Letters to the Editor
5151 E. Memorial Dr., Muncie, IN 47302
Good Service
In one of your issues some months back, readers were commenting on the service received from suppliers of modeling goods.
Having just received some rubber from FAI Model Supply in just two weeks since posting my letter, I feel obligated to convey my sincere thanks in general to the hobby suppliers I have dealt with over the last years. Be it tissue, balsa, props, motors, rubber, carbon fiber, etc., I have always received prompt and courteous service, with excellent advice on how such products should be used.
I can only wish the hobby industry in general every success in their enterprises — long may they prosper. Incidentally, I speak for my friends who have had similar experiences.
Robby Rowe South Africa
Back to Building
I just turned 62 and after a 35-year layoff I am going back to model airplane building. It's been eight weeks and it will be at least 90 days before I know which way I will go.
The plastics are fun because of the detail. However, my passion has always been sticks and paper.
I like your magazine and have read the August and September issues. However, the Top Gun article listing Pat McCurry's Dornier Do-335 crash on takeoff and the Bob Underwood article on RC radio problems and cost — I think I'll pass on RC.
Most interesting was Joe Wagner on "The Engine Shop," mostly because I have one of those Cub .049 engines.
By the way, Joyce Hager — I read you first.
Dale W. Buchholz Los Gatos, California
Baker Fan
I will miss Bill Baker, and it's likely I speak for many others who share my opinion.
Although I have been an AMA member since the 1970s, it is only within the past few years that I returned to active building and flying.
When I wrote to Bill for advice, he was most generous and forthcoming with help and support. He also urged me to join SAM (Society of Antique Modelers) and the NFFS (National Free Flight Society), PAMA (Precision Aerobatics Model Pilots Association) and MECA (Model Engine Collectors Association). I am so glad I did.
We have become friends and I am proud of that relationship. Bill represents my generation of model aviation enthusiasts (we are almost the same age), and this will be a tough act to follow because there are fewer and fewer of us who lived through and recall those glorious days of yesteryear.
Thank you, Bill, for those many years of useful and informative articles.
Mitchell Heller Glenview, Illinois
MiG-15
I would like to make a few corrections to your "Why Not Model ... MiG-15" article in the November 1999 issue.
Regarding the pilot of the MiG-15bis on display in Ohio, the Korean pilot's name is actually No Kum-Sok, not Kum Sol No as stated. However, Kum-Sok No would also be acceptable if you were to follow the convention of putting the family name last.
On the issue of reprisals, while his family was safe, several of his North Korean friends and fellow fliers were subsequently executed following his defection to the south.
I've had the honor and pleasure of having him as an instructor as he currently teaches several different engineering classes at the university I attended. In class, much to our interest, he would occasionally tell us of some of his wartime experiences (sometimes far more interesting than the class subject!).
He has written a book entitled A MiG-15 to Freedom (1996), from McFarland & Co., Inc. (ISBN 0-7864-0210-5); however, I don't know of its current availability. I recommend it to all who have interest in the topic.
Fitz Walker Fort Worth, Texas
RC Simulators
When will somebody do the same for RC simulation as Web TV has done for the net (eliminate the computer and provide 1,000% better display via a large TV set)?
I have no use for a computer and cannot afford $1,000 for one anyway, but I very much want RC simulation.
I have seen the existing simulators and find them very unreal on only a 15-inch monitor. It would be vastly improved on a 25-inch TV; on a projection set it really would be near real!
Peter Simmons Sarasota, Florida
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
