Adam Clement, President
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Adam started RC when he was just a wee lad. His main interests back then were cars and trucks. He did that until he was about 18. Things slowed down due to having real responsibilities- a job, rent, car payments. When you’re young you’re broke- at least I was. At 26 Adam got back in to RC, mainly off-road trucks and some cars. At about 30 he purchased some model rockets for his nephew and was heavy into rocketry for the next few years (launching a large G size rocket is a blast!). When Adam was about 34 Steve Cole opened Awesome Hobbies just two blocks from his house. He was pounding on the door asking to help before Steve had a chance to open. About a year later Adam tried flying with Karlo from the shop- that was all she wrote. He’s been addicted to RC planes ever since. His main interests are aerobatics and racing but he’ll fly just about anything. With about 30 planes in the hanger maintenance takes a bunch of time- but that's half the fun right?
Paul Gibson, Vice President
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David Mercer, Secretary
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view itMy involvement with RC models began about 30 years ago. Back then it was RC boats, two channel radios, outboard motor, tunnel hulls, etc. Then I moved on to RC cars, monster trucks and stadium trucks, whatever.
I was always a bit apprehensive about trying my luck at RC airplanes. Too many horror stories from co-workers, friends, and others about getting an airplane as a gift, running outside, trying to fly it, and sulking back home with a pile of balsa scraps and covering, after about fifteen seconds. Seemed like the margin for error was just too small.
Then about five or six years ago my shop supervisor at work mentioned that he had an old RC helicopter in his barn that he never finished putting together; his wife got it for him years before. "Cool", I said, "I've done RC stuff in the past, I'd like to see it". So he brings it to work, and tells me "Hey, if you can get it working again you can have it!". I am totally stoked!! So I cart the whole mess over to my shop, and start restoring it. Only then do I discover that it's a Cricket heli from the 1980's. I start looking into this whole RC heli thing a little deeper, and realized that RC helis have come a long, long way since 1980 something. I did manage to get it working, actually hovered it about a foot off the ground....hey, that counts, don't it!! and from then on I was hooked.
I became obsessed with RC helis. I started reading RC Heli magazine, went to the hobby store and got a Realflight flight simulator, bought a Blade CX to practice with - a good, easy, beginner heli and just plunged right in. I spent hours on that damn simulator. Then Steve Cole fixed me up with a Raptor 50 and I had a real heli!! Soon after I joined the club and realized that airplanes were pretty cool too. So I had Steve fix me up with a good beginner airplane - a Sig Cadet EP42 and began flying both. After struggling to learn on a heli, flying an airplane was almost relaxing. Not nearly so high strung, demanding constant attention, