The RIVER DISTRICT R.C. Eagles A 9 YEAR GOLD LEADER CLUB CHARTER MEMBER No. 1185 SINCE 1975 ACADEMY OF MODEL AERONAUTICS OUR TWENTY-SEVENTH YEAR THE EAGLES NEST OCTOBER 2002 ISSUE In Memory of Walter Most of this letter is from the fertile mind of Walter so we did just enough editing to get our thoughts into it. We weren t going to give Walter an award at our annual banquet because we aren t in the wallpapering business and it would take a wall to hold all of the awards he has earned over the years. When ever you set up a plane on the work benches, think of Walter because he built them. All of the Eagles Nests you have read over the last ten years? Walter edited them. The Ken Rapp field Improvement fund? Walters work resulted in that? The first and only Eagle to fly an autogiro? Anyway, you get the idea. We know that Walter will always fly in perfect weather and always land on purpose. On Tuesday, the 27th, John Hickman picked me up to go to the field. There were six planes on the flight line. Everyone had at least two flights. Bud with his One Design, Jerry Shoebottom with his Balsa Nova, Gary with his Sukoi, John with his Sportster, Bob Troy with his Trainer, Jack had a plane with him but spent a lot of time helping others. Archie and Simon were buddy boxing. Then Jack got the Club Trainer out and got it ready for flight. One wing bolt was stripped so I was warned not to do Page 1
anything fancy. YES! I flew! First time in over a year that I ve had my hands on the sticks!.. The plane needed a lot of right trim in both the aileron and the rudder. And, with a loose wing, left turns were good and rights were not pretty but, obtainable. In the meantime, Al Frederick flew his scratch design/ built flying wing Northrop would be proud of Al! The plane flew for about ten minutes per charge and is very aerobatic. Rolls are better than one per second. (Maybe two?) Jerry Shoebottom went a bit further in the design phase. His is a jet fighter set up for carrier use. All of us got a kick out of it. Ivan brought it to my attention, and Jerry brought it over so I could photograph it!. Futuristic to say the least! Then, when everyone was between flights it was my turn to get on the sticks! Jack did all of the prep work and handed me a Buddy Box, while I was sitting down on one of the benches!.. Jack took it off and handed me the sticks. It was a revelation to say the least! I flew for a while and then came in for a greased landing.boy, it felt good. Thanks a bunch Jack! BOETTNER S GOONEY BIRD FLIES On Monday August 26th, a beautiful morning, there were 14 planes on the flight line! Jerry Boettner got his plane ready and Bud did the honors of it s maiden flight. It required all of the elevator and aileron trim to get it flying straight and level. Bud said it flew fine, and looked great in the air. Jerry told Jack that it s taken two years to get the bird ready to fly. It has two well broken in OSFP-40 s for power. Congrats Jerry/ Bud! ADOBE NL TRIAL A SUCCESS With Jack s help, I sent an Adobe copy of the August newsletter to Tom Darragh with the instructions to please measure the length of time it took to download. Tom not only timed his receipt, he sent it to himself by sending it to another E-Address that he owns. In all cases, it took less than three minutes to download! Jack and I did the same thing, His took about two minutes to download mine took four. The above is proof that your computer will not be jammed when receiving our newsletter while using the Adobe program. If you own a computer and have web access, I strongly suggest a trial of this method to receive our monthly NL, in full color. You must have a copy of Acrobat reader installed in your machine in order to receive our newsletter. Acrobat reader is free and downloaded from it s web address. http://www.adobe.com/ products/acrobat/readstep2.html Once installed, send an E-mail to Ed Olszewski at eagles1185@yahoo.com Telling him your E-mail address and your willingness to accept our newsletter via an attachment. This will materially reduce our cost of mailing and copying hard copies. ( plus the folding, stapling, and address label and stamp attachment). We use a little more than a ream of paper/month @ $1.75, stamps @ $37.60, labels-5 sheets @ (don t know costs). Our copying cost are donated by Carl Jones employer. If we had to pay for copying it would run over $35/month. We re trying to reduce Club expenditures and improve the product s quality upon your receipt. Give it a try? GINNY KAMMER SAYS THANKS We received a card from Ginny Kammer who writes: To all my friends of the River District R/C Eagles, I wish to extend a big THANK YOU for all the prayers, concerns, phone calls and cards received during my stay in the hospital, and since returning home. I know that is what has made my recovery a speedy one. Thanks again, signed Ginny Kammer Page 2
BIG FUN FLY SEPT. 7, 2002 I know it s going to be a great day, because I m driving myself to the field! Yes, I tried driving on the 6th and found that I can do it. (The left foot is comfortable resting on the flat floor for short haul trips). Just have to remember to use the right foot for braking...arrived about 8:45 and found a bee-hive of activity! Jack was setting out all of the prizes he d purchased from PASTIME HOBBIES. Nice assortment...initially we had eight men on the flight line. This swelled to 11 and the spectator crowd grew too. Those in contention were: John Joachim, Bud Joachim, Dave Waldecker, Mark Steenland, Jack DeLisle, Maynard LaParl, Bob Troy, Grant Partridge, John Hickman and Al Fournier. The spectators kept growing throughout the morning. (If I missed you please don t take offence). They were: Ken Smith, Ivan Mensinger, John Lofquist, Gene Lane, Don Pearson, Chuck Yelenich, Tom Pierce, Mark & Mark II, Brian Hicks, Frank Snay, Tom Gall, and me! Mark Steenland told me the story of loosing his branny new ARF. The horizontal stab blew off the plane and good bye Charlie! Mark said there wasn t any fluttering noticed before the failure. Inspection of the crash looked like the balsa parts failed because of bending stress...one ARF bites the dust! Jack got the ball rolling with the Team Taxi event. There were some great low times and a number of time outs. It was nice to watch the coordination transmitted from the guide to the pilot. The lowest time was 13 seconds produced by the team of Al Fournier (pilot) and Bud Joachim (guide). The time outs (exceeding 4 minutes) were washouts. Now that the momentum was gaining speed, Jack introduced a twist to the Dice Roll contest. The pilot had to throw the die and gain a number. This was the number of loops the contestant had to do before landing. (Here, the spotter helped out). As soon as the wheels touched the ground, the pilot gave the spotter the Xmitter. He was now free to pick up the die and try to reproduce his original number. Once achieved, the round was over and the time noted. (Not having to bring the plane back to the pit area saved a lot of time) The range of times were 49 seconds to 2 minutes. Jack DeLisle won this event The third and final event was the Bomb Drop. The distances ranged from 11 to 52 paces. Ray Dart won this event. (Grant Partridge used the Club s trainer in the other two events but had fuel problems in the third. Bob Troy stepped up and offered his plane s use! How about that!) Ray Dart won this event. The overall list of winners is: 1st Mark Steenland, 2nd Ray Dart, 3rd John Joachim, 4th Al Fournier, 5th John Hickman, 6th Maynard LaParl, 7th Grant Partridge, 8th Bud Joachim, 9th Bob Troy, 10th Jack DeLisle and 11th and last but far from least was Dave Waldecker. WHIRLY BIRDS RALLY SEPT 8 I plan to drop by to see if all is right with their use of our field and it s facilities, plus, get some pix and some flavor for this report. Arrived (about 10:30) to see a beautiful day for flying! Blue skies and NO wind! Our parking lot was packed...35 cars/trucks, and 3 travel trailers. The Whirly Birds set up a tent city on our flight line, each having a place for the fliers/family and a set-up table out front for their heli(s). Yes, they brought more than one. Checking with the impound area, they told me there were 31 pilots registered with an estimated 60 helicopters! In addition, the tent city housed family members. The