I started model aviation in high school with plans, balsa woods, mono kote films, glues, etc. Now, model aviation is at different applications such as hobbyist, sports, research and development, drones, NASA, Military, Agriculture, Inspection, etc. It fully encompasses STEAM Education (Science, Technology, Education, Arts, Mathematics).
I started my model airplane hobby at the age of seven, as I was fascinated by model airplanes at the window of a Hobby Shop in Mexico City.
I am 78 and have been building and flying models for 70 years. Flew Control Line for 10 years, because that's what I could afford. Joined PGRC club at 16 when I was only 1 of 15 members of the club. I was drafted in the Army almost right out of high school. I convinced the Army that I had a background in Aviation. They sent me to Aviation school, where I was trained to be a crew chief on a Huey gun ship.
I was 10 years old when my parents moved us from Bronx, New York, to Queens. One afternoon, I heard the sound of model airplane engines coming through my window. I went outside and followed the sound and found a group of teenagers flying Control Line models. I introduced myself and they took me under their wing and taught me to fly Control Line.
Creative Sandpaper @GoInvo, @MIT
Flying since 1986
I am 67 years old and have been modeling since I was very young. My father was a full-scale pilot and helped grow my interest in aviation. I built many Free Flight Guillow's models until I had saved enough to afford a Bridi RCM trainer. I was a member of the Hamilton County RC modelers in the early 70s. We had a junior division and had a building class at Harold Vandevier’s shop (he was a noted scale modeler). I learned the basics of building R/C then. I won the best junior award at the 1974 mall show.
My first introduction to flying models came in second grade. I lived in North Yorkshire, England, at the time (the same area where Sir George Cayley did his groundbreaking aeronautical research, although I was not aware of this). One day, our teacher put us in groups and distributed balsa sticks, tissue paper, and glue. We were to build a small biplane under his instructions.
I first got interested in aviation at the age of seven. The year was 1935, and I was living in the Bronx, New York, with my Aunt Tony. I was looking at the airplanes flying into LaGuardia airport and said to myself, "I'm gong to fly those and see the world when I grow up."
My cousin Billy Sloboda was six years older than I and taught me how to build rubber-powered model airplanes from kits that my father purchased for me, and I flew them with many crashes in the small backyard of the five-story tenement apartment that I lived in at that time.
My journey into RC airplanes started as a teenager, having received a used Control Line P-54 Mustang. Having never flown before, the flight was short lived - all of about 15 seconds. Enough time to go around twice, up, and then straight down into a category 5 failure of several thousand pieces. A couple decades passed before I was able to re-enter the hobby, as I was given a 48" wingspan RC Spitfire that a gentleman in the community had started, but had died before completing it.
