ESTABLISHED IN 1969, the Model Aviation Hall of Fame
honors those men and women who have made significant
contributions to the sport of aeromodeling.
The list of members is long and distinguished. These people
have made contributions to model aviation through volunteer or
administrative activities, product development, competition
performance, or a variety or combination of activities.
The Hall of Fame Selection Committee is composed of past
AMA presidents and one Hall of Fame member selected from
each of the 11 districts by the respective vice presidents.
Each year a new class is inducted into the Model Aviation Hall
of Fame and the winners are announced in MA. Anyone may
submit a Hall of Fame nomination form.
For a nomination form or further information, contact Erin
Dobbs at (765) 287-1256, ext. 272, or find the current form online
at www.modelaircraft.org, document 152.
The committee has selected the following people for the 2009
Model Aviation Hall of Fame.
Don Anderson
Don Anderson began modeling in 1969
while attending the University of Illinois
where he graduated with a degree in
mechanical engineering.
He began working toward his MBA and
decided to go into the
wholesale RC business.
Don founded Great
Planes Model
Distributors which
bought products from
RC manufacturers and
resold them to hobby
stores.
He hired magazine
writer Eric Meyers and
the two quickly
expanded the wholesale
operation. The business
grew rapidly.
Don enjoyed Bud Nosen’s Giant Scale
designs as well as Quarter Midget (.15-
sized versions) and Pattern. He was an
active member of the Champaign Country
RC Club and served as president, vice
president, and newsletter editor. Don
organized and CDed the inaugural Great
Planes Fly-In, which was one of the first
Giant Scale fly-ins in the Midwest.
In 1981, Don decided to go into
manufacturing and purchased Bridi Hobby
Enterprises. Don struggled financially with
the manufacturing operation, while the
distributing company remained profitable.
A year later, he purchased Andrews Model
Aircraft Company. Bridi and Andrews
became the starting point for Great Planes
Model Manufacturing Company, a division
of Great Planes Model Distributors.
By 1984, Don was
making money creating
airplane kits, but interest
rates and costs continued
to drag profits down. He
sold the wholesale
operation to Clint Atkins
and used the proceeds to
get the manufacturing
division out of debt.
Atkins had also
purchased Tower
Hobbies earlier that same
year and combined the
two entities to form
Hobbico.
Don assembled a team of designers and
managers at Great Planes Model
Manufacturing including Steve Ellison,
Dave Ribbe, and Jim Schmidt. The
accounting and production operations were
computerized and the company was the
first to utilize CAD drafting in the model
airplane business.
Don was instrumental in helping form
the Radio Control Hobby Trade
Association (RCHTA). That effort
ultimately succeeded and the annual RC
trade show in Chicago became one of the
world’s largest.
Don sold Great Planes Model
Manufacturing to Hobbico in 1991 and
became a senior vice president in charge of
product development. He was involved in
all of Hobbico’s proprietary product lines.
Currently Don is the president of the
company.
Don is a member of AMA’s Marketing
Committee that drafted a proposal to
implement the new Park Pilot membership.
For his work, he was awarded AMA’s
President’s Award in February, 2008.
Don Anderson has continually
remained an ardent model airplane
enthusiast. He attends consumer shows and
enjoys talking with customers. He still
appreciates a good airplane kit and has an
active role in overseeing all of Hobbico’s
design and development, in addition to
having ultimate responsibility for all of its
service and support sections.
Don has helped organize and/or sponsor
the XFC and E-Fest. He still occasionally
flies models for fun and enjoys it most
with close friends.
His companies and Hobbico have been
directly responsible for producing many of
the products available today. Don has had
a hand in everything from RealFlight
simulators to airplane kits and accessories,
to model engines, RC boats, helicopters,
and cars.
Don has been married to his wife,
Paula, for 38 years. His family includes
their three daughters, two sons-in-law, and
two grandchildren.
Don’s support of and involvement in
model aviation, the hobby industry, and
AMA continues to be a constant in his life.
Charles Brebeck
Charles Brebeck began his career with
rebuilding auto and truck rear axles and
brakes as the Interstate Bearing Company.
The business prospered and Charles
expanded into supplying other parts. One
day his son brought home a friend’s model
car engine to see if Charles could fix it.
Charles had been looking for something
he could manufacture and sell without
being a middleman, and model engines
became this product. Charles studied the
engine his son brought home and, based on
his knowledge of two-stoke motorcycle
engines and his own technical abilities, he
designed his own.
In 1938, Charles formed the Herkimer
Tool and Model Company to manufacture
his engines. A year later he obtained a
patent for improvements to engine design,
to minimize heat distortion and facilitate
economical manufacture.
Charles Brebeck’s engines were known
as OK Engines. Between 1939 and 1949,
thousands of OK engines were produced.
The initial product was a .60 displacement
engine, which was soon followed by a 1.2
twin version for military target drone
application, .49s, various .29s, the Bantam
.19, and the Brown CO2.
Charles held a patent for a method to
fabricate a model engine crankshaft using
a cooling jig to prevent welding heat from
softening and distorting the assembly. He
also received two patents for sine bars, one
of which facilitated bevel-gear
manufacture and was widely used during
the World War II.
In 1949, K&B took the modeling world
by storm with the Infant .020. In the
summer of 1949, Herkimer came out with
the OK Cub, the first real mass-produced
.049. Later in the year, Charles introduced
the Anderson Baby Spitfire .045. The OK
Engine business blossomed and by the end
of 1949, there were OK Cubs in .049, .074,
and .099 displacements. Charles was
making engines for any slot required
because modelers were becoming
enamored with smaller models.