swings and play area were being used to capacity. One of the motor homes brought their two dogs! (well behaved and on chain leashes). Our set-up tables in front of the shack/hangar were well used and loaded with assembled heli s! Not only that, they were protected from the hot sun with a tent! Taking a quick tour slowly) I discovered a number of Eagles in the metal building selling food! Yes, hot dogs, potato salad, chips and drinks! (L-R Tom Gall, Ivan Mensinger, Mark II, and Ed London. While sitting with them and gabbing, Jack DeLisle walked in. We had a nice contingent of Eagle representatives! Trying to get the flavor of this heli rally I just wandered around shooting the breeze and taking pix. I noticed an inspection station with a bunch of people around it. Took a pix but didn t get too close. I don t know if it s a means to discuss a problem found while flying or a preflight inspection of a new helicopter. It sure caught the attention of a number of Whirly Birds. Bye the way, I noticed that our hangar s South window was filled with a Whirly Birds Banner! Nice one too. Take a look> While at the hangar, I ran into Jeff McPhail and Carl Jones. Carl s daughter was helping with their 50/50 raffle and working in the impound area. I watched the antics of the heli models...they are something to see. It was getting close to noon so I decided to pack it up and head home. They were having a very successful rally! Great! Sam Grey showed up at our last Old Timers Lying and bragging breakfast at the Marysville Big Boy and he had a beautifully done rubber powered airplane that I can t remember the name or class of. Only that it was a work of art. I do know that Sam was headed for Muncie, Indiana for some serious flying. We ll let you know how he did in the next Eagles Nest. What was the other conversations about at the breakfast? Beats me? I do remember that it was a beautiful day so we all headed for the field and went flying. Howabouthat Page 3
On September 3, 2002 at our Eagles meeting Bill Oberdieck presented to the Eagles the Academy of Model Aeronautics most prestigious award, The Award of Excellence. This award is basically for advancing the hobby through community, school and service clubs activities as shown by the Eagles latest efforts with the first grade classes of the Eddy Elementary school in St.Clair. I don t know how this will show up in the newsletter but this is the plaque that was awarded. And along with that is a nice flag also proclaiming us as among the elite that you will be able to see at the next meeting. Shown left to right are: Jack DeLisle, Bill Oberdieck, Mark Steenland, Frank Samples, Bud Joachim, John Joachim, Robert Joachim, Tom Pierce and Bill Lawson. Jack Frank, Bud, John, Robert and Bill are surviving members of the original group of Eagles still with us. Tom Schumacher is now living in Tennessee and didn t feel he and Margie could make the 12 hour drive up to attend the ceremony but they still belong to the Eagles and eagerly await the monthly newsletter. Of course, Bill Oberdieck is the AMA district VII Vice-President, Tom Pierce is the Eagles own representation as a District VII Associate Vice-President but we have to share him with other clubs in the district and Mark Steenland is our Eagles President that we don t have to share. This is a picture of the gang at the meeting and if you can make out who s who?? I can see Joshua Olszewski and Mark holding up the plaque, and Tom Pierce at the billboard sign that Ruth made and So we want to thank Bill Oberdieck and Tom Pierce for suggesting to the AMA that we were very deserving of the Award of Excellence and will keep doing those things that garnered the award. Page 4
