Fred Berman

Looking at what makes the Toledo show tick gives some idea of the herculean task the Weak Signals RC Club takes upon itself each year in organizing and setting up this annual extravaganza. THE WEAK SIGNALS' annual April bash can be described as tradition, convention, model show, hobby supermarket, super flea market, and elite builders' contest all rolled into one. It's the focus of a perennial migration of some 20,000 hobby fans from perhaps 19 states and Canada. The site is the Toledo Sports Arena. Most of the action was on the arena floor and in the exhibition hall and hallways. The place became wall-to-wall people. The bleachers, however, were mostly empty, occupied from time to time by the occasional footsore visitor. Due in part to what we might describe as its home-brewed origins, the Toledo exhibition has a characteristically folksy flavor. The Weak Signals is an RC modeling club not unlike yours and mine. None of its members are professional show promoters.

IT'S WHERE THE ELITE meet to compete. In 1988, for only the second time in its 28-year history, the World Aerobatic Championships took place on the North American continent-at Red Deer, in Alberta, Canada. The first Championships held on American soil was the 1980 contest in Oshkosh, WI. Aerobatic World Championships have been held perhaps as early as 1934 in Paris, France. However, the present series of FAI-sanctioned (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) competitions began in 1960 at Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. The tournament site rotates among the participating countries. Coming together at Red Deer were ace fliers from Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.S.A. The previous edition of these biennial aviation olympics was staged at South Cerney, England.