The staff of Model Aviation apologizes for
the error in the advertisement on page 59 of
the December issue. We regret any
inconvenience this may have caused readers
or Machine Works Northwest.
Top Gun/Sun-’n-Fun
Due to prior commitments, I am just now
trying to catch up on a huge backlog of
reading. I call your attention to an error which
has slipped through and I would hope that you
would appreciate it being pointed out to you.
In the September 2002 issue of Model
Aviation, on page 19, the first page of the Top
Gun report by Mr. Stan Alexander, in the first
sentence of the second paragraph (which is
quoted below), an error has been stated. “This
is the same airport at which the Experimental
Aircraft Association (EAA) holds Sun ’n Fun:
its annual southern version of the Oshkosh,
Wisconsin gathering.”
The Experimental Aircraft Association at
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, has absolutely nothing
to do with the management or production of
the Sun-’n-Fun event. The management and
organization of these two events are not
connected; however, they do work closely
together and there is an exchange of ideas, but
that is as far as it goes.
No money changes hands, except funds
that are charged by each organization to the
other organization for booth/vendor sites at
each event. Also, certain board members and
officers do indeed serve on both boards of
directors. This in turn makes for a much better
exchange of ideas but—I repeat myself—
there is absolutely no connection between the
two organizations when it comes to
management, liability, income, expenses, or
other matters of corporate structure.
Yes, the Sun-’n-Fun event is “accredited”
by the original Experimental Aircraft
Association at Oshkosh. Sun-’n-Fun was
organized over 27 years ago when a local
chapter of the national EAA organization
decided to put on a little fly-in. From that it
has grown to become the 2nd largest event of
its kind in the world—very close behind the
Oshkosh EAA event which is number one of
its kind in the world.
Since we are working with three
worldwide recognized organizations (AMA,
EAA, & Sun-’n-Fun), all of which produce
publications that are read worldwide, I hope
you find in your quest for accuracy, to present
a “correction” in a future issue of Model
Aviation at some prominent location where all
readers will not miss reviewing it.
Lyle D. Wheeler
Sarasota, Florida
I’m both an AMA member as well as an
EAA member too. Like many members, I
enjoy both organizations equally well and
work at the AMA Nationals as well as
AirVenture Oshkosh more often than not
each year.
Having read the glowing reports in both
Sport Aviation magazine and in Vintage
Airplane magazine, I was surprised to see
Lyle’s letter.
In Sport Aviation magazine, July 2002
issue, on page 42 the page shows the Sun ’n
Fun logo with an EAA symbol on it. On page
60 same issue and I quote, “At the Sun ’n
Fun EAA Fly-In each year I make it a point
to swing through Paradise City, home to
ultralight and light aircraft pilots.”
In Vintage Airplane magazine, June
2002 issue, on page 8, the title of the article
is “2002 Sun ’n Fun EAA Fly-In Coverage”
by H.G. Frautschy.
So from these statements, titles and
reading similar past issues of the magazines,
I assumed that Sun ’n Fun was an EAA
event and rightly proud of it. From talking
to Troy Toelle at EAA Hq. I was told that
Sun ’n Fun is a separate non-profit
organization that operates under license
with the EAA.
Both events are similar in that both have
a fly-in for full-scale aircraft, both have a
museum or museums on site, both land
thousands of aircraft at their respective
events, both have what we would call static
judging for awards in different aircraft
classes, both attract thousands of people
each year and are the highlights to EAA
members’ yearly outings (mine included),
and both events are “identified” with the
EAA logo and organization in several
publications.
But most modelers and full-scale
enthusiasts aren’t interested in the business
end of their passion for aviation. But from
what I’ve read and seen there is some
misconception all the way around with each
organization. From what I’ve read, written
and seen at each place, I have to stand by
my statement and hope the internal
housecleaning of the organizations can
correct any miscommunication, unintended
though it might be.
I would still characterize Sun ’n Fun as a
southern version of Oshkosh’s AirVenture
EAA Fly-In. Go sometime and enjoy both!
Fair skies and tailwinds.
Stan Alexander
Nashville, Tennessee
Remembrance and Loss
I just read your [November] “Modeling
Spoken Here” article and was moved by the
warmth that exudes from your words. I too
have lost my father, and he is responsible in
no small way for getting me interested in
modeling. From the first balsa Spitfire rubber
band model “we” built at the age of 6, to the
Thermic-50 glider “we” built together (I
painted it with that smelly dope stuff!) as a
Boy Scout, he was there with me guiding me
as a teacher and leader. I think the legacies of
our ancestors, and fathers, is carried on as we
ourselves show those younger ones around us
the “how tos” of modeling, just as our fathers
did. Bless them. Thanks, Miller Owen.
We’re about the same vintage, and after
reading the article you wrote, I teared up some
about how thankful and lucky I am to have
had a dad to guide me as Jim did with a young
Bob Hunt. Though I didn’t know your father,
I bet he was just the same as my father was
with me. And wouldn’t it be a tribute if our
younger generation said the same of us? Let’s
make it happen. What a rich childhood we had
as the recipients of our fathers’ guidance and
patience! Thanks for your thoughtful article.
Joe Owen
Gurnee, Illinois
During my cub reporter years (1960s) at
the Kansas City Star & Times, I wrote
hundreds of obits in an effort to learn “Star
style.” Nearly all new reporters began this
way as it also taught them how to deal with
people.
