William C. “Bill” Messer of Olean, New York, joined the Olean Model Airplane Club (OMAC, now known as the Southern Tier Aero Radio Society, or STARS) in 1942 when he was ten years old. That same year, he joined the AMA, making him an 84-year member, and in 2018, he was awarded an AMA Life Membership.
Bill’s first airplane was a Free Flight Carl Goldberg “Zipper,” powered by an Ohlsson and Rice .23 c. 1. on ignition. His first glow engine was an Arden 0.9. Bill was present at the beginning of the U-Control airplane movement, which allowed him to control the aircraft while flying—he accomplished this by converting a “Buccaneer” Free Flight aircraft to U-Control using fishing line.
In 1946, at age fifteen, Bill flew the Mirror Meet at Grumman Field, and in the 1970s, he was one of five STARS members to design and build the first ¼-scale model aircraft—they were a fleet of five World War I Bristol Scouts, and STARS received the second AMA Heritage Award for its leadership role in the giant scale movement.
Bill has flown in at least 200 model aircraft meets all over the country—from Glenville Naval Air Station in Chicago, to Toronto; Willow Grove Naval Air Station in Philadelphia; Oshkosh, Wisconsin; Lake Placid; Bethpage, Long Island; and Florida–and of all the aircraft he has flown, his favorite is the ¼-scale Tomahawk.
Bill graduated from St. Bonaventure University in 1953 and served in the U. S. Army from 1953–1955. He married Dorothy Wills in 1956, and together they had five children. Bill was employed by Dresser Manufacturing as a cost accountant until his 1992 retirement, and he is still a member of STARS.
