Current age 75. BSEE, MBA-Mktg. Started in modeling with small plastic WW2 aircraft. My Godfather was a bombardier in WW2 and told me many stories.
Around age 11, I learned to fly U-control with a Stuntman 23 and a BabyBee 049. Flew Ukie for about 2 years, till I discovered RC while on a Sunday drive with my parents. After that, I was at the "RC Field" behind Manville Kupper airport just about every weekend.
Age 13, Santa Clause brought me a Tube transmitter and new "solid state" super regen receiver, and I was HOOKED! I think I went through 3 or 4 planes before I got a first complete "Controlled" flight! I moved up to a nice MIN-X galloping ghost system and a RAND actuator for "REM" control and PROPORTIONAL flying. A few years later I moved up to Citizenship analog proportional for SMOOTH REM control. During my freshman year of college, I bought and ASSEMBLED a "BLUE MAX" 5 channel digital proportional system and became interested in "Pattern" competition.
While still in college, I shrunk Norm Page's design MACH-1 to 80% and had my "MACH-8" published in RCM. I learned how to cut foam cores and make fiberglass molds and sold "semi-kits" with a little ad in the back of the magazine - and helped pay my way through college!! Did very well in competition in the Midwest and started going to the Toledo show, first in the swap-shop, and later on the main floor! After college, I started doing some electronic designs (Twin Sync System, S2B2 Battery Backer, Glow switch, and the best product of them all, an optically-isolated "Glitch Buster". Each of these were published in the AMA magazine, and I sold them with small ads in the back pages ... this helped me out tremendously and actually supported me for almost 10 years!!
I also worked in many diverse industries like Oilfield instrumentation, Military fusing products, Military trailer construction, Electronics manufacturing support, and spent the last 20 years working as a solar consultant. Also spent 10 years competing in IMAC, and managed to be regional champ in sportsman, intermediate, and advanced classes before retiring from competition. Modeling and modeling-related projects has ALWAYS been a big part of my life, and I am grateful to have personally known many of the industry giants as friends: Leon Shulman, Dave Brown, Fran McElway, Art Gray, Ralph Warner, and many others. Repairing my early RC systems is what got me interested in Electronics, and it was a DEFINING part of my life!!