The Eagles annual awards banquet will again be held at the Voyageur restaurant in St.Clair on Saturday, November 2nd, 2002. The festivities will start at 6:00 PM and the buffet will start at 6:30 PM. Bring an empty stomach. You ll need it. Last year we thought they ran out of meat before the line was finished? They just hadn t brought in the next trays yet. Maynard and Me I was up to my usual standards and had forgotten to give Maynard LaParl his certificate of accomplishment and pilots wing when he earned them. Would you believe that I had made both and they were in the shed right where I had left them? In any event he got them and here is proof. The funny part of the whole story is that I also had a certificate and wing patch in the same folder for Mick Booth and he had already gotten his????????? Like I always say, It s nice to grow old and forget things because you hardly ever have a dull moment. You may have been there and done that but you don t remember so it s new again. Ever have one or more of your CA hinges break at the hinge line? The next time you use those type of hinges draw a mascara or crayon line at the hinge point on both sides of the hinge. That does two things. Prevents the CA glue from wicking into and hardening the hinge line and also shows you the center of the hinge so you know how far to insert them So what will you have from the buffet : Turkey and dressing Broiled Cod fish Tossed Salad with Fixins Fruit Bowl Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, naturally Stir Fried Vegetables Fresh Carrots Apple Cake with Carmel Sauce Coffee and Rolls Along with the buffet and fine company there will also be a raffle so you might end up on the positive side and get you meal for nothing? And if you believe that? And of course, there are the awards. The cost for all of this? $17 all inclusive. That means the TIP and TAXES are paid. There is a cash bar if your interest lie in that direction. SO You MUST have your reservation (s) and money paid by the 26th of October to: Bud / Joan Joachim 915 Brown St. St.Clair, Mi, 48079 Telephone 329-2621 Page 5
New Member Herb Dornfeld Herb was a past member of the club, and decided to get back into flying. Some of the models hanging at Pastime Hobbies are the work of Herb. New member Dave Kilby Dave flew control line years ago. He is new to the R/C hobby, and plans on getting a plane and training soon. Earl Gets his Wings New Member Todd Litke Todd shown here with his new baby, his first scratch built Edge 540t, 105 wingspan, 80 cc ZDZ, should be ready to fly in a couple of weeks. He is also secretary of the St.Clair county Propbusters, and a member of Sanilac Model Airplane club. Earl Barker soloed on Saturday September 28th in the presents of instructor Archie Kammer and many other Eagles. Page 6
THE RIVER DISTRICT R.C. EAGLES ACADEMY OF MODEL AERONAUTICS CHARTERED CLUB MEMBER #1185 A GOLD LEADER CLUB (Updated Sept. 2002) MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL FORM Please fill out and return this form with your membership dues All Junior members should fill and return this form to help keep our records current Name Spouse s name Address City: State ZIP Home phone number ( ) E- mail address AMA License Number,# STATUS (Check all that apply) ( ) Instructor, ( ) Pilot, ( ) Fledgling, ( ) junior member To help reduce cost and work we are asking all members: Would you prefer to receive the monthly newsletter by ( ) US Mail ( ) e-mail ( ) Both You can change anytime, just e-mail the secretary at eagles1185@yahoo.com In order to belong to THE RIVER DISTRICT R.C. EAGLES INC, you must agree to abide by the Club s Constitution, Rules and Fees. In addition, the privilege of flying solo requires that you have a valid Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) Card/License. (Please read and understand the Eagles Constitution and Field/Flight Rules) Yearly Dues...$30.00 Junior no fee Checks can be made out to the River District Eagles and mailed along with this form to the Treasurer: Mr. Carl Jones, 2037 Edward Lane West, Kimball, MI 48074 Page 7
