Flight? Mmm. As a child, I had a neighbor who flew full-size aircraft. :) Notice I said full-size. :) He sold model gliders at his parents' store. I asked my parents if I could have an RC model. The answer was always, "NO! But you can have a glider or rubber-powered model." So, I flew a Guillow's glider and built scale kits. After I married, I bought my first RC miniature airplane :) and joined AMA in 1994. AMA 523646.
At 62 years of age, models have been a part of my life as long as I can remember. My Dad did the wind up airplanes when I was a baby. Dad would wind them up and chuck them, and I would run them down. As I grew up, I did the Control Line, and in the early 80s, I got my first RC airplane. Over the years, I have built 100s of airplanes.
My introduction into model aviation was while I was serving in the U.S. Navy in Hawaii. As a young sailor living in the barracks, I needed something to do, so I decided to build a Goldberg Gentle Lady Sailplane on a bathroom door sat on top of two chairs. I tossed this glider off the third story of the barracks and flew it to the parking lot below, until I learned there were areas in Oahu where I could fly it.
When I got out of the Navy in 1960, I saw Bob Cording flying RC. I kept asking question after question. He asked me, "Would you like to fly it?" I said, "No, I might crash it." He said, "You won't crash my plane." He took it up high and gave me the transmitter. In no time, I had no control. Bob took it back and leveled it out and told me to "give just a little bit of control." I did, and I was hooked. I had to have one.
Soaring Ambitions: The Story of the Alabama Aeronautical Team at South Choctaw Academy
In the heart of rural southwest Alabama, something extraordinary is taking flight—literally.
What began as a simple idea at South Choctaw Academy has grown wings and become the Alabama Aeronautical Team (AA-T), an innovative Saiasi Foundation-led initiative powered by curiosity, collaboration, and the belief that great things can emerge from small communities.
I was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1932. I built many of the WWII planes as stick and paper models. When I was a senior in High School, I had my first Control Line model. The next few years I was busy with the US Army, education, marriage, and children, but still I would occasionally build a rubber-powered model. In 1980, I joined AMA and built my first Radio Control model, a Sig Kadet with a Fox 40 motor.
Several members in our club are somewhat surprised that I am still designing, building, and flying at 87. One afternoon, a young man came over to me where I was installing the wing and asked about my plane. I said it is an E-Venger pattern plane I recently designed for a friend that is an AMA Life member, Otto Dieffenbach, that I flew pattern with back in the 70s. He said he was curious to know if it was the type of plane they used to fly in pattern contests years ago. I said it is.
I’m 64 years old and have been modeling for 33 years. I've loved aviation my whole life. I’m a lifetime member of AMA and a strong supporter of anything to do with kids and model airplanes.
When I was 14 in 1973, I had become infatuated with flight in all its forms. I decided that I wanted to learn to fly R/C models. I approached my dad (a Civil Engineer) and told him that I wanted to sell my mini-bike and get into R/C. He thought about it and came to the conclusion that it could be educational. Man, was he right!!! I recently retired after 28 years on the Space Shuttle Program (during which I was awarded a Silver Snoopy), and 3.5 on the Orion spacecraft.