In August 1950, Charles introduced the
OK Power Kit, an OK Cub (.049) that was
sold disassembled. All parts were fully
machined and it only required screwdriverand-
wrench assembly, but a boy could
brag, “I built my own engine!” Later in the
year, Charles introduced the .039.
Recognizing the growing need for glow
plugs, he arranged to use the Shereshaw
and Swanson plugs in all of his engines
and market them under the OK name.
Realizing American fliers wanted to
compete in FAI competition, Charles
designed and introduced the OK Cub .14
(2.5cc) in 1952.
Diesels and smaller displacements were
popular in postwar Europe and the United
Kingdom. Charles introduced his first
diesels in 1cc (.06) and 2.5cc (.149)
displacements.
Charles Brebeck was a talented
designer, but also a successful
businessman. Many great products have
suffered because of quality and supply
programs or because no one knew about
them. Such was not the case with Charles.
His chosen business was to supply
modelers with affordable and reliable
engines. In 1952 Herkimer was making
more than 1,000 engines a day. He
advertised in Air Trails, Model Airplane
News, Flying Models, Boy’s Life, Popular
Science, and Science & Mechanics because
he wanted prospective modelers to know
about his product.
By the end of 1953, Herkimer had sold
more than a million engines, had 700
distributors, and was carried by 4,400
dealers.
Charles had a deal with Jim Walker to
use the new Cub .049X exclusively in the
Firebaby. When the ready-to-fly business
started, he supplied engines to Comet for
the Sabre 44 and subsequent models.
Charles added .049 and .075 diesels, a
couple of .049 variations, a .19, newly
designed .29
and .35, and a
tiny .024. The
Herkimer OK
line was one
of the most
complete in
existence.
A large
number of
companies
recommended
OK Cubs for
powering
their models.
You probably
never saw
Scientific kit
plans that
didn’t show a
Cub in the nose. Walter Musciano, Paul
Plecan, and Paul Del Gato designs
generally showed an OK Cub for power.
Charles passed away in April of 1963.
His Hall of Fame sponsor, William
Mohrbacher, wrote: “There is no doubt
that without Charles Brebeck’s designs and
marketing, thousands of modelers may
never have entered our hobby.”
Henry “Hank” Cole
Henry Cole’s fascination for flying
models began in the mid-1930s, when he
built a rubber-powered Cabin model by
Frank Zaic from plans in Popular
Mechanics.
The model
flew well and
Hank was soon
known as “that
crazy kid
down the
block whose
airplane was
landing on top
of houses and in backyards.”
In 1938, the Tacoma Public Schools
and the Tacoma News Tribune in Tacoma,
Washington, sponsored a contest at
Mueller Harkins airport. At the contest, he
placed second and met Chuck Hollinger,
who ran a model shop, and other model
builders who belonged to a club called the
Tacoma Gas Wings.
Hank spent much time at the library
reading NACA (National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics) reports, which
led him to his first original design: a
larger-than-usual, hand-launch glider with
swept-back tips. This model won the 1939
TNT contest and others. The plans were
published in 1946.
In 1940, five Tacoma Gas Wings
members drove 2,000 miles to the Chicago
Nationals. There they met modelers such
as Frank Zaic, Bill Winter, Carl Goldberg,
Sal Taibi, Dick Korda, Chet Lanzo, and
Walt Good. Hank flew his original-design,
rubber-powered Cabin model Stratosphere,
which was published in Model Airplane
News, June 1941.
Hank and Chuck Hollinger attended the
1941 Nats and had two more models
accepted for publication. Hank’s Smoothie
has many fans around the world even
today. The three-view plans, drawn by
Douglas Rolfe, were a work of art. The
plans have also been drawn by Jim
O’Reilly, and a kit was produced by Bob
Holman.
In 1942, Hank was studying
aeronautical engineering at the University
of Washington and working part-time in
the wind tunnel project. The Davis airfoil,
used on the Liberator in World War II,
came in for a test. Hank found that the
airfoil was generated by a set of equations
from which all kinds of airfoils could be
defined. From these he selected five
airfoils suitable for models and they were
published in Air Trails, May 1942. The
Davis 3 has been widely used on F1B
aircraft and the Davis 5 on gas models.
Hank started experimenting with flying
wings and used equations to generate a
stable airfoil that worked well on a hi-start
model. He designed and flew an Ohlsson
.23-powered pusher gas model called the
Dry Duck. The engine could not be dunked
even when it flipped upside down.
World War II suspended Hank’s FF
activities, but the Navy allowed him to
complete his degree before sending him to
the South Pacific on an aircraft carrier. The
work Henry did in 1942 was published in
Air Trails and Air Trails Model Annual in
1944.
While Hank was on the aircraft carrier,
he built an Elf-powered flying wing CL
model. As construction progressed, the
pilots on the ship were divided about
whether or not it would fly. When it was
finished Hank and some of the pilots took
it out on one of the islands and cranked it
up. It took about a half circle to get off, but
it did fly. When he landed it, Hank noticed
that money was changing hands among the
pilots.
After the war Hank was assigned to
Alameda Naval Air Station. He joined the
East Bay Aeroneers and became friends
with Don Foote and Bud Romak. Hank
built a gas model, the Asymmetrical
Pusher, which he flew in a contest and
came in second to Don’s Westerner.
