243,481.65 raised in 2025. We have reached 60% of our goal.
Help us reach our goal of $400,000!
Around 1989ish, a work buddy of mine invited me to a fly-in at his R/C airplane club. Before this, I had no idea anything like an R/C club existed.
As kids, our parents did not expose us to anything like that. Neither of them had been around remote control 'toys,' so we weren't encouraged. My first impression of that event was "WOW! I gotta learn to do that!"
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.
