5151 E. Memorial Dr., Muncie IN 47302
Letters to the Editor
Cover Identification Correction
The cover description for the January
2001 Model Aviation was incorrect.
The Extra 300S was built from a Great
Planes kit and painted by Joe Avina of
Newhall CA. The model belongs to Marty
Vagts, who took the photo.
The .40-size Extra has custom-made
graphics by Joe Waters and a fiberglass cowl
and wheel pants by Stan’s Fibre Tech. Powered
by a Saito 80 engine, it weighs 61⁄4 pounds.
Our apologies for the error.
—MA Staff
Aeronca Champ Memories
I have read with interest the article by
Stan Alexander in the Jan. 2001 issue of
Model Aviation.
He, however, states that the Aeronca Champ
was first produced in 1944. I soloed in the
Champ in the spring of 1942. At the time, I was
a senior in high school and age 17. Incidentally,
when I soloed I did not know how to drive an
automobile, and walked to high school!
Everything he said about the Champ I
totally agree with.
Don Cameron
Tucson, Arizona
The short article about the Aeronca
Champ in the January 2001 issue brought
back fond memories.
With the assistance of a full-scale Champ
at a local airport and Paul Matt plans, I built a
scale model of this for the 1968 Nationals.
Placed 3rd in [static] judging, but with the
marginal flying skill, placed 12th or 13th.
My model sprayed water through the booms,
and was verified by one judge. It had a 77-inch
wingspan, and was powered by a Fox .74.
The windshield was a challenge. I wanted
to make the windshield with the “pregnant”
look, not the flat fold-over that is commonly
used. I used a piece of clear material, heated
in the kitchen oven and gently formed over a
male mold that I sculpted from wood, plaster,
and body putty.
It was entered in a couple meets after
that, and retired. It now gathers dust and
time warps in the tail feathers, hanging in
my garage, contemplating the glory days of
flying 32 years ago.
This article resurrected fond memories.
Richard Hansen
Cozad, Nebraska
Paper Airplane Nostalgia
What memories came back to me of the
“paper airplanes” during World War II
[featured in D.B. Mathews’ December 2000
“Flying for Fun” column].
I would rush home after school to listen to
the “Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy”
radio program sponsored by Wheaties®, The
Breakfast of Champions®. And I ordered
many of the fold-up paper planes with
Wheaties® box tops. I remember the Heinkel
and P-40 fighter planes, which flew well in
calm summer evenings using a penny for nose
weight. They were my first Hand-Launched
Gliders, and I later graduated to Zaic Thermic
20s made of balsa.
Thank you, Mr. Mathews, for the
pleasant respite from the past.
P.S. I still have the old Majestic cabinet
circa 1933 radio of my boyhood, though it
no longer “works.”
Max K. Burkhead
Fairmont, West Virginia
Swastika Debate
Well, well, well! Political correctness has
finally risen its ugly head in the ranks of the
AMA! C. Thomas Van Vechten’s letter
proposes to change the rules to accommodate
some individuals who may be offended by the
presence of a swastika insignia on Scale
models of German aircraft.
Now, while his proposal doesn’t go so far
as to ban such insignia, it does infringe on the
rights of those who strive for authenticity.
Should we use this rule change to affect the
use of the Israeli star because it may offend
some Arabic modelers, or spectators?
I have some friends who were POWs in
North Korea, and they would certainly be
offended by seeing the communist red star on
those MiG models, because that represents and
reminds them of the people who tortured them!
The same can be said of Zero models,
because the red ball would offend WW II
veterans of the Bataan Death March and the
kamikaze attacks on the ships of Navy vets.
German citizens who were subjected to
bombing during WW II could certainly be
justified in objecting to B-17 models
sporting the US star or Lancaster models
with the RAF roundel.
Just how far must we take this silliness?
The insignia on aircraft are historic realities,
and we can’t change history. There is
altogether too much of this reinventing history
to promote some political agenda going on,
and we certainly don’t need it in our hobby.
