Donors

In the past the Muncy Indoor Flyers of Muncy, PA were well-known for their large indoor flying site. After the dome they used to fly collapsed, the club needed a new place to call home. Lee Eisele, a lifelong farmer and avid modeler, and his wife, Kitty, opened up their field and on-site hobby shop to the club and they became the Muncy Flyers. AMA President, Bob Brown and his wife, JoAnne, visited the club on many occasions over the years. During one of their visits, Bob suggested that the club begin holding events. The club was in agreeance and they began hosting great fun-fly events. As a result of the events, the club started making money and was able to install a fabric runway. The club continued to fly at the field, eventually named The Lee Eisele Memorial R/C Park, until both Lee and Kitty passed away. Although the club wanted to continue to operate, a lack of a flying site led the members to find other sites and clubs. Collectively the members of the Muncy Flyers wanted to give back to AMA for its help throughout the years and honor Lee and Kitty. It was decided to give some to nearby clubs to help them keep flying, and to support the AMA Foundation. They purchased a brick along the Walk of Fame in memory of Lee and Kitty and donated the remaining money to the Foundation. Tony Minnella, who was the latest president of the club said: “The AMA always supported our club. Because of that, we wanted to help support them.” We appreciate this gesture and want to wish each member of the club good luck and happy flying in the future.

 Azarr, age 70, was an admired and respected member of the RC community. A lifetime member of the AMA, he took great joy in the sport and was a mentor to many. At age 9, he was introduced to RC modeling by his uncle and was hooked.

The Springfield Model Airplane Club has donated $310.00 to the AMA Foundation in honor of its long-time friend and member. The SMAC wants to help further Azarr’s support of the Foundation’s goals and programs which were of importance to him.

Azarr passed away in his home on August 14, 2015 and will be sorely missed by family, friends and members of the model aviation community.

Cass Engineering Pulsar Biplane comes to National Model Aviation Museum

In the early 1970s there were discussions about the declining interest in Radio Controlled Pattern competition (Model Airplane News Oct. 1973 and Jan 1974). This led Ollie Olson and several clubs in the Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa area to hold the first National Multi-Wing Championships in July 1973. The contest was limited to biplanes and featured Pattern and Pylon events but most notably a free style component. Bill Heger of Peoria, IL won with a Glen Howard designed Knight Twister. At the time discussions also focused on duplicating the maneuvers flown by full-scale aerobatic aircraft using scale-like aircraft. In 1974, this culminated with the formation of the National Sport Pattern Association. In 1975, the name was changed to the Miniature Aerobatic Biplane Association and in 1976, in an effort “to broaden the outlook of the organization and include all types of aerobatic aircraft, the name was changed to the International Miniature Aerobatic Club (Model Airplanes News, Oct 1976). While initially Lou Andrews’ Aeromaster was the primary aircraft flown by many competitors at these events, new designs quickly emerged. One such notable aircraft was the Pulsar, designed and flown by Norm Cassella, a regular competitor and winner of these early biplane events. The Pulsar was sold through Cass Engineering.  As museum staff researched the history of IMAC, the accomplishments of Mr. Cassella and his Pulsar during these early formative years became obvious. It was determined that this aircraft should be added to the museum’s collection, documenting this early biplane component of IMAC’s history. While we have unfortunately lost Mr. Cassella, his family has some of his aircraft including a Pulsar – which they have so kindly offered to the museum. The aircraft arrived at the museum late in October, 2015.

Drone racing

In the last few years, radio control drone racing has gained in popularity because of advances in batteries, electric motors, and first person view (FPV) video equipment. Go to YouTube and you can watch numerous examples of these events. As with anything, at first the races were flown by friends just trying to see who the best was but rules quickly emerged. In April of this year, as part of the DATA X Conference, in Santa Cruz, CA, this bar was raised with the first AMA sanctioned FPV Drone Racing. Scot Refsland, the organizer of the event, is helping the museum document this event and the winner, Zoe Stumbaugh, even agreed to donate her Spider Hex “Rat” racer, along with her transmitter and FPV googles. These items are now on display in the museum. Following closely on the heels of this race, the 1st US National Drone Race  was held in July at the California State Fair. 120 pilots participated in this event, with Chad Nowak from Australia taking top honor. Like Zoe, Chad has agreed to donate his winning aircraft to the museum. [caption id="attachment_2257" align="alignnone" width="1696"] Zoe Stumbaugh's Spider Hex "Rat" Racer, transmitter and FPV goggles[/caption]  

In November of 2013, one of the Academy's Life Members passed away after fighting an extended illness. As an avid modeler, and long-time AMA member, he chose to leave the AMA with the items in his estate. The Academy is now selling some of the items left in the estate to contribute to its charitable programs. We will be selling his mobile home in Marysville, WA, which is part of a 55 and older community, a very nice Lowrey organ, and a truck and 5th wheel package. The truck and 5th wheel have been added to Craigslist. If you are in or around the Seattle area, please take a moment to view the post, and share it with anyone you feel may be interested. https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/rvs/4433053872.html Please contact Mandee Mikulski, director of development for the AMA Foundation, at 765-287-1256, ext. 277 or via email, mandeem@modelaircraft.org if you would like more information.