It was a Saturday in the Summer of 1958. I was 8 years old and lived with my aging grand parents. I was looking for something to get in to when I heard a strange noise coming from the direction of the elementary school. It was a hypnotic high pitched sound that pulsating louder then faded and grew louder again. I was drawn to it; I had to find out what making that sound. When I arrived at the source of the noise I found a blue airplane flying in a large circle.
A man was standing in the center of the circle holding a red handle that had two wires reaching out to the airplane. The man was actually controlling the airplane. He could make the airplane climb, then dive, do a loop and even fly upside down. The motor quit and I thought it was over, the plane was going to crash!! But I was wrong, the plane flew around the circle a little was and then settled in for a landing. I ran over to where the plane landed. I was standing there staring at the plane when the man picked it up and started walking towards what looked like a tool box. I stood there as though I was in a trance, spell bound, it was the biggest toy airplane I had ever seen and the first that had actually flown.
When I came to my senses, I was asking questions faster than the man could answer. I studied the plane and the more I looked the more I realized the builder wasn't very talented in his construction techniques. I didn't care. It was most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I remember asking him where he got it and he told me that the Motts Five and Dime had airplane kits that you could put together. I was sold on getting a flying model airplane.
One day that next my Grandmother was going into towns to shop at Beal's Department store. And to my good fortune, Mott's Five and Dime was right next dollar. With much effort I persuaded my grandmother to take me into Mott's.
I jumped out of the 52 GMC Custom can pick up truck and made my way to the front door of Mott's Five and Dime. The man standing at the counter looked at me inquisitively and he asked, " What can I help you with?" In my excitement all I could get out was "Airplanes"! He pointed toward the back corner of the store, and I was off as fast as I could move without being in a dead run. I gazed up at all the model kits hanging on the wall. There was a Sterling Ring Master, a Veco Thunderbird, a Goldberg Shoestring and many others. I looked at the price tag on the Sterling Ring Master. It was $3.99. Now $3.99 was a lot of money in 1958. A soft drink was $0.06 cents, a Pay Day candy bar was $0.05 and a McDonalds hamburger was $0.15 cents.
I knew my grandparents couldn't afford that kind of money, but I had a plan. I had me a plan!!!!
Everyday I walked the ditches along our street looking for soft drink bottles. They were worth $0.03 cents each. After collecting all the bottles I could find I would take them to Mr. Brown's store and collect my $0.03 cents for each bottle. Sometimes Mr. Brown would ask me to sort the bottles to each drink company. Coke, Knee Hi, Dr. Pepper, 7 Up, RC Cola, Pepsi Cola and many others. It would take several hours to sort all the bottles he had collected during the week. He would hand me a nice shiny quarter when I finished the task.
After several weeks of collecting bottles, cutting the neighbors grass ($1.00 a yard) and other chores I had my three dollars and ninety-nine cents to purchase my plane: A big beautiful Sterling Ring Master
The counter man told me I would need to get some Ambroids glue to build the plane. I didn't have the $0.65 cents for the Ambroids glue, but I had me a plan.
When I got home I stretched the plans out on the floor in the den. I must have spent hours upon hours studying those plans. Reading the instructions over and over again until I could recite them word for word from memory. And that's how I got hooked on building model airplanes.