Meanwhile, Chuck Hollinger was getting a
model shop going in Seattle, which he and
Henry planned to run upon Hank’s release
from the Navy.
While still in the Bay Area, Hank
bought kits from distributors in San
Francisco for the shop. On May 1, 1946,
he headed to Seattle but stayed in contact
with Don Foote for many years.
Hank and Chuck opened Aero-Craft
Model Shop in Seattle. The pair customcut
balsa and helped customers start
engines and fly their airplanes. As the
aircraft industry started to recover
following the war, they closed the shop
and moved on to better opportunities.
Hank returned to college to obtain a
master’s degree in aeronautical
engineering.
Hank reported many memorable
moments during his model aviation career
including his first Nationals win in Dallas
where Arthur Godfrey presented him with
the Mulvihill trophy. Another
unforgettable experience was in 1955
when he made the U.S. Nordic Team and
traveled to Germany.
Hank held records in A Speed, Nordic,
and Wakefield. He was elevated to AMA
Fellow in 1959 and inducted into the
National Free Flight Society and Society
of Antique Modelers halls of fame.
Joseph H. Ehrhardt
“Joseph Henry Ehrhardt is an enigma to
model aviation historians. Twice National
Champion, and twice Wakefield
Champion, ‘Joe who?’” wrote Charles
Rushing, Hall of Fame sponsor.
Joe, from St. Louis, Missouri, won the
AMLA-NAA (Airplane Model League of
America-National Aeronautic Association)
National Outdoor Championships in 1930
and 1931, including the grand prize: a onemonth
trip to Europe given by the
American Boy magazine to all winners of
Scale, Indoor, and Outdoor national
championships. While in England, Joe,
Bill Chaffee, and Ray Thompson entered
and flew in the Society of Model
Aeronautical Engineers Wakefield
International Trophy model airplane meet.
The Americans flew all-balsa airplanes—a
type unheard of in England.
Their 4-ounce aircraft competed against
the British Wakefield team’s models built
from hardwood, wire, and silk, and
weighing as much as 12 ounces.
The contest was held at Halton
Airdrome on July 19, 1930, during a storm
with wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour.
Alex Imrie and Denis Fairlie, English
historians for Aeromodeler, recalled in a
letter dated February 23, 1997:
“Furthermore, according to eyewitness
B.K. Johnson, this Ehrhardt model didn’t
really fly ‘properly,’ it blew along
tumbling in the stiff wind.” Yet Joe’s
Wakefield had the highest time of the day
at Halton—259 seconds—to win the
Wakefield Trophy for the USA.
The following year, the Wakefield
International Trophy contest was held on
June 30, 1931, at the US Army Air Corps’
Wright-Patterson Field, near Dayton, Ohio,
following the National Model Airplane
meet sponsored by the NAA and AMLA.
This was the first time that the
Wakefield contest was held outside of
England. Joe qualified for the first US
Wakefield Team Trials. With a flight of
264.8 seconds, he won the Wakefield
Trophy to become the first two-time
winner and the first American to win the
Wakefield International Trophy.
Today as we look at Joe Ehrhardt’s
record of modeling achievements, it is hard
to imagine that his memory has been swept
into the dustbin of time. He was inducted
into the National Free Flight Society’s
(NFFS) Hall of Fame through the efforts of
Jim Bennett in 1991, but all traces of him
seem to vanish after he competed in the
1932 Wakefield contest.
Before writing this biography, Charles
Rushing called the NFFS, the Society of
Antique Modelers (SAM), and the AMA
libraries in search of background
information about Joe, but it was to no
avail.
Jim Bennett, who nominated Joe for the
NFFS Hall of Fame in 1991, and Ernst
Johnson, who gave Charles the astonishing
photograph of Joe at Halton in 1930, have
helped to clear up part of this mystery.
Charles’ only other resource was the 1982
Frank Zaic copy of the publication Model
Airplane and the American Boy 1927-
1934. From here the trail of history
concerning Joesph Henry Ehrhardt seems
to vanish.
“As caretakers of aeromodeling history
in the United States, we have this
opportunity to keep Joseph Henry
Ehrhardt’s memory alive, by bestowing
our medal of honor upon him and
inducting him into the Model Aviation
Hall of Fame,” Charles wrote.
“Joe Ehrhardt was as much a leading
pioneer of model aviation as were Gordon
Light, James Cahill, Dick Korda, George
Reich, and Bob White. I know that each of
these past great American Wakefield
Champions would have wondered why
Joesph Henry Ehrhardt wasn’t standing
ahead of them! Please give this forgotten
American Wakefield International Trophy
and National Champion ‘All American
Boy’ his just honor.”
William O. Hershberger
William “Bill” Hershberger was born
on May 29, 1916, and spent his early years
in Ohio. Inspired by Charles Lindbergh’s
1927 solo flight across the Atlantic, Bill
taught himself to build and fly models.
Bill graduated from Valparaiso
Technical Institute in Indiana with a
degree in radio broadcasting and electronic
engineering. He first worked for the Sears
Roebuck Company, where he serviced the
company’s defective radio broadcast
receivers, eventually transferring to the
Atlanta, Georgia, branch of Sears.
Atlanta was the home base for Delta
Airlines, and air transportation relied
heavily on reliable communication
equipment. Bill was able to expand his
technical experience beyond a simple
entertainment receiver to full-fledged
communication systems.
