RNIE NIKODEM, District II associate
vice president, is a familiar face at many
events each year in the western New York
area of our district. Ernie attended the
Flying Knights of Hamburg Scale Rally and
sent the following.
“Fifty-two pilots from New York,
Pennsylvania, and Canada brought 105 scale
model aircraft to the annual Flying Knights
Scale Rally on August 4-5, 2007. Perfect
flying conditions kept the sky full both days
with warbirds, vintage models, and a wide
variety of Scale Aerobatic airplanes.
“This year’s noon flying demonstrations
for the benefit of the spectators included
Dave Landers flying his flying lawn mower
and Devon McGrath flying a Yak 54. In
addition to a full weekend of open flying,
the rally features a large pilot’s raffle and a
Saturday night picnic dinner making this a
perennial favorite and a must-attend event
for local modelers.”
On May 22, 2007, the Roxbury Area Model
Airplane Club (RAMAC) voted to give
Lifetime Member status to Carl G.
Holzwarth, honoring one of its founding
members. Mr. Holzwarth was the original
owner of the local hobby shop, Carl’s
Hobby Center, which, after opening in 1969,
co-sponsored RAMAC along with the
Roxbury Township Recreation Department.
Mr. Holzwarth clipped and saved several
articles from the local newspapers (which
are no longer in business) that outlined the
early days of the club. According to one
article, the first official club meeting was
held on November 20, 1970, at the same
school where RAMAC continues to meet.
The first club officers were elected that
night, along with Junior Club officers.
Mr. Holzwarth, 78 years young, was
unable to be at the May meeting, but was at
the June 12 meeting and shared stories of
early club events with the RAMACmembers. Attending the meeting with Mr.
Holzwarth was Nancy, his wife of 54 years,
his daughter Pat, and two of three sons, Carl
Jr. and David.
Now that Mr. Holzwarth has relocated
nearby, he’s promised to dust off that trainer
and join everyone at the club field.In early July five-year-old Sean Strader
successfully made his first solo RC flight at
the Maalwyck Park flying site of the
Electric Powered Aeromodelers (EPA) in
Scotia, New York. Sean is the son of EPA
club member Eric Strader and grandson of
model designer and author Ted Strader.
Sean flew a model called the Tarrier. It’s
an all-balsa 1960s design of his
grandfather’s, constructed and updated for
modern RC equipment and electric power
by his father. He was awarded a solo
certificate and his RC pilot wings at the
August club meeting and proudly began the
third generation of RC modeling in the
Strader family.
Since that July evening Sean has
advanced to full house models and is
currently amazing other club members with
his 3-D flying abilities.
