VintageViews T
his month Vintage Views goes to the VRCS Spirit of Selinsgrove Re- union. The Vintage Radio Control Society was born in 1989, initially as an idea by Bill Winter, resulting from dis- cussions with Hal “Pappy” deBolt, as to how the history of R/C could be recorded and pre- served. Further discussions got Joe Beshar, John Worth, and Art Schroeder involved. This founding group quickly agreed that,
to make the society function, a newsletter would be needed to serve as a means of communication among all interested par- ties and to provide the basis for historical documentation. With Joe Beshar’s prod- ding, Art Schroeder accepted the editor- ship responsibility for producing the newsletter, with John Worth agreeing to serve as the initial President, whereupon Joe signed on as Secretary-Treasurer. The organization was established informally, with decisions by unanimous agreement of the three officers.
The first issue of the newsletter was is- sued in July 1989, with a production goal of quarterly issues. That first issue promoted the idea of the organization being more than just a “tell it like it was” forum. It generated the idea of annual get-togethers where the theme would be “fly and tell”, featuring demonstrations by prominent R/C’ers flying original or replica models of vintage R/C designs.
By the end of 1989, with 220 members, the “fly and tell” concept was established with the first reunion scheduled for the 1990 Labor Day weekend in September at the air- port at Selinsgrove, PA, site of earlier R/C events. Following a very successful first VRCS event that year, the annual reunion has continued regularly on Labor Day week- ends and is now hosted by the Aeroguidance Society in upstate New York. VRCS re- unions have grown well beyond that first re-
by bob noll You can reach Bob Nollvia e-mail at
bobrc@aol.com
PHOTOGRAPHY: BOB NOLL
Bob Noll’s Class II Penetratorwas designed by Jackie Garner in 1965 and was flown by Jackie as a rudder only plane when he won the 1966 AMA Nationals. The design included an elevator, so Bob decided he would build it as a Class II plane powered by an OS .55.
union with VRCS gatherings now covering the country. The 2013 calendar now in- cludes events from coast to coast and from north to south.
The objective of the Vintage RC Society is to preserve and promote the memory of ra- dio control aeromodeling as it was in the past. To achieve this objective, VRCS events feature planes designed for radio control at least 35 years ago. While the design has to be that old, the planes do not and most planes seen at VRCS events are recent cre-
ations, although some original planes do show up occasionally. Electric power is al- lowed in the Open flying category. The forefathers of VRCS believed that those early plane designs were better than could be demonstrated with the limited ra- dio technology of the time. VRCS does not emphasize the use of vintage radios and en- courages the use of modern radio systems so the full potential of the early plane designs can be appreciated. The society does recog- nize those who like to preserve vintage ra-
Beppe Fascione campaigned with this 1968 Phil Kraft Flea Fli (above left). Beppe also came with a Kwik Fli II and a Kwik Fli III, all Phil Kraft designs. The Flea Fliis powered by a ST G20. The Andrews Aeromaster (above right) was
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one of the most classic biplane designs in 1964 and Frank Granelli came with his powered by an OS .91. Frank dazzled the crowd by demonstrating the truly aerobatics characteristics of the plane.
OCTOBER 2013
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