Bill joined the Army at the onset of
World War II, and eventually found
himself stationed at Fort Hunt in Virginia,
working on various assignments including
the Manhattan Project and radar research.
Reading the news of successful RC
flights in model magazines, Bill visited
Corr’s Hobby Shop in Washington D.C.,
and returned to the base with an FF kit for
a five-foot-span Standard Buccaneer, and
determined that the aircraft would no
longer be flying free. He designed and
constructed a lightweight, single-tube
receiver and a transmitter that successfully
controlled the Buccaneer. The year was
1944 and the Buccaneer is still in his stable
of models and has served as a test bed for
many of Bill’s original RC systems.
After the war, he became a technical
officer with the Voice of America (VOA)
in its high-powered broadcast stations in
Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
Upon returning from Europe in 1955,
he was stationed near Washington D.C.
where he joined the newly formed District
of Columbia Radio Control Club (DCRC).
Other members included RC innovators
Walt Good and Maynard Hill. Bill was
welcomed as a contributor to the relatively
new RC hobby.
In 1984, at the request of AMA
Frequency Committee Chairman Fred
Marks, Bill joined the committee. The
committee’s main focus at that time was
the transition of the old wideband RC
frequencies to the 80 newly acquired
narrowband frequencies.
Bill spent many hours defining a
relatively easy procedure to evaluate the
performance of RC transmitters according
to AMA guidelines. Independent
conversion verification became necessary
when the FCC agreed to permit conversion
of old transmitters to the new frequencies.
Bill’s work was the foundation of
AMA’s Gold Sticker Program that was
implemented nationwide. Bill and other
Frequency Committee members evaluated
transmitters and isolated unacceptable ones
from those that met the guidelines.
The FCC staff was acquainted with Bill
from when he represented the VOA. A
visit with old friends alerted Bill to FCC
Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NRPM)
92-235. The FCC proposed to split the 72-
76 channels to establish 200 new 72-76
MHz channels for low-power mobile use
in the general category pool. Many of
these new land mobile frequencies would
be only 2.5 kHz removed from the RC
frequencies. Bill’s analysis of the potential
interference to RC made it clear that the
AMA needed to take immediate action to
oppose this NPRM.
The committee initiated a multipronged
effort to address this potential threat to RC
flying safety. The FCC invited the AMA to
conduct testing to provide empirical data
on the impact of the proposed land-mobile
operation on RC. The committee asked
Bill, George Steiner, and Warren Plohr to
conduct flight tests at the AMA’s
International Aeromodeling Center in
Muncie, Indiana.
A report of the flight tests,
“Experimental Evaluation of 72 MHz Land
Mobile Operation on Radio Control Model
Aircraft,” by William O. Hershberger,
George Steiner, and Warren Plohr, was
released as an AMA technical report in
May 1993. The reported flight-test data
confirmed earlier analyses that a 10 kHz
separation between land-mobile and RC
frequencies was necessary to avoid harm to
the RC hobby and public safety. The FCC
retained the 10 kHz separation as
requested by the AMA.
Born in May 1916, Bill is still actively
pursuing the model aviation hobby. His
curiosity has led him to flight-test the
limitations of 2.4 GHz equipment. His
latest interest is in the technology of small
unmanned aircraft systems.
David Johnson
David Johnson began modeling in the
1930s, building solid models, then stickand-
paper flying scale models, followed by
rubber-powered and gas-powered FF
models, leading to RC in the 1960s.
He did not record his competition
activities in the early days, but remembers
his first trophy, for building the Megow
Gulf Hawk, complete with detailed engine,
and the controls working from the cockpit,
but he puts more emphasis on meeting
fellow modelers and making new friends.
In 1972, with three years of experience
in RC piloting, Dave began instructing
beginner pilots in California. To date, he
estimates that he successfully soloed more
than 100 students, who have continued to
participate.
David is particularly proud to have
developed a method to instruct hearingimpaired
pilots. Using an assistant on the
buddy box, Dave stands behind the student
and lightly presses on his or her shoulders
to indicate the direction and amount of
control needed. The method is highly
successful.
In 1976, he was inspired to celebrate
the US Bicentennial by being the first
person to fly an RC airplane across the
Arctic Circle. Dave, his wife, and their
poodle drove up to Yellowknife in
Canada’s Northwest Territories in their
camper to visit with friends Dave had
made while collecting gems and minerals.
On July 12, Dave made several passes
across the Arctic Circle before making
several attempts to land safely. The flight
is fully documented by the Polar Bear
chapter of the Order of Arctic Adventures,
and records and photos reside in the
museum in Yellowknife. The airplane,
radio, and certificate of performance are
displayed in the National Model Aviation
Museum at the International Aeromodeling
Center in Muncie, Indiana.
Dave’s first love is Giant Scale. In
recognition of his achievements in
promoting aeromodeling and his
pioneering spirit, Dave was presented with
the coveted Waldo Award. He has several
walls festooned with plaques, certificates
of achievement, and photos from more
than 60 years of modeling.
After retiring in 1980, Dave started a
four-year series of road trips, representing
Kraft Radio. He traveled the contiguous
states and Alaska, living out of his camper.
He visited hobby shops and local clubs and
demonstrated Kraft equipment for the local
fliers with his squadron of Ugly Sticks.
Dave also had a slide show of his
Arctic Flight, and would present it to any
club that asked. He soon had clubs
checking to see when he’d be in town, and
scheduling him into their meetings.
