Foundation News

Before starting at the AMA I worked for a local Chamber as the Membership Director. I really enjoyed interacting with business and community leaders. One of the people I most enjoyed talking to and working with was Charles (Chuck) Rife. Chuck was always in a good mood and was one of those people who knew a lot about all kinds of different things. He was really involved with videography, but he also was great at leading others to do great things for the city of Dunkirk. Chuck and his wife became dear friends of mine, and I truly admired the love Chuck had for his wife, his family, his friends, and his community. His other love was for aviation. He often told me about model flying, and eventually took my ex-husband under his wing and taught him to fly. When I told him I was interested in applying for a job with AMA he was so excited. He encouraged me to go for it, and was really excited when I got the job. Sadly Chuck passed away in July this year. He had been fighting illness for a long time. Aside from missing some hair, and walking a little slower—you never would have known Chuck was not 100 percent healthy. He still had a smile on his face, still checked in on me all the time, and he still did his best to come to my themed parties. The last time I talked to Chuck was weeks before he passed away. He was trying to clear out his work room so that he and Gay Ann could downsize. We talked about the donation process and he was very happy to see his models come to us to help with our efforts and to be sold to people who would really enjoy them. As always he was thinking of others before himself, and planning ahead. When we cleared out his work room Gay Ann told me I could keep an airplane shelf that he had hung up. It’s hanging in my office and I’m so proud to showcase it. Chuck will be missed by so many, and I am so happy to have known him and to make sure that his love of aviation is known and passed down to others through his collection. Mandee Mikulski Director of Development

[gallery size="medium" columns="4" ids="3176,3178,3177,3180"]

More about Chuck:

Charles (Chuck) Rife was a man who was enamored by the idea of flight, flying, planes, eagles, and everything airborne. He enjoyed sharing his love of flying with everyone with whom he came into contact. Chuck organized the Dunkirk Proptwisters Club and served as its president for twenty years and was a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics for over twenty-eight years. He was a devoted husband to his wife of fifty-seven years, Gay Ann. They had three children together and eleven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Chuck was a man with a big heart. Chuck loved his country and was a leader in his community.  He was involved with many things in his community including CASA, Junior Achievement, Job's Daughters, the Jay County Chamber of Commerce, the Dunkirk Beautification Committee, and the Dunkirk Elks Lodge.      

The AMA Scholarship Fund was created to award qualified AMA youth members with scholarships to pursue scientific/technical careers. Since its inception, AMA’s Scholarship program has bestowed over $1,000,000 in awards to college-bound aeromodelers. Donations to this fund will support our youth members who will be future leaders in aviation, technology, and science. [caption id="attachment_3101" align="alignright" width="300"] Bob Hanford[/caption] Robert “Bob” Hanford was one of the earliest recipients of an AMA scholarship. He was one of three modelers who received scholarship money in 1971. He was awarded $500, which he used to earn a bachelor of science in civil engineering from Oklahoma State University. “It paid most of my first year’s tuition—how times have changed!” Bob said of the scholarship. He applied for an AMA scholarship when he was a senior in high school. “It was a tremendous help. My parents divorced about that time, and weren’t able to help with college expenses.” Bob said after participating in the 2016 Free Flight Nats that he competed in his first Nats in 1964 when he was 11 years old. His father, a member of the 1949 US Wakefield Team, taught him how to build and fly at the age of eight. Bob’s aeromodeling experience has aided him in his career as a licensed professional engineer, and in his current position as a manager of civil/structural engineering. “The aeromodeling background definitely helped—knowing how to read and prepare drawings, spatial relations, strength of materials, and direct structural applications as I had experienced in modeling,” he commented. Over the years, hundreds of AMA youth members like Bob have benefited from the scholarship program. Donating to the AMA Scholarship Fund helps secure the future of aeromodeling's next generation.

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.

Last year I shared the experience Ben Flesher and I had when we attended Wounded Warrior Project’s VIPS Day at their headquarters in Jacksonville, FL. This was still one of the best adventures I have had at AMA. We got to learn so much and we both left knowing that our clubs had made a huge difference for veterans. While we were in one of the training sessions, we learned about WWP’s alumni programs. These are the activities they provide to veterans signed up for services the organization provides. They talked about how the veterans were given opportunities to learn new things, meet new friends, set new goals, etc. When we heard about it, I knew model flying would be the perfect activity for the veterans to learn about. It took some time, but eventually we were put in contact with Emily Gray, who helped us from start to finish to host our first Warrior Day at AMA. Our team welcomed a total of 35 people out to the International Aeromodeling Center to learn as much about model flying as possible in one day. The day started with introductions, including a welcome from Dennis Tyler, the mayor of Muncie, Dave Mathewson, AMA’s executive director, and Tim Jesky, AMA district VII vice president. We split the group up into three smaller groups and assigned a group leader for each. The groups then visited the following stations: 1: Flight simulator and buddy boxing 2: National Model Aviation Museum and hands-on activities 3: FPV racing/demonstrations with Ready Made RC. Most of the success for the day should be accredited to the great folks with the Blacksheep RC Squadron in Danville, Indiana. They came to Muncie for the entire day and really impressed our staff and each person that attended the event. With their help we put on a model airshow and everyone got to try to fly. I would like to personally thank each person that volunteered, and give special credit to Rege Hall for supporting our team by finding the volunteers and the airshow pilots. Another person who deserves a lot of credit is Deven Schei. I met Deven for the first time at the VIPS event last year. Since then, he has attended other AMA events on behalf of WWP. He’s a great speaker, a great friend to AMA, and was a great influence in introducing AMA to the decision makers at WWP. We would also like to recognize the following individuals and companies for their support: Mayor Dennis Tyler, Muncie Fire Department, Lifestream Services Inc., The Haven, Museum of the Soldier, Papa Johns, Pepsi Beverages Co., Readymade RC, Pilots Greg Alderman, Bill Gentry, Parker Hall, Rege E. Hall, Spencer Stevens, Steven Woods, and all volunteers that helped us with buddy boxing. And thank you again to the great Platinum Sponsors of this year’s National Model Aviation Day celebration who assisted us with this partnership: Ready Made RC, Hobbico, Horizon Hobby, and Hobby King Thank you to everyone that participated in this day of giving back to those who served our country!   [caption id="attachment_2998" align="alignnone" width="225"] AMA Foundation staff, Mandee Mikulski & Chrystal Pearson[/caption] Mandee Mikulski Director of Development, AMA Foundation