As a late baby boomer, I entered radio control aircraft building and flying in the late 1970's. I built a 72-inch span Craft-Aire Drifter II sailplane, tossed it off sledding hills to teach myself to fly with two channels, and graduated to a hi-start. Next was an Airtronics S-Tee with a Cox .049 Dragonfly where I taught myself to fly with ailerons and inverted, all hand launched with dead-stick landings. Bob Aberle's TD .049 Fastball was my first plans built aircraft. Living in Chicagoland, winters were long, and I built a succession of semi-scale, 1/12 scale aircraft from plans designed by the late Gus Morfis. Gus would design and draw, I would build, fly, and photograph the prototypes, one per year for 10 great years.
Most projects were sold to the r/c magazines. Speed 40m powered Bugatti R-100, Douglas XB-42, Citabria, 0-1 Bird Dog, and "Batty" Me-163 type tailless, with more powerful brushless motor powered FW 190D and Lancair IV. Learned how to build planked fuselages for the XB-42 and Lancair IV. Occasional slope flying off the dunes of northwest Indiana with a Hobby Lobby Ridge runt expanded my flying skill set, as did a 4-ounce Mini-Drake flying boat from Park Scale Models. As a preferred lone wolf flyer, I lost my golf course practice range flying field a decade ago, so now I fly small 4-channel foam scale electric models in empty public parks on Sunday mornings below the restrictive modern codes required to operate my larger models.
I've learned building skills that cross over to repair skills on houses, painting skills that apply to home, modeling, car repair, and problem solving. Along the way my hobby helped me develop patience, perseverance, confidence, and attention to detail, which in great measure benefited my professional career. I thank the AMA for a quality publication and protecting my rights to fly in controlled airspaces all these years. Tom Fey AMA 753846