Dave was the first non-Northrop
employee to serve as Northrop RC Club
president. He has been a member and
officer in several clubs including the
Hemet Model Masters, where he was
president for three years. As president of
the Valley Wide RC Glider Club, he was
instrumental in obtaining its flying site and
winch equipment. As a longtime CD, he
regularly conducts sanctioned club
activities.
In July 2000, Dave became a Life
Member of the Palomar RC Flyers after he
performed his slide show program
covering his Arctic Circle flight. He has
given this presentation many times across
the country and has honed the pace and
witty remarks to a fine edge. A videotape
of this show is available at the National
Model Aviation Museum.
Dave can be found at the Hemet Model
Masters field or the Valley Wide Glider
field in California most days of the week,
including Saturday and Sunday when there
isn’t a fly-in at one of the many Southern
California club sites. He is comfortable
performing Precision Aerobatics with his
1/4-scale Bravo or clowning around with
his favorite 1/4-scale Cub.
At age 85, Dave is an inspiration and
still devotes valuable time encouraging
younger fliers. Dave has made many
contributions to model aviation, and it
would be hard to find someone who enjoys
it more.
Phil Klintworth
Phil Klintworth started building models
in 1936 at age 12. When he was in the
ninth grade, he got a job working in the
local model shop, where he worked until
high school graduation.
Phil began experimenting with gas
models. He wrote, “My first engine was an
Atom. My first gas model win was with a
baby Zipper wing and tail and a balsa
fuselage that looked like a Wedgy.”
Phil built a Comet Mercury with an
Ohlsson .23. The hot engine was too much
for the Mercury in those days. Instead he
decided to build a Zipper for the Ohlsson.
In the winter of 1941, Phil flew every
Sunday off the ice at Lake Lansing, which
led to a first at the Nats, the state meet, and
a number of other meets that year.
After earning a mechanical engineering
degree at Michigan State, Phil went to
work for Boeing in Seattle where he met
Chuck Hollinger and Hank Cole. This was
the start of a lifelong kinship with Hank.
They still occasionally attend meets
together. While in Seattle, Phil did some
Wakefield building and flying, winning a
few contests.
In 1952, Phil moved to the Detroit area
where he worked for the Chrysler
Corporation and became involved in
sailing. He and one of his co-workers built
a couple of Lightning Sail Boats. Phil
raced them until 1958 when he got back
into aeromodeling.
With the acquaintance of Bob
Bienenstein, Ed Stoll, Carl Redlin, and
Dick Kowlaski, Phil got involved with
Indoor FF. His first efforts were Gas and
Towline Glider. Phil joined the Detroit
Balsa Bugs club.
Making the Nordic Team in 1969 and
winning the Mulvihill Trophy in 1972, Phil
married Carl Redlin’s sister, Betty, and got
involved in a new home and all that goes
with it.
Phil retired from Chrysler in April
1980. He did some consulting work for a
few years and moved south in 1985 to
Lake Cumberland in Kentucky. In 1968 he
designed and built a new home on a lake in
a resort community of Fairfield Glade,
Tennessee, where he still resides.
Phil got back into modeling, attending a
couple of Nats and Indoor World
Championships in Johnson City,
Tennessee, as a spectator. He attended a
meet at Lost Hills, California, with Hank
Cole, where Bud Romak talked him into
going to the SAM Champs in Jean,
Nevada. It was there that Phil was sold on
the SAM organization and the
Championships. He hasn’t missed many
SAM Champs or Nats since.
While he hasn’t tried RC flying, Phil
says he’s about to start. In Phil’s
community, a group of model sailboat
enthusiasts races once a week on the lake
and Phil is beginning to participate.
He is an active member of AMA,
NFFS, and SAM.
He’s met many friends throughout the
country and the world and still sees fellow
modelers who attended the 1941 Nats. Phil
wrote, “All of these friendships mean so
much to me. The Detroit Balsa Bug
experience was a great one. Now living
where I am—being one of only a few
rubber-powered Free Flighters in the
state—makes me appreciate the Balsa
Bugs even more.”
Warren Kurth
Warren Kurth was born on April 5,
1933, in Bloomington, Illinois. His
modeling career began with a sheet-balsa
model kit when he was six years old. He
was an assistant instructor at a YMCA
model building class during junior high
school. Warren lectured on model building
and flew Control Line demonstrations and
taught a model building class at the
community center for disadvantaged boys
when he was in high school.
Warren received his degree in
mechanical engineering from Purdue
University and joined the Air Force in
1955. He was on the Air Force Nats team
and won the 1/2A Speed event at the 1957
Nats.
Warren designed several models in his
career including the Miniball, Jetstream,
Hedgehopper, Peetriot, and the infamous
Peanut. The Miniball, first published in
Model Airplane News, October 1970, had
seven National AMA records in 1/2A Proto
Speed in Open, Junior, and Senior classes
between 1968 and 1972.
Warren’s Jetstream also won many
trophies in 1959, 1960, and 1961. The
Jetstream set three national AMA records
in 1959 and the early 1960s.
Several of Warren’s historical kits and
complete airplanes were donated to the
National Model Aviation Museum. His
Peanut and Jetstream kits are displayed in
the 1950s hobby shop exhibit in the
museum.
Warren was the first to design, cast, and
use aluminum speed pans on 1/2A Speed
models. Using a high-speed strobe light, he
discovered that sub-piston air induction
engines in enclosed speed cowls would
suck exhaust back into the engine. As a
result, Warren pioneered the popular,
open-face, half cowl as seen on his Peanut.