Young Eagles Airport Appreciation Day By Sheila O Classified Ads Please e-mail in your ad every month, for as long as you wish to run the ad. A picture is worth a million words. Wanted: Crankcase for O.S. 91 4 stroke engine. Call Archie Kammer at 329 3276 or E-mail: kammers@arenet.net The static model airplane display at the airport was well represented on Sunday Oct.6. There were 18 Eagles- Gary, Ray, Mark, Mark II, Chris, Maynard, Tom G, Archie, Jack, Grant, Frank, Pat, Carl, Gene, Sheila, Ed, Josh, and Ivan with 18 planes, 2 helicopters and 1 antique car. Todd Litke was there to represent the propbusters and Brian Glombowski was representing S.M.A.C. each had their own Edge 540T scratch built planes. Also at the show were free airplane rides for the kids, hovercrafts, border patrol, warplanes, a French jet, a twin beach, U.S. air force C-47, antique cars and trucks and I m sure I missed something s and or people that might have stopped by. Mark Steenland taxies big plane. Just a little trivia from Maynard LaParl: Why is the rudder, airlerons and elevator on a C-47 cargo plane made of cloth fabric? Answer: Cloth fabric can be replaced much faster and easier than rivited metal fabric. During war time, time was precious to get the planes back into the air when those parts are shot full of bullet holes. Hence; cloth fabric was the answer. A Yankee Air Force pilot told me this when I was at the St. Clair County airport for the open house on Sunday, October 6th. Scroll Saw. Benchtop, New in box- donated to club $75.00 - proceeds to the club Contact: Jack DeLisle E-mail : jack_delisle@hotmail.com Gary s Corner Tractor gets new battery After trying for two hours and finally pull starting the Ford tractor by Gene Lane s truck, with the help of Ivan Mensinger to get the tractor started. A test was put on the battery and one cell was found to be dead. Bud Gilbert has ordered a new 6 volt battery for the club tractor. Window Repaired Sept 25. The south west window frame was replaced. Steve Blake, picked up the 3/4 4x8 outside plywood the night before. It was installed by Tom Nichols, Archie Kammer, Steve Blake, Ivan Mensinger, and Jack Delisle. Later that day, Steve primed it and Archie put on the final coat of paint on the 26 th. The window was not put in at this time, as Mark Steenland is trying to find a better window or replace it with plexiglass. Good job by all, Thanks! Note: Please, even if you didn*t open it. The last one to leave the field, check and close the shed doors and the front gate. Thanks Page 8
MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 1, 2002 There were 21 in attendance. The financial report was read, motion to accept by Jack D. seconded by Archie K. motion passed. Motion to accept the minutes as distributed made by Archie K seconded by Jack D. Motion passed. We welcomed new member Herb dornf e l d a n d D a v i d K i l b y. Archie Kammer presented Earl Barker with his pilot certificate. Gary W. gave a report on the shed the side window has been fixed and painted Mark S. is looking into getting the window pane replaced. Thank you to the guys who worked on the shed. Mark S. is also checking about when the field will be rolled. Arhie made a motion to sell the scroll saw that was to be auctioned off for $75.00 Jack D. seconded motion passed. Mark S. made a reminder about the static show at St. Clair County Airport on Sunday October 6. Motion to accept the schedule for 2003 made by Jack D. seconded by Ed L. motion passed. Thank you goes to Ed London and Tom Gall for setting up and selling food at the whirly birds event, making the Eagles a profit. Jack D. reported that he sold the items from Gordon s sale making $100.00. Jack D., Tom N., and David W. are the nomination committee. Gary W. gave a report on the tractor one cell in the battery was dead Bud Gilbert purchased a new one and the tractor is up and running again. Motion made by Bob T. to pay Bud G. for the new battery seconded by Ed O. motion passed. Mark S. announced that the newsletter will be edited by the executive board in the future. Brush hogging the high bushes on the outside of the field was bought up motion was made that if an opportunity comes along to get this done for a cost not to exceed $400.00 total and with all four executive board members approval this can be done, motion made by Mike B. seconded by Archie K. motion passed. Jack D. motion to use the Ken Rapp fund for the brush hogging seconded by Tom N. motion passed. A committee was put together to look into having the end of the field plowed, disked, leveled and replanted the committee is Al F., Archie K., Mark S., and Gary W. October 30 there will be a hot dog roast