Letters to the Editor
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Fond Memory
The letter by Bob Stewart in the December MA ("Help Wanted") really struck a chord.
I started building by accident in 1937 when my sisters went to the store to buy me a birthday present. Their intention was to buy me a windup "toy" airplane, but they mistakenly bought a stick model.
When I opened it, I was introduced to stick models by staying up all night gluing sticks in the outline of airplanes with my sisters. Being only six years old, I had no idea what a plan was.
As I look back on 61 years of building, some flights always come to mind.
Five years ago, like Bob Stewart, I had a stroke that left my left hand useless. I fought to regain the use of my hand so I could once again pursue my lifelong passion. I had not driven a car or taken a trip since the stroke, but my wife let me drive to the club field 50 miles away to fly.
The last flight of the day will stay with me always. One of the fellows had just snagged a thermal with his glider when an American Bald Eagle flew out of the woods to join him in the thermal. Another glider launched and the three went soaring until the eagle was out of sight.
We packed up and all left the field. I was hungry, so I stopped in a fast-food place to eat. When I sat to eat my burger, I had another stroke that robbed me of my voice and blurred my vision.
I just had another stroke that left me blind in one eye and unable to see details. Sixty-one years of building have now come to a close.
I am eternally grateful to modeling for a lifetime of modeling pleasure. There are many flights that I relive in my reveries, but that last flight of the day at the club field overshadows them all.
Walter H. Rady Newport, New Hampshire rady@sugar-river.net
No-Charge Instruction
In reference to your "Letters to the Editor" column in the December 1998 issue of Model Aviation, I would like to add my comments in support of Mr. John Lewis of Chester, Connecticut.
I started building model airplanes in 1935, and I have been involved in most every category. During a brief tenure in the United States Air Force, I built many models in my spare time.
As a flight instructor, I have taught more than 150 students to fly radio-controlled model aircraft. I have had membership in three prominent AMA chartered model clubs in Oklahoma, and not once did I ever charge for my services in teaching someone to learn to fly.
I am presently a member of the South Tulsa R/C Flyers club as the chief flying instructor, and I have four other qualified flying instructors helping me to teach the members. Under no circumstances have we ever charged any member of the club for flying lessons.
Charles L. Faith Tulsa, Oklahoma
Full-Scale Jenny
I compared the photo in the hangar to a portion of fuselage fabric I have hanging on the wall. To my surprise, it was a perfect match (see photo enclosed).
The full-scale Jenny had been on display at the airport in Las Vegas. It was purchased by an employer of a friend of mine, John Burton of Medford, Oregon. The Jenny was restored by John and was later given to an Army museum. However, I understand it no longer has the same markings.
Ken Kilburn Eureka, California
He'll Be Back
I just received my copy of Model Aviation, and after reading the "Letters to the Editor" I thought I would write.
I have been gone from the hobby of flying for about 28 years and thought that for my "midlife crisis" I would get myself a "toy" that I used to enjoy so much. Not a little "toy" but a really big "toy"—I bought myself a biplane kit and everything that goes with it.
I spent what seemed like forever building it (three weeks) and getting it ready. It was beautiful! Then the weather wouldn't cooperate, and I had to wait to go fly.
Finally I had a slow day at work and thought I would blow off the afternoon and go flying. The weather was perfect. I got home, put all the supplies in the car and grabbed my airplane. First problem: it wouldn't fit! Easy to fix, borrow the neighbor's pickup.
Get to the local RC park, not a soul in sight. Perfect! I get everything out of the truck, set up, start the airplane, and now a thought comes to me: I'm not sure I remember how to do this! Not good.
I looked around again; still no one in sight. I got brave, set my airplane on the runway, and let go! Takeoff was beautiful! This is "easy," I was young again. I was having fun—the thing actually flies!
Except that I forgot something: how to get my beautiful new "toy" back on the ground. I was not very good at this 28 years ago, and I hoped that I had improved with age, because I sure didn't have any skill. I didn't panic, I just flew it until it ran out of gas, and then (I wish I had my video camera) I made the most spectacular nose-diving crash I've ever seen.
Then I heard something. Some guy (park ranger) came to watch, and he was laughing so hard, then asked if I had an insurance card; I did. He said I really should get some lessons, and then he helped pick up all the little bitty pieces and load them in the truck.
I went home with a broken "toy," but with a smile so big, my cheeks hurt. I'll be back, with a big smile and a new "toy," after I get some lessons!
Kevin Lanzerotti Hamilton, Ohio
FF Nats
From a letter to Louis Joyner, Free Flight columnist:
Your Nats coverage column in the December 1998 Model Aviation prompts me to offer a correction. You state that "In the AMA Open Power events, an auto-surface model is a necessity to make it to the winners circle." The record states otherwise, at least in the case of the smaller 1/2 A Gas and F1J classes.
In the last nine Nats (the decade of the 90s, when auto-surfaces have become most prevalent) members of the Brooklyn Skyscrapers have won either or both of those events six (6) times flying "locked-up" (non-auto-surface) models. That specifically includes first in 1/2 A this year (1998). Hence, while auto-surfaces are clearly an asset, they are hardly a necessity!
As you so correctly point out, the advantage of auto-surfaces is most significant at the four-foot and 2-1/2-minute stage of the flyoffs. Conversely, the very complexity of the rigging and structure of the auto-surface model is its biggest disadvantage. That is, it discourages participation by many who would otherwise compete in the many AMA power events.
While a locked-up model can compete, the advantage is clearly with the auto-surface airplane. Which is why Skyscrapers who compete most actively in the small power events are in the forefront of the movement to clearly separate auto and non-auto models into two distinct competitive divisions or categories. Some of us even feel strongly that "if it has auto-surfaces, it ain't FREEflight!"
The decline of participation in the AMA Power events (most apparent in the larger A, B, C, and D sizes) and the concurrent growth of Nostalgia Gas leads (inevitably) to talk of creating a SlowOpenPower (SLOP?) event. Why? Because the attraction of what you refer to as "...a less-demanding and less-expensive Power event" should permit creative modelers to build and fly models of their own design, rather than requiring that they fly the (nostalgic) designs and kits of someone else. This could be accomplished quite simply by permitting original designs which meet the rules criteria of the era.
Lastly, an addendum to your well-deserved praise for the 1998 Nats management. In addition to the superb and herculean work of Phil Sullivan, Joe Mekina, Bob Stallick, Hank Nystrom, and Steve Kaloff and the AMA personnel, acknowledgment should be made of the five clubs that provided the daily on-the-field operating staff. They were (in alphabetical order) the Brainbusters, the Central Indiana Aeromodellers, the Central Ohio Free Flighters, the Skyscrapers, and the Tri-County Aero Club.
Jean Pailet Glen Head, New York
People
The November issue of Model Aviation should have been titled People Magazine. Photos in the main articles by Ames and Haught are almost exclusively of human beings as anything flyable. Certainly there is nothing wrong with acknowledging and honoring individuals, but such should be done mainly in the text; and if photos are necessary, please have them show some interesting model to hold. Pictures of two or three guys in a conference or one holding a pipe to a belt sander just don't cut it in an aviation publication.
I wonder how many of us readers/members know even one of the individuals shown. If you want the subject folks to have pictures of themselves, take some Polaroids and hand them out on the spot.
Charles V. Mullins Cottonwood, Arizona
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
