Working for AMA is a lot of fun. I love meeting new people and getting to visit new places. I have not had the pleasure of visiting any states east of Pennsylvania, so I was very excited to get the opportunity to visit New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York in one trip. Tony Stillman, my favorite road trip co-worker and I flew to New Hampshire and then drove to Keene, NH where we got to meet Charles and Fran Sylvia. Charles has been our most organized collection donor so far. He had his planes ready, and even had files on each one. I was so impressed! Then, he took us to see his other planes in the basement. It’s obvious that his Navy pride is strong from his collection. Charles has wonderful craftsmanship and is a true modeler. It was really great to see all of his airplanes. [caption id="attachment_3053" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Mandee and Tony at Niagra Falls[/caption] On the trip back, I did my best but could not talk Tony into stopping in New York City— even though we were really close! But, we did get to see some beautiful scenery. On the first day of our two day trip back we were getting ready to stop for the day and we saw a sign for Niagara Falls. Tony said yes-and off we went to see one of the most beautiful sights I have ever been lucky enough to see. [caption id="attachment_3054" align="alignright" width="165"]
Some of Charles' planes[/caption] The items from Charles were stored at AMA and we are going to be selling them soon at different shows and on the impending RC Resale EBay store we have created. Make sure to stay-tuned for more information. Thank you so much to Charles and his wife Fran for donating several models to the AMA Foundation for AMA’s educational/youth programs. It was a pleasure to meet you both and we look forward to seeing you again in February when we pick up more planes to sell at AMA Expo East! Mandee Mikulski Director of Development AMA Foundation More about Charles: [caption id="attachment_3052" align="alignright" width="225"]
Charles with his planes[/caption] I have been building models and flying them ever since I can remember. My first recollection is of an accident I had in carving the nose block of a model when my NO.11 knife slipped and cut a deep hole in my leg. We faced some hard times after my father passed away, which meant there was not much extra money for models. Later I flew a few free flight planes and a few control line models when I was working while in high school and had some extra bucks. My first entry into R/C was with an ACE RC pulse system which gave left rudder with one pulse and right rudder with two pulses. The range on the system was not the best and I remember I had a fly away with that system. Then came along the Bonner servos which were powered by rubber bands and gave us up elevator with right rudder. Over the years I had several Ace radios and some were very good. I also had a custom made single stick radio which I loved. I was active in South Shore RC Club which I helped start and ran the first contest for the club. We had a nice write up in the July 1962 issue of America Modeler magazine with pictures that were taken by Ken Smith. I was flying a P-51 Mustang with a .25 gas motor which flew away and was never found. This club is still active today and has a large membership that flies in Bridgewater, MA. I first entered into electric flight when I built a model from plans in one of the RC Magazines, that’s when I first came in contact with Astro Flight who are still with us today. That model had an .05 can motor and was powered by flashlight batteries. In those years I was in the Naval reserves and a Combat Air crewman and was taking training at Willow Grove Naval Air Station. On one sunny day I noticed a man flying a model not far away from the base and I met up with him. My lasting friendship with Bob Kopski, who wrote the Electric Column for AMA magazine for many years began that day and still continues. Bob taught me how to fly my first electric model and I was hooked on electric flight. During the next 12 years I attended all of the KRC electric fly’s in Pennsylvania with Bob Kopski and he attended one of my fly-ins. During that time period I started a home Hobby Business selling Astro Flight equipment and models under the name of C S Flight Systems and grew into a lasting friend ship with Astro Flight whom I visited their business out in California. My business lasted until I moved to New Mexico in 2001 when I sold out to a hobby shop. During those years I converted many gas models to electric flight with great success and was really into the electric flight so I sold all my gas models and became a true fan of electric flight. In the clubs that I belonged to in those years I was the only one flying electric, but when they saw that I was having good success they started to try electric. Today that club is still active with almost all electric flyers. Also during this period, I was active in the AMA Cub program and ran several sessions for youth. I still support this program today and have run it since moving to New Hampshire. I try to encourage the two clubs I now belong to now to run the AMA Cub program for youth. My AMA membership, AMA 16137, shows that I am a Contest Director. While in New Mexico my modeling came to almost a stand still due to my wife dying of Cancer. I can remember only flying an electric motor glider just a few times which happened to be one of Astro Flights models with a 15 Cobalt motor and Ni Cad batteries— a model I had won contests with at the KRC events. After my wife’s death I moved back East to Troy, NH in 2005 and started my modeling experience all over again since the move had cost me the loss of all the models I had in New Mexico. I started building again from kits which gave away to the ARF’s and then the BNF foam models. I loved building and I acquired several fiberglass models up to ¼ scale and of course all electric, many of these conversions from gas models. I also got into the jet EDF part of the electric flight and have many jets now up to ¼ scale. As of the first of September 2016 I had a little over 100 models in my hanger which I have been scheduling to fly on a rotational basis. However, some favorites like the FMS and E-flight T-28 models get flown more often simply because they are such good flying models. I also have an EMS fiberglass T-28 which is a very complex plane that waits its turn to fly. Now at the edge of my 80th year I am ready to down size my hanger and have made arrangements with AMA to donate to the AMA Foundation Education Fund for Youth programs. Although I am keeping just a few of my favorite models to fly.
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