I began building model airplanes when I was 7 years old. I got some basic instruction from an older (junior high school) boy down the street, who built very nice "stick models."
Of course, I also built Speedee Bilts by Monogram, as well as Comet stick models. And I joined a local club when one appeared. We built hand launched and high-start gliders. There I learned a bit more about why airplanes flew and what the airfoil actually was and did.
By the time I entered High school, I was designing and was enamored with long wings filled with ribs. My interests had also turned to towline gliders and I read about the world championships in Model Airplane News, with some understanding.
I was not interested in U-control, although I tried to be. The motors always seemed too difficult to start. That wonderful Jetex engine required only a lit fuse and provided flight. It also made me interested in speed.
By then, I had settled on a career in aeronautical engineering. But during my junior year, the Russians launched Sputnik. My hometown was Oak Ridge, Tennessee. We were a science center (Manhattan Project) and Uncle Sam turned to us to try out a new physics program. I was a guinea pig on that program and turned my interests to rocket propulsion. I was still headed for engineering, but it was no longer only flight.
While an engineering student, I had no time to build or fly, except during summers. In graduate school, summers were also taken up with research. A career in college teaching gave me some time to build and fly.
I still design, build, and fly mostly gliders. My friends like big engines and big airplanes. But I still like those large, tissue-covered wings and have come to appreciate quiet electric motors.
