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In 1965, Cox started producing the PT19 Flight Trainer Control Line model with the Iconic .049 engine. I was 13 years old, and it was my first plane. I went on to build kit and custom Control Line planes with balsa, paper, and dope, and in 1973, I bought my first Futaba single stick radio system and installed it in a Cessna foam model.
My Dad taught me to fly. He was a fighter pilot in WWII, and it was a way we could bond! I have great memories of me sanding one of his models and bringing it to him only for him to say, "I didn't sand it good enough," so I would go back and sand some more. It taught me patience. I love to fly and every time I'm out there I think of him.
My name is Tim McKay. I have been modeling Radio Control model aircraft since 1972. I spent 27 years on active duty with the United States Air Force and finished my work as an airline pilot flying the B-777F for DHL freight.
I have had a number of my RC airplane designs published in the modeling press and I now enjoy teaching new modelers via my YouTube channel with over 330 videos: www.youtube.com/@TimMcKay56.
I was featured on AMA Magazine in the 1970s at a flying meet at Up Park Camp in Kingston Jamaica. I was featured with my flying wing, called a combat cat red with a black arrow logo.
I began in model aviation when I was probably 5 or 6 years old (in 1996) with balsa slide-together gliders and rubber band airplanes, moving up to a COX .049 Extra 300 Control Line, and eventually RC in 2000 when my dad bought us a Kadet LT-40 ARF. My dad was returning to the hobby and teaching me how to fly. I flew all through my childhood, eventually moving into Giant Scale Warbirds. I left home in 2011 and joined the Air Force and flew electrics on base and our larger airplanes whenever I visited home on leave.
From a young age, I was captivated by the dream of flight. Growing up in southern Arkansas, however, opportunities to pursue that dream were limited.
Fortunately, my father, recognizing my passion, was able to purchase a well-worn trainer aircraft—an old, crash-damaged model that had clearly seen better days. Despite its condition, that humble aircraft marked the beginning of my lifelong love for aviation. It ignited a passion that has shaped the person I am today.
I've been flying now for 20+ years. I got into the hobby with a little model from Toys R Us. It had a control where to go up you gave it more throttle and to come down you backed off the throttle. Push to go up, pull to go down. As a present my wife bought me a Stryker which flew with a 3S battery. I crashed every time I tried to launch before I realized that on a real R/C airplane you pull, not push on the right stick. I improved my skills with a hot glue gun and repairing broken foam, but I finally got into the sky without crashing.
Hello, my name is Bobby Wohner. Some of my friends call me Bobcat. I have loved modeling from a child, starting at seven years old. I’m now 58. There have been some layoffs, but it always drew me back flying as wonderful building and flying is very satisfying. Started out when I was a kid going to grandma‘s house on Saturday. She would have to go do her hair and then go grocery shopping.
I started modeling and flying Control Line back in about 1960. I grew up on a farm and used an old chicken coop as my workshop. Ambroid glue, balsa shavings and dust, and butyrate dope all must have gotten into my bloodstream.
The Stooge Saga
This biography was submitted by Oba's friend, T Michael Jennings.
This biography details the written correspondence between Oba (pronounced Obie) St. Clair, T Michael Jennings, and Shirley St. Clair (Oba's daughter).
AMA honored Oba St. Clair by inducting him into the Model Aviation Hall of Fame (awarded posthumously) in 2001. Oba designed the first Control Line (CL) flying aircraft in 1937.