and flying at the field starting at 5:00pm. A night fly at 8:00pm, please come out and join the fun. 50/50 was won by Tom N. Motion to close made by Al F. seconded by Bob T. motion passed. Agenda for November 5 Old Business: Scroll Saw Nominations Window Disking the field Beginning Balance: $ 3,181.93 Checking $ 2,140.04 K. Rapp Fund $ 750.86 Cash on Hand $ 291.03 Income: Ending Balance: 50/50 $ 25.00 Hats $ 91.00 Donation - Michigan Whirlybird $ 50.00 Outgoing Expenses: RIVER DISTRICT R/C EAGLES FINANCIAL REPORT October 1, 2002 Total $ 166.00 DTE Energy $ 17.79 Food, Corn Roast - DeLisle $ 107.93 Pilot Patches $ 42.50 Flowers $ 50.00 Portable Toilet Cleaning $ 15.00 Incorporation Payment $ 10.00 Flowers $ 50.00 Membership Cards - Wilson $ 12.00 Wood - Blake $ 28.61 Food, Whirlybird Fun Fly - London $ 100.00 Total $ 433.83 Funds Transfer: Transfer to Checking from COH $ 200.00 Checking $ 2,100.82 K. Rapp Fund $ 722.25 Cash on Hand $ 91.03 GRAND TOTAL: $ 2,914.10 E-mail Newsletter Starting with the November newsletter, we will begin e-mailing newsletters to all members instead of postal mail for everyone we have e- addresses for. Any member who would rather receive it by postal rather than e-mail must let us know, and we will make sure you are on the hardcopy mailing list. If you do not receive your e-mail copy please make sure we have your correct e- mail address. A Note to Non-Members In the past, Walter put a tremendous amount of time and effort into the publication of this newsletter. He also mailed copies to many friends at his own expense. We regret we can not continue the expense of postal mailing to non-members. However, anyone wishing future copies of the Eagles Nest via e-mail may do so by e-mailing me at : eagles1185@yahoo.com, Just let us know who you are and your e-address, and we will be more than happy to include you on our e-mail list. Page 9
Sheila & Ed Olszewski 7147 Main Smiths Creek MI 48074 October 2002 ISSUE CLUB OFFICERS Pres.: Mark Steenland V. P.: Gary Wilkerson Treas.: Carl Jones Sec.: Sheila Olszewski E-mail eagles1185@yahoo.com This news letter is about the activities of our club will be written by you. Let other members know what is happening at the field, what your building, or how the new plane flew. The new plane or engine you bought, a tip you can share, some advice on equipment, or questions to the members. Please send your articles, pictures, and classifieds to us at. eagles1185@yahoo.com http://www.notgrownupyet.com/eaglesnewslett Dial in on the web. See us in living color Upcoming Events OCTOBER: 1st- Eagles meeting@ LIBRARY 7 PM 2ND-Big Boy Breakfast 9 AM 5th-Float Fly @ Hillard s Pond 10 AM 12th-Pylon Race/open Flying 9 AM 16th-Big Boy Breakfast 9 AM 20th-Float Fly @ Hilliard s Pond 21st-Full Moon Fly 7:06 PM 27th-PMAC (PONTIAC) swap (Don: 248-681-2752) 27th-Grand Rapids swap (Dave: 616-676-3392) 30th-Devil s night hot dog roast/night Fly 5 PM 31st-Halloween NOVEMBER: 2nd-ANNUAL AWARDS DINNER (VOYAGER)6 PM 5th Eagles Meeting @ LIBRARY 7 PM 6th Big Boy Breakfast 9 AM 20th Big Boy Breakfast 9 AM A Message from Walt s Family There are not enough words to express our thanks to each of you whom have shared the art of flying with our father. You were there for him, always. You have been our night and shining crew during our loss and we thank you. Dad enjoyed not only this art of flying but your friendship and fellowship with him. There wasn't a time past when he spoke of each of you, individually. You are a inspiration to this art and dad is flying next to you. You are and will always be a inspiration in our lives. Dad enjoyed building the planes as well has flying. He enjoyed getting the news together to write your newsletter. I had the opportunity to read dad's last newsletter. I enjoyed it very much. I could only imagine his excitement in gathering your information. I understand a Mr. Dick Stamm lives close to us. It would give me a great pleasure, if he would contact us. If you ever fly or visit in the Mississippi area, contact us. We would love to visit with you and watch you fly. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Mrs. Scott (Chandra) Levine