Warren designed and cast aluminum
speed pans in 1/2A, A, and B sizes that
were used by several Nats winners. He
designed two sizes of magnesium 1/2A
Speed pans for Harter’s Hobby Products in
the late 1950s. Tens of thousands were
sold either in Peanut kits or packaged
separately.
During the late 1960s, Warren designed
and produced the screw-machined parts for
all sizes of the H & R Torque Transfer
Units (CL Speed) distributed by Bill’s
Miniature Engines.
Warren had a hand in the engineering
and development of the Shuriken line of
1/2A engines in 1989 and 1990. Although
the engine won several national
championships for Warren, production was
limited to approximately 300.
Working with Larry Conover, Warren
co-authored a series of feature articles on
engine hop-up techniques titled “Hot
Engines” in American Modeler. Eighteen
of Warren’s articles and plans were
published in American Modeler, Model
Airplane News, Model Builder, the British
1971-1972 Aeromodeller Annual, the
North American Speed Society’s Speed
Times, NFFS’s Free Flight Digest, the
German 1971 Flug & Modell Technik, and
Frank Ehling’s AMA Kit Plan Book, Vol. I.
Warren was actively involved in many
aeromodeling organizations. He was the
treasurer for the Bloomington, Illinois,
club for two years while still in junior high
school. Warren served as the volunteer
officer-in-charge of the hobby workshops
and all modeling activities at Keesler Air
Force Base for two years and reorganized
the defunct Keesler Model Airplane Club,
including securing a concrete apron for the
club members to fly CL.
He organized model-flying
demonstrations for the general public
during base open houses on holidays.
Warren even organized trips and arranged
transportation for the club members to
various regional contests.
Back in civilian life in 1958, Warren
designed cranes and hoists for Conco
Engineering Works before moving into the
automotive industry. Warren worked for
Walker Manufacturing Company as a
product development engineer and then as
a process development engineer,
developing new rubber gaskets and an
accelerated process to life-test them, which
facilitated the easy removal of used spinon,
can-type engine oil filters.
In 1964, he developed automotive
manufacturing applications using newly
invented computer-controlled robotics. He
was one of the patent holders on the
world’s first commercially successful,
computer-controlled robot. Additionally,
Warren initiated the use of freewheeling
robots to enable the programming of them
“off-line,” away from the production floor.
Warren has been an AMA Leader
Member since 1962. He served as a CL
Contest Board member for two years and
has volunteered several days each year as
an official at the AMA Nats. He usually
volunteers as a CL Speed official and
returns later to volunteer two or three more
days as an FF official.
Warren has always been generous to
AMA. He contributed to the “Dump the
Deficit” campaign, contributed funds to
the start-up of the North American Speed
Society, and is a longtime National Model
Aviation Museum Patron, NFFS
Symposium Patron, and NFFS Foundation
Donor. Warren is also a member of the
Frank Zaic Fellowship.
In 1954, Warren was on the cover of
the November issue of the Exchangite, the
official publication of the National
Exchange Club, when the organization
began co-sponsoring model contests with
the AMA. At the 1998 Celebration of
Eagles, Warren received the AMA Pioneer
Award.
In Warren’s HOF nomination, his
sponsor, Roald Tweet, wrote: “[Warren is]
believed to be the first and only Speed flier
to pilot his own model at 50 different
Nats.”
John A. Spaulding
In 1936, John Spaulding was 10, his
brother was seven, and times were
exciting. Warplanes were in the news and
the brothers poured over every item, and
John became hooked on aviation. During
World War II, he built 1/72-scale wooden
models of military aircraft that were used
to train people to recognize friendly and
enemy airplanes.
After the war, John and his modeling
friends founded the Minneapolis Piston
Pals, the first of several model airplane
clubs that John organized. The teenagers
flew their CL models at various fields and
frozen lakes.
John’s move to Boston in 1948 did not
dampen his enthusiasm for modeling. With
the help and support of other modelers, he
formed a new club, the Piston Pals of
Watertown.
John tried his hand at owning and
operating a hobby shop specializing in
model airplane kits and supplies, but gave
it up after a year. He was drafted in 1950
and spent the next four years in the
military, where he occasionally had the
opportunity to fly CL.
In 1958, John built his first RC model,
Gramps, which was designed by Bill
Winter in consultation with Hal deBolt. It
flew successfully, but control was
primitive by today’s standards. Living near
Washington D.C., John joined the District
of Columbia Radio Control Club (DCRC).
In 1965 John became an AMA CD and
Leader Member. DCRC held annual
symposiums for many years and John was
active in these, chairing one in 1966. This
led to running Pattern contests,
symposiums, and eventually he assumed
the role of club president.
John formed an action committee to
rewrite the constitution and bylaws to
install a board of directors to do the club’s
business so the membership meetings
could be educational and entertaining
affairs. The club grew to more than 300
members.
His many activities with DCRC led to
meetings with John Worth and other AMA
leaders. He was encouraged to run for
District IV vice president in 1973, and in
that position he supported moving AMA
Headquarters to a centrally located site
with a flying field. John used his business
background to suggest new ways of
utilizing insurance that changed the AMA
insurance concept. Using the EAA model
as an example, John was a forceful
proponent of the in-house magazine
concept, which eventually resulted in
publishing Model Aviation in 1976.
