s Northernmost Club
Summers are short in Alaska. However, the 24 hours of daylight during those summer months not only gives the Midnight Sun RC Club of Fairbanks its name, but it also provides members with ample opportunity to get out and fly.
Even though the summer flying season is relatively short, this modest club of 28 members has a number of events scheduled. There is an annual two-day International Miniature Aerobatic Club contest and several shows, demonstrations, and community showcases.
President Mike Davis explained that even though the group is small, it is very active in the community.
“Last weekend we did a static display of model aircraft at the local shopping mall,” he said. “We also had computer simulators there for people to try out.”
The members were successful in spreading the model aviation “bug.” Only two days after the mall show, Bob Stewart, one of the people who stopped by the booth, showed up—with his temporary AMA membership in hand—at a demonstration that club members put on for this article.
“I am really excited,” Bob said only two hours after becoming a member. “I can’t wait to get started.”
The mall event is one of many activities that the club has scheduled for 2010. According to Vice President Tom Risdale, the group has been asked to perform demonstrations and will provide buddy-box flights for nearly 200 kids at the Alaska Boy Scouts statewide camp.
Another event is the May Day Fly-In (a competition for full-scale bush pilots), held in Valdez, Alaska. Mike Davis, who has been a model aviator for nearly 35 years and a full-scale pilot for 8 years, usually attends the gathering as a full-scale pilot.
This year the May Day organizers asked Midnight Sun RC to have a booth and do 15-minute flight demonstrations during both days of the show. So Mike and six other members packed up their models and drove the eight hours to Valdez to participate. They made a huge impact on people who attended the event.
The club’s annual Water ’n’ Wheels, held the 4th of July weekend, draws RC modelers from across the state. The gathering showcases model aircraft that take off from both land and water, and it garners a large amount of interest from the community. Organizers have been impressed and appreciative of the number of prizes that manufacturers and suppliers have provided for such a remote and small contest.
One of Midnight Sun RC’s most interesting events is the Midnight Sun Fly. Held when the summer solstice takes place, members come out with their families to enjoy the evening and then see how many models they can have in the air at midnight.
The midnight sun provides plenty of light for this event. Pilots have been able to get 12 aircraft in the air at midnight for the last three years.
For such a small and out-of-the-way club, the members are having a large effect on their local community. They are great ambassadors for AMA and model aviation, not only locally, but also across Alaska.
MA
—Ty Wooten (317) 473-5700 [email protected] District XI
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
