Grand Opening...
By Vince Mankowski
The grand opening of the first National Flying Site was scheduled for June 13–14, 1992, but people began arriving as much as a week early. By late Thursday afternoon probably as many as 500 people had arrived. Twenty-four hours later—still a full day before the event—an estimated 2,000 people were on hand at times. The Muncie Visitors Bureau told us that between 6,000 and 8,000 people were on site Saturday. These estimates don't take into account the many who entered the site, stayed a few hours, and then left.
Sunday, traditionally a slower day, still saw between 3,000 and 5,000 people at various times. While no official head count was taken during the Grand Opening, the open-door, invitation-to-all atmosphere was clear: 10,000 bumper stickers were handed out by Saturday night, and all 7,500 program books disappeared very early. The bumper stickers and programs were handed, one each, to every car entering the site.
There was something electric in the air—an undeniable, powerful energy and an emotion: pride. This site was not a state park, a city landfill, an unused portion of an Air Force base, or a few acres leased because they were unsuitable for farming. This was, finally, our site—made possible entirely by the membership of the Academy of Model Aeronautics. Its design and construction were overseen by and managed for modelers. The Muncie site—all 1,000-plus acres—belongs to the AMA membership (goose bumps).
AMA members and visitors drove past the 24,000‑sq.‑ft. building erected to house our new museum, the Frank V. Ehling Complex. We drove down a brand‑new, 8,000‑ft. winding two‑lane asphalt road. Looking across the broad expanse of a thousand acres from this boulevard, pulses raced with the fulfillment of lifelong dreams. Things we hadn't dared dream a few short years ago were now reality.
Ten minutes later we were still driving—it's a big place. Before us lay:
- Three main parking lots with an 1,800‑car capacity
- The circus tent filled with industry and model exhibits
- The impound pavilion
- An area set aside for free flight
- A circle for rotary‑wing RC
- A scale flying area
- Concessions and crowds
Bounding out of the car and scurrying to unload, many of us fought the impulse to pinch ourselves. Are we dreaming? No—it's real. It's here. It's ours. The spine chills. It was hard to decide: get something cold to drink, see some old friends, meet some new ones. (Give me the blasted pin!) Control‑line models, free‑flight models, youngsters learning how to fly, big birds, little birds, scale planes, and showstoppers were all in evidence. There was even a trade show and a big swap shop—how could it get any better than this?
The long‑awaited Grand Opening took its place in history. It was open doors, free admission, and even a free lunch for AMA members and their families. Someone said, "We'd be rich if we had a buck for every car that came on the site." Heck, a bunch of us would be rich if we had a nickel for every photograph taken!
Volunteers, staff, and organizations who helped make the event run smoothly included:
- Civil Air Patrol — parking cars
- George Steiner (from California) — handling the impound
- AMA Technical Director Bob Underwood — running the flight lines with a crackerjack volunteer crew (including Jay Nealy, Joe Vislay, and many others)
- Bob Vojslavek — handling registration
- Geoff Styles — up in the tower
- Onsite AMA staff in Muncie: Phil Sullivan, Judy Czajkowski, Cliff McKee
Guests and members were offered a sneak preview of the new AMA museum. Thousands stepped into the museum, saw the plans, inspected the layout, and asked one of the year's most repeated questions: "When will the museum be open?" The answer: late next spring or early next summer.
Almost without exception, people bid farewell with, "See you next year!" The members have spoken—an event like this is too good to run only once. It's a great idea to set aside a weekend each year to gather at the site, inspect and admire the latest additions and improvements, and use the facilities. Next year the event might center around the opening of the Frank V. Ehling Complex.
No other action by the AMA or its membership has generated as much mail, precipitated as many telephone calls, been written about in so many club newsletters, or been more frequently on modelers' lips than the Grand Opening of the National Flying Site. Members came from far and wide:
- Washington State, Oregon, California
- Florida, Alabama, Texas
- New England, the mid‑Atlantic, and the Midwest
Did someone say, "Build it and they will come"? We did. Yesss. Congratulations, AMA members!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