John was rewarded with the
Meritorious Service Award. He also
received the Al Montzka Outstanding
Service Award from DCRC.
In 1972 John was one of the organizers
of the Prince Georges County RC Club
(PGRC) that is one of the major
Washington D.C.-area clubs to this day.
John taught a course in the art of
building full-scale aircraft with wood at
the Harford Community College. For this
course he received an award for the most
informational program from Chapter IV of
the EAA located at College Park,
Maryland.
Retired in 1996, John moved to the
Eastern Shore of Maryland. There, with a
few other retired modelers, he formed the
Shorebirds RC Club and chartered it with
AMA.
John has made his retirement home in
Ocean Pines a modeler’s dream. He has
built a complete workshop addition to his
house. It has an air vacuum system and
paint room. One room is a library of model
magazines and literature dating back to the
1940s with a drafting table for model
design. John’s workshop and loft contain
approximately 90 completed models that
he has built, including a full-scale
ultralight.
He continued to spread the joys of
modeling by teaching a course at the
University of Maryland Eastern Shore on
model building and aerodynamics.
“If ever there was a modeler who had
devoted a major part of his life to the
promotion of the model airplane hobby, it
is John A. Spaulding,” wrote his induction
sponsor, Bill Cavanaugh.
Alfred Stegens
“It is a rare occurrence in our hobby
where it can be said that mentoring offered
by one person could help place all three
fliers on the team that would represent the
United States in F2A [CL Speed]
competition at the world Control Line
meet,” wrote David Mark, Alfred
Stegens’s Hall of Fame sponsor.
Al’s interest in model airplanes started
in 1943, when he heard a model airplane
engine running in a neighbor’s back yard.
This lured the 13-year-old Al into a
lifelong fascination and love of model
airplane flying. With money earned from
his paper route, Al bought a used Cannon
.29 ignition engine from his neighbor and
mounted it on an SF Hawker Hurricane kit
that he purchased from Ed Packard at
Cleveland Model & Supply. He joined the
American Airlines Gas Model Club and
flew on Sundays in a nearby park during
World War II.
In 1947, Al designed an airplane with
1.5-inch Heliarc wheels, mounted his RB
Special .29, and tested it. Other modelers
were running Forster .29s and Delong .30s,
which had top speeds of 85 mph.
Fueled with Francisco Power Mist
Green Label, which came in a clear glass
bottle and turned dark brown when
exposed to sunlight, Al flew 90 mph on his
first test flight. A week later, at the
Cleveland Jr. Air Races, Al turned 102
mph in his first flight and won the .29
Class B Speed event handily, with the
fastest-ever recorded time in Class B .29.
After the race, Andy and Fred Packard
offered Al a full-time job at Cleveland
Model & Supply. For the next six years,
while working at Cleveland Model &
Supply, Al competed regularly in local and
regional events in Ann Arbor, Akron,
Detroit, and other locations in Class B and
C events.
In 1947, Al set a Class B world record
of 116.13 mph. In 1950 in Detroit, in a
Chrysler-sponsored event, he set a Speed
record of 128 mph, but the McCoy engine
had a cracked crankcase, so Al repaired it
with his Dremel and longer head bolt.
Returning to the field, Al turned 134
mph, a US record. In the same meet, Al
took second and third in two other events.
Following a stint in the Army, Al went
to work with his father and grandfather in
the family distribution business, while
continuing to fly in his free time. He
joined the 100-member Lakewood Flight
Masters Club and became involved in the
standing-start .29 Proto class.
Al’s ongoing experiments with
propellers and engines enabled him to
reach 125 mph in 1958 in B .29 Proto
Class. Because he couldn’t buy Class D
propellers, he and Carl Dodge designed
and built mechanized equipment to
manufacture 95/8-inch diameter, 11-inchpitch
hard maple propellers, which they
sold for 50¢ each.
In 1959, Al married his wife Lois. The
same year he switched to the K&B .15 and
.29 displacement engines. K&B Chief
Engineer Bill Wisniewski and Al remained
good friends and competitors until Bill
passed away in 2007.
Al had earned a growing reputation for
innovative engines, propeller design, and
speed. He and Carl Dodge, a Purdue
engineering graduate, flew every Sunday at
local and regional events, winning often.
In 1965, they made their way to Willow
Grove Naval Air Station to compete in the
Nationals.
Bill Wisniewski told them it would be
necessary to run 170 mph in B Speed if
they wanted to beat Jim Nightingale, a
West Coast flier, who was running a K&B
modified “Wart.” The event went to Al and
Carl, who placed the winning speed on
their third flight at slightly more than 170
mph to Jim’s 169 mph. The next day, Al
and Carl took first place in .29 Proto,
turning 138.5 mph.
Except for his years in military service,
Al had competed in all of Nationals since
his first in 1946.
In 1966, Al and Carl ventured into Class
D, .60-.65 displacement competition with a
new Rossi .60 engine. At a regional
competition in Detroit, using a homemade
propeller, they turned 180 mph, a speed not
yet officially reached, for a first-place
finish.
Al and Carl further modified the Rossi
and flew it to a Class D record and firstplace
finish at 184.16 mph at the 1966
Nationals.
Al and Carl bought several TWA FAI
engines from Bill Wisniewski with plans to
compete in the .15-displacement class A
Speed. At the Chicago Glenview Nationals,
they took first place with a speed of 164.10
mph. Bill Wisniewski, who had designed
and built their engine, finished second at
163.57 mph.
