Numbers 2 and 3 Flying Ohms (above) the author built in 1955. Flying Ohm 3 (below) shows a cut out elevator that was modified by good friend, Dave Shanner. The original model was only a single channel. The author plans to restore and complete both of these vintage models one day.
AT A GLANCE Type:
Construction: Wing span: Wing area: Length: Weight:
Wing loading: Prop:
Engine: Radio:
Servos: FLYING MODELS
R/C vintage balsa and ply 46 inches 325 sq. in. 36.5 inches 40 ounces 18 oz./sq.ft. Zinger 9–4 O.S. LA .15
Hitec Optic Sport 6 (4) Hitec HS-81
I asked if I could go along. Ah, the plot thick- ens! Soon I was telling Dad about Ray’s backyard hobby shop and the little engine I had seen. After Dad finished his business, I asked if he would stop at Ray’s and look at the engine. Dad bought the K&B Infant, along with a can of Ohlson & Rice fuel, a Burgess battery and some wire and alligator clips. I was in hog heaven! Soon I joined the Patterson Balsa Butch-
ers. When Ray handed me my membership card, it said Roy DeCamara. I told Ray that my name was Leroy. He said something like “Why couldn’t I have a nick name?” I had never thought about it before. Heck, I was just about to turn ten. Well, the name stuck and I have been Roy all my life. Ray Morgan became my mentor and good friend. He showed me how to build, dope and cover, and helped me learn to fly controline. I believe it was in early 1951 that I stopped by Ray’s shop and saw a model he was building that was not like the controline models that everyone was building. Ray said
this model would be a radio control model. It was a scaled-up version of a freeflight mod- el in FLYING MODELS named Miss FM. I found out the radio would be assembled from a kit by Berkeley Models. I think Ray had his share of troubles with the radio as one day I stopped by the shop and it was ev- ident the model had been involved in a crash. I didn’t know that I was about to ex- perience a life changing event during the summer of 1951. My parents separated during the summer
of that year and I moved away from the ranch near Patterson to the coast town of Santa Cruz, California. I continued to be in- terested in model aviation, but at a slower pace, and still kept in contact with Ray. He would answer my letters and tell me what was happening with the Balsa Butchers. I was so happy to be befriended by a man that would take the time to write an eleven-year- old boy. In 1952, my Dad would pick me up every other weekend for a visit to the ranch. On one such weekend I told my Dad about
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