To C. Thomas Van Vechten I say, if the
swastika offends you, don’t model German
aircraft of the WW II era. And there are
more important things than the decorations
on model aircraft.
Bob Veazey
Wilmington, Delaware
I tend to agree with Mr. C. Thomas Van
Vechten regarding the appearance of
national designation on models of military
aircraft of opposing military forces of WW
II. (Jan. 2001). He, of course, specified
German insignia while others may feel that
way about other Axis nations.
I have built model aircraft commercially
for more than fifteen years and have
repeatedly refused contracts to build
Japanese aircraft models.
During War II, I flew A-24s in the Central
Pacific during the Gilbert and Marshall
campaigns. More than thirty missions. During
this tenure two of our squadron’s aircraft were
shot down and the pilots and gunners were
captured. They were executed the next day.
Tokyo Rose told us so, giving names and dates.
To this day, I hate to see the word Mitsubishi
on the rear or side of a car. I would much prefer
to shoot at them! The airplanes, that is!
May I suggest that if a person building a
military model of a foreign adversary feels as
Mr. Van Vechten and I do, they are permitted to
“paint out” the original insignia used and paint
with the “Stars and Bars,” as we did on captured
operational aircraft. There should be no penalty
for doing so because it was a thing of the times.
John W. Rawlings
Lake Saint Louis, Missouri
I am truly sorry that Mr. Van Vechten’s
memories of Nazi Germany are so painful
that the mere sight of a swastika is enough
to cause him distress.
However, his suggestion that the AMA rules
for judging Scale be amended so that he and
others like him may leave that symbol off a
model without loss of Scale points is not an
acceptable method of dealing with the problem.
The Nazi swastika is a historical fact, and
any attempt to censor its appropriate display
in that context is the worst kind of
revisionism. The sight of it should offend all
of us and serve as a reminder to never allow
the situation that it symbolizes to happen
again. It represents unpleasant facts that some
of us would rather not face.
However, hiding it or eliminating it will
not change what happened under that
banner. That kind of denial is more likely to
result in history repeating itself.
If Mr. Van Vechten’s suggestion should
be adopted, it would create an elite class of
Scale modelers—those who are allowed to
leave correct markings off their models
because they have moral objections to them.
What about people who are offended by
Japanese aircraft markings, or the sexist
nose art on WW II bombers?
One solution to his problem seems selfevident.
If putting a Nazi swastika on a
Scale model is repulsive to him, then he
should build a different model. Being given
special consideration is not a practical
solution to his problem.
Bill Darkow
Olympia, Washington
Continued on page 173
March 2001 9
Letters
Seeking Information
In an attempt to obtain information
about an old modeling friend of mine I
am writing your publication for
assistance.
I am trying to find information
about a Dan Deluca. Dan and I became
friends in the 1970s when we lived in
Elmwood Park, New Jersey. Dan and I
were members of the Riverview R/C
Flyers club.
I understand that Dan and his wife
moved to Central Florida around the
Ocala area perhaps in the later ’70s or
early ’80s. An inquiry to the membership
department at AMA informed me that
Mr. Deluca had passed away about three
or four years ago.
I am hoping to find any information
about Dan from anyone who knew him.
I would also like to get in touch with
anyone who might have any planes that
Dan might have built. I would love to
own one of Dan’s aircraft. Dan was a
master builder.
In the ’70s he designed a series of
Pattern models called the Pathfinder
and also the XL-1. He also designed a
simple and solid trainer he called the
Tenderfoot. Dan was also an artist with
MonoKote®. He won the Toledo show
in MonoKote® in the ’70s and also
published a how-to booklet with his
covering technique during that same
period.
Anyone with any type of
information regarding Dan can contact
me at the following address: 1321
Wagon Wheel Rd., Lawrence KS
66049; E-mail:
[email protected].
Bill Conradi
Lawrence, Kansas
