The Haught Corner
Among the comments made about our January youth/beginner issue were several expressing questions about reaching out to youth and maintaining their interest after initial contact. "What do they need?" seems to be the underlying question. This caused me to reflect on my own time "coming through the ranks" and there may be some benefit to looking at how I was helped. My Dad taught me the basics of model building and flight trimming, but I developed interest in areas of modeling that were different from my Dad's, and as a result, there was only so much help I could get at home.
Dick Korda Commemorative SAM Champs
One of aeromodeling's most famous events took place at Bendix, New Jersey in August 1939: Cleveland, Ohio's Dick Korda won the Wakefield trophy with a three-flight average of 950.2 seconds, including a 43:29-the first flight of the contest! The Society of Antique Modelers (SAM) chose its 1994 Championships as the occasion to honor this amazing achievement and its profound influence on aeromodeling.
The Haught Corner
YA GOTTA HAVE A PLAN: A new price schedule has been instituted for our full-size plans. The price structure had not been modified in many years; postal rate increases and inflation were not factored in, and plans sales became a money-losing proposition. Plans are now grouped by category, according to the number of square feet in each plan. Thus a small model like Bill Warner's Aerodactyl is at the low end of the scale (A pricing) while a larger model, involving multiple plan sheets (like Bob Kopski's Revolt!) costs more (D pricing).
The Haught Corner
The long-awaited youth/beginner issue is here, and it's loaded with useful information. Our columnists and other authors have gone beyond the call to produce a variety of interesting material. The "youth/beginner problem" has been attacked from a number of angles, and it's clear that a great deal of time and effort has been spent from all those who have expressed opinions or offered solutions. I believe this issue contains more thoughtful, cogent writing than any in recent memory. With so many people concerned about the future of our hobby, it's a wonder we have a "problem" at all.
The Haught Corner
The Nats: With the recent Executive Council decision to bring the Nats to Muncie in 1996, it's clear that there will be big changes in store for our championships. It's quite likely that the Nats will change considerably from the traditional format. It may become an event that will take more than a week to run, and may entail more involvement from special-interest groups to make it happen. It certainly will be different than the 1950s and 1960s Navy-sponsored contests. Those Nationals were amazing collections of modelers compressed into a rotation of Navy bases (generally Los Alamitos, California; Grand Prairie, Texas; Willow Grove, Pennsylvania; and Glenview, Illinois).