Al’s collection of trophies grew so
large that it filled his basement and was
eventually moved into storage. At one
time, he held US National Speed records in
1/2A Speed, B Speed, B Proto, and C
Speed.
In 1984, Al competed in an impromptu
1/2A Speed Race international event with a
run of 118.7 mph, which was good enough
for first place. In 1985, he introduced .21
Sport Speed. He drafted a set of rules and
continued to fly provisional races until the
early 1990s, when .21 Sport Speed became
a recognized event.
In 1987, Al teamed with Chris
Montagino and the pair continue to
compete in events in the Midwest.
Al’s full-time job at Cleveland kept him
busy, but it didn’t stop him from flying. He
continued to pile up wins at local events
while becoming more involved in
mentoring new fliers and officiating.
In 2001, he came back full force taking
first in Cincinnati in .21 Sport Speed with
150.07 mph. From 2002 through 2006, he
had four firsts, five seconds, four thirds,
and one fifth-place finish. In 2004, with 18
countries competing in the F2A World
Championships in Muncie, Indiana, he
served as an official timer.
Al retired from Cleveland after 45
years; he was chief engineer during the last
20. He was granted 20 design patents and
was inducted into the Vacuum Dealers
Trade Association Hall of Fame for his
contributions to the industry.
Al plans to continue competing. “His
wins are only surpassed by his innovations,
contributions to the sport, and his
eagerness to mentor youth and young
fliers,” sponsor David Mark wrote. “Al’s
unselfish giving of time and experience to
officiate and a unique memory makes him
the unofficial historian of Speed model
flying. After more than six decades, he has
earned and is worthy of serious
consideration for induction into the Model
Aviation Hall of Fame.”
Robert Thacker
Tora Tora Tora! is a film history of the
Pearl Harbor attack, as seen from both
sides. One of the early action scenes depicts
a group of B-17s attempting to land at Pearl
Harbor in the early moments of the attack.
This event marks the beginning of life
in the US Army Air Corps for Lieutenant
Robert (Bob) Thacker. The flight began in
Los Angeles many hours earlier with Bob
at the controls and an Air Corps Cadet as
his navigator. As they approached the
field, clouds of smoke were rising. Not
until their final approach, with Japanese
fighters shooting at them, did they realize
how much in harm’s way they were.
An illustrious career in aviation began
for “Col. Bob” in 1926. He was eight years
old when he and two of his friends built
their first model airplane. To their surprise,
it flew very well, and with the success of
building and flying his first model
airplane, Col. Bob said, “I was hooked on
aviation for the rest of my life.”
Bob built and flew every type of model
airplane that he could get his hands on.
Not only did he learn the fine art of
building and flying model airplanes of all
types, he also learned why they flew and
how their performance could be improved.
One of his proudest moments was getting a
30-minute flight with a Carl Goldberg
microfilm model at the Chicago Nationals.
With this knowledge, and his aviation
background in modeling, he was fully
prepared to become a Flying Cadet in the
United States Army Air Corps at the age of
18. He continued to build and fly model
airplanes and compete in events during his
military years.
Bob recalls that his first RC endeavor
took place while on tour in Japan, flying a
Smog Hop on Galloping Ghost. His first
real RC success came when he was
stationed in Oslo, Norway, in 1968 with an
Orbit employing small servos.
Col. Bob enjoyed a long and exceptional
career in the Air Force, retiring in 1970. He
was one of the few officers to fly two
complete combat tours in World War II. In
the summer of 1945 he ran an accelerated
service test of the P-80, the first combatready
jet aircraft.
Bob graduated from the Air Force Test
Pilot Academy at Edwards Air Force Base
in California. He was cited for valor against
an Army enemy twice and was awarded two
Silver Stars, 10 Air Medals, many Theatre
and Battle Stars, plus the French Croix de
Guerre with palm. Bob also received three
Distinguished Flying Crosses.
After retiring from the Air Force, he
moved back to California and took up the
challenge to find an adequate flying
location for modelers in the Los Angeles
area.
In Southern California, it is extremely
difficult to locate a flying site. Even if you
find the land to develop, the areas are
restricted. Col. Bob’s Air Force career was
fraught with challenges that he met and
overcame; this would be no exception.
Bob arranged a meeting with the Major
General at Camp Pendleton, and convinced
him that model builders and fliers are
reliable and good guys. They would abide
by all the rules and regulations on the
station, and Col. Bob would personally
supervise the operation as long as he was
there.
The joint military and civilian club, with
approximately 125 members, has been
running successfully since 1970. Col. Bob
usually flies there every weekend, along
with about 25 of his longtime flying friends.
He still builds and flies Scale model
airplanes.
Col. Bob has been a frequent contributor
to the major model magazines, publishing
articles about many aspects of model
building and flying. He had plans published
in RCM, Model Builder, and Model
Aviation. The one that he is most proud of is
his Bowlus Baby Albatross Scale sailplane.
He earned a first place in the two Soaring
Nationals in which he competed. A kit of
his Baby Bowlus is available from Sky
Bench.
Colonel Robert E. Thacker, Ret., resides
in San Clemente, California, with his wife
of 68 years, Betty Jo. He is still active in
engineering, designing, drawing, building,
and flying remote control drones for the
aircraft industry, as well as scale model
airplanes for the rest of us. His recent
endeavors include ducted-fan models and a
turbine powered P-80.
