This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
The


E-Z-JUST


A short history of the most popular C/L accessory of all time and the family that produced it!


By David Gierke PHOTOGRAPHY: DAVID GIERKE I


n the spring of 1941, 28-year-old Ell- wood “Red” Phillips, accompanied an- other member of the Buffalo Aeronuts model airplane club to a secluded park in the Town of Tonawanda. After stretching out the control lines and connecting them to his newly finished model, 22-year-old Harold deBolt methodically fueled, started and ad- justed the Atwood .65 ignition engine. Giv- ing Phillips the “thumbs-up” signal, deBolt turned and hustled to the control handle for his first attempt at flying U-Control. During my 1989 interview with Phillips and wife Mary, Red said that deBolt’s ensu-


ing flight, although successful—he didn’t crash—was quite a performance! Besides er- ratic climbs and dives, the future champion and industry leader fell in the mud twice, frantically trying to control the model while dizzy.


“I never laughed so hard in all my life,” Phillips reflected.


At the time, little did Phillips know that he and Mary, dyed-in-the-wool freeflight ad- vocates, would eventually become known as the world’s largest manufacturer of U-Con- trol handles.


Eighteen-year-old Red Phillips, of Em-


pire, Ohio, met Mary Overmoyer, of Wayne, in 1932 at the height of the Great Depres- sion. Both were freshmen at Ohio Universi- ty. Graduating with degrees in industrial arts and elementary education, they were married late in 1936. After a prolonged search, Phillips landed a high school teach- ing job for the ’37–’38 school year in Toronto, Ohio.


During that first year, a group of students persuaded the popular teacher to start a model airplane club. Knowing little about the hobby, he nonetheless agreed to super- vise the after-school activity.


Red Phillips and his modified Class A Zombie (at left) from about 1940. Phillips’ Walker Fireball(above) from around 1941.


50 FEBRUARY 2014


Story


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