Good thing, too, as the Star’s style was
stiff, formal, conservative, and rigid—no
deviations for anybody, for any reason. It was
most difficult telling a crying widow that her
husband wasn’t “important” enough to rate a
news style obit (a paragraphed short with a
half-column cut). It was tougher still to tell
her that we could only use his full name—no
nicknames.
Fury sometimes sprang from their misery
and that usually was followed by a loud
disconnect. I’ll tell you, patience was far more
valuable than any writing ability. How we all
could have used [Bob Hunt’s] November
(2002) column as a guide.
That beautiful piece delivered a gracious
message that needs to be taped to the desktop
of those AMA folks who must suffer the obit
task.
As a modeler, I was very nervous in taking
a call from Paul Runge, then head of ACE
R/C (Higginsville is about 70 miles east of
Kansas City), who gave me the information
about his father’s death for me to write. Years
later, as a reporter for the Hearst organization
(I don’t admit that too often), I wrote the obit
of Paul Runge. Sadly, when Tom Runge died
a few months ago, the obit writer for a nearby
community’s newspaper saw my previous
Runge family obit and called for more recent
information.
That call brought back those empathetic
emotions; your column keeps them at the fore
where they belong.
David G. Manley
Lenexa, Kansas
Model Aviation, 5161 E. Memorial Dr., Muncie IN 47302
Letters to the Editor
Continued on page 180
January 2003 9
Naming Conventions
Great [RC Giants] article in the
November issue of Model Aviation on the
Model A5M Type 96, Claude, Japanese Navy
fighter by Sal Calvagna. While the
background he provides on the full scale
machine is both interesting and accurate, I
suspect that readers whose hair isn’t yet as
gray as mine might wonder why it was called
“Claude.” It certainly doesn’t sound Japanese
and, after all, the Spitfire wasn’t called
Reggie nor was the Fw 190 called Hans.
They may also wonder why the A6M came to
have two names, “Zero” and “Zeke.”
In the 1920s and ’30s Great Britain and
France were major sponsors of air shows at
Farnsborough and Paris where everyone who
was anyone at all brought their latest and
niftiest airplanes to show off and, with a little
bit of luck, to sell a few.
The Japanese were regular visitors at
these shows, buying up one or two specimens
of each promising American, British, or
Russian military airplane shown—things like
P-36s, Hurricanes, I-16s, etc. It was generally
thought that they were buying them to copy.
That assumption resulted in a great
awakening at the end of 1941. In fact, they
were test flying them to develop combat
tactics in case they should ever meet head on,
but they could design their own aircraft quite
well without any help, thank you very much!
A strange thing, if anyone took the time to
think about it, was that no Japanese airplanes
ever appeared at these air shows. Indeed, the
only place in which they were even on
display was in combat over China. Moreover,
the official designations of them were
unknown outside of Japan. The movie Pearl
Harbor contains some historically inaccurate
dialog in referring to “Zeros.” We didn’t
know what a Zero was at that time. Like
performance data, identifying information
related to Japanese aircraft was guarded in a
most schizoid manner.
Having no base of reference, the
American military had to come up with
something to differentiate one Japanese
airplane from another. So it was that code
names were assigned, masculine for fighters
and feminine for bombers. Oscar and Zeke
and Claude and Tony for fighters and Sally
and Val and Mavis and Betty for bombers.
As an aside, Japanese air crews referred to
Betty as “Zippos,” after the world popular
American cigarette lighter, because it caught
fire every time it was struck.
But who would call their frontline naval
fighter, the best in the world when it first
appeared, a “Zero”? It sounds like a putdown.
Actually, it refers to the year in which
its prototype first flew, just as the Type 96
does in relation to the Claude.
The Claude first flew in February 1935
and the Zeke in April 1939. These dates were
in the years 2496 and 2500 according to the
Buddhist calendar. Thus the Claude’s official
Japanese designation was Mitsubishi Model
A5M, Type 96, and that of the Zeke was
Mitsubishi Model A6M, Type 00, which
Type number easily converts to simply
“Zero.”
To American fighter pilots, the name
“Zero” was a rather foggy term that seems
simply to have meant “Japanese Fighter.” In
the book Dear Mom, So We Have a War, a
collection of Dick Bong’s letters to his
mother, he refers to “Oscar type Zeros” and
to “Zeke type Zeros.” It was all pretty much
the same to him; his shoot-down bag
included 22 Oscar type Zeros and 8 Zeke
type Zeros.
Mr. Calvagna mentions in his article an
interest in attending RC warbird events. The
Madison Area Radio Control Society would
be very pleased to have him come to our War
Birds Over Dane, which is held in June. By
all means, we encourage him to bring his
Claude. He and readers may review the 2002
event by accessing our Web site,
www.marcswi.org, and clicking on the War
Birds link for pictures of some great models.
Jerry Buss
Madison, Wisconsin
Lacking in Leadership?
The debate over the financial condition of
the AMA and the increase in dues has lasted
for several months. Despite all the debate, I
think we have overlooked the real issue
which is value. The question is not the level
of fees but rather are we deriving a
reasonable value for the dues we are paying?
Organizations such as the AMA have but
one purpose and that is to provide leadership
to their members, something which is sorely
lacking. Specifically I believe the
