Wings Over Skyland Hill
At the Skyland Camp for girls in North Carolina, they celebrated July 4th in a big way. Thirty-five AMA Cubs took to the air — all built by the girls as part of the camp's emphasis on crafts. You can bet it went over great — they'll do it again this year.
Skyland Camp
Skyland Camp for Girls is located in Clyde, North Carolina, near the Tennessee–North Carolina border, about 26 miles west of Asheville. It sits on the edge of the Smoky Mountain National Park area. Beautiful country draws tourists like a magnet and provides the perfect environment for camping, hiking, horseback riding and all those other fun things.
Skyland was established in 1917 by the writer's grandmother, operated for many years by the writer's mother and aunt, and is now directed by the writer's wife, Bunny. How's that for keeping it in the family?
The camp offers the usual activities, including:
- Swimming
- Tennis
- Riding
- Camp-outs
- Drama
- Archery
- Games
- Art and crafts
It is this last activity — crafts — that provides the setting for the Cub airplane project.
The HIAA Cub idea
The "idea" light bulb went on last year when the AMA sent out annual club re-registration information that included a letter explaining the AMA–HIAA Cub program. HIAA is the Hobby Industry Association of America, which has procured bulk packs of 35 AMA Cubs (originally known as Darts) for chartered clubs to use in junior programs.
Usually a club will sponsor a meet where kits are built by youngsters at the contest site and flown the same day. That approach has proven very popular with participating kids. So why wouldn't it be equally popular as a summer camp activity — for girls?
The first step was to determine whether a private camp qualified to participate. A letter to the AMA was quickly answered by Frank Ehling, who said that if the Cubs were used as an educational tool, the camp program was acceptable. Thus the Darts/Cubs/HIAA Flyers came to the Skyland Camp crafts shack to take their place alongside rock painting, tie-dyeing, weaving, basketry, and all the other projects.
Building the flyers
On holiday days the camp cancels regular activity periods and uses the day for special events and competitions. That's why July 4 was selected for the Big Flight. Several days prior, the girls started building. Instruction was provided by the crafts counselors and the writer's sons, Murphy and Mike, who serve as the camp maintenance crew.
Those who have worked on club Cub programs know what an education it is to watch kids build. Some as young as eight have no trouble at all, while others who are thirteen just can't relate the two-dimensional plan to three-dimensional material — for example, cutting the leading and trailing edges at an angle so they meet properly at the wing tip. Elmer's glue was used (since crafts shops are loaded with it) and marking pens were employed for decoration. Finally, a fleet of about 35 HIAA Flyers was ready to go.
The Big Flight
The flying site chosen was the top of a 20-foot-high steep embankment overlooking a field big enough for a tennis court (there used to be one). A chicken-wire fence ran along the far side to keep tennis balls out of the woods below. The plan was for the girls to line up along the bank with cameraman Murphy down below. Then, at the signal, everyone would FLY!
Of course, no one told the girls that airplanes are launched gently, so they all tried to be star baseball pitchers. The air was filled with airplanes going every direction at once. Things improved with subsequent launches, and many good flights finally resulted. The only real tragedy occurred when the Labrador retriever, the camp mascot, got loose and brought back a Cub in a rather mashed condition.
Several of the girls became interested in making better flights, so for the next few days they experimented with the airplanes and were instructed in trimming procedures.
Repeat sessions and aftermath
Since Skyland Camp runs separate July and August sessions, the whole operation was repeated a month later with similar results. After camp closed, we cleaned out literally dozens of Cubs that had been left behind in all states of construction and repair. This represented many hours of enjoyment for the girls, especially since they were engaged in a crafts project that "did something" after it was finished.
So, was the Cub program a success at a girls' camp? You bet. We are deeply grateful to the HIAA and AMA for making this possible. There will certainly be diamond-shaped wings over Skyland Hill again next summer!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
