I'm John J. Rynkiewicz AMA #39761. My story starts at Christmas 1973.
My parents gave me a Cox PT-19 trainer powered by .049 glow engine for a Christmas present. My father and I made various attempts to get successful flights on that little plastic airplane and eventually we were able to conquer it. Maybe only one or two laps at a time but sooner or later we were able to run out full tanks of fuel. At least one more Cox .049 powered biplane was purchased and was semi-successfully flown.
About mid summer 1974 my dad bought a Sterling Ringmaster kit and a Fox .35. My dad had built "stick and tissue" models during WWII so was somewhat familiar with balsa construction. I mostly watched as he built with myself being 13 years old at the time. The Ringmaster was covered with silk-span tissue paper and painted with Pactra dope. We successfully flew that aircraft for the remainder of 1974 and on Christmas Day I was surprised with a World Engines R/C system.
We then purchased and built a Sterling Fledgling and finished it with this strange (at the time) material called "Monokote". A family friend had a neighbor who was building an R/C model years earlier but unfortunately passed away before he finish the model. We purchased the engine from his wife, a Fox .36X. That engine ran strong but was difficult to get a reliable idle setting. After joining the Wyoming Valley R/C Flyers AMA#952 and the AMA in 1975, my father and I both learned to fly R/C on that poor plane. 5 minute epoxy was our best friend! That first year was challenging with radio issues and a balky engine but we made it through.
A fellow club member had built and was flying an RCM Trainer .40. We borrowed the plans and built our second model. After that was a Midwest Sweet Stik and a Sterling Lancer. Many more models were built and flown during the following years, but I don't want to bore anyone with the details.
By the time I graduated High School in 1979, we had expanded our inventory to two radio systems. I started working construction between my junior and senior years in high school and had a little bit of money on the side. After graduation, we split the radio equipment up and sort of went our own ways still both staying in the Wyoming Valley R/C Flyers club. Still working construction, I was able to purchase additional R/C equipment as was my dad. One side note, after my senior all night prom, our club was having a static display at a local mall the next day. Although I was there first thing in the morning to set up, my parents made me go home to get some sleep.
Being 18 at the time, I didn't need much sleep and couldn't wait to get back to the show!
Being a little adventurous, I built a highly reinforced .40 to .50 sized Sweet Stik and put an HP .61 on it. Performance was awesome with almost vertical performance. I have built numerous versions of this aircraft over the years and will always have at least one in my hanger. Although people joke as to why i am flying a trainer, that usually stops right after a near vertical take off! Being single at the time, a group of us were flying just about every Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday night. Flying mostly .60 sized aircraft, I burned through 26 gallons of glow fuel in one flying season!
Around 1983-1984 I read an article in the Model Aviation District III column by Dave Brown. The article mentioned something about an AMA sanctioned air show team program. I inquired about the program to Dave Brown who got me in touch with Geoffrey Styles who then directed me to Glenn Von Stucker. After a lengthy phone call with Mr. Stucker, I got the ball rolling with our club, and despite my father trying to discourage me saying the program was only for the "big boys", we were able to form the AMA sanctioned Expos Air Show Team #138. We presented numerous shows throughout the area including at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport Air Shows for many years, for boy/girl scout groups, local festivals, actually performing inside state prisons (that was a real challenge and nerve wracking), open houses at government facilities and helping out local R/C model clubs with their shows/fund raisers. At one point, we welcomed one of the members of the original air show team the, Alpha Squadron, who had retired and moved to our area onto our team. The team was sanctioned from 1984 through 2007 when the AMA changed their attitude towards the teams and the program was asking teams to have air conditioned trailers, simulators, and a more professional appearance and equipment that we simply could not afford. The team disbanded from performing formal shows but still fly occasionally for any group that asks for some sort of a display.
After getting married in 1985, my flying slowed down quite a bit with family responsibilities and home ownership. Our daughter was born in 1993 and a son was born in 2000. My son has been an AMA member since he was born and did some flying, earning his wings when he was about 13 or 14. He loved playing with the Great Planes Simulator. He started building his own airplane, but as he got older, his interests changed and he was more into sports being starting varsity catcher for his high school baseball team when he was a freshman and is a pretty good golfer. He has since moved away after college seeking a career in accounting. Our daughter is in Connecticut with a PHD in athletic training.
My dad passed away in 2009 just shy of his 80th birthday and still participated in the hobby in his later years, only slowing down in his last 3 or 4 years. One of my dad's planes was passed down to my son who occasionally puts it in the air. I have slowed my participation in the hobby a little in the past few years having taken up fishing, target shooting, sporting clays and hunting. I was club secretary for a few years in the mid 1980s and I am currently and have been secretary for the past ten years of so.
I understand that this bio may be a bit lengthy, but having participated in model aviation for the past 50-plus years, I guess I have a lot to say!
I am sure there is a lot of information I have left out, some of which is probably not advisable to print, please feel free to contact me if any additional information or clarifications are required. Thanks for reading!
John J. Rynkiewicz AMA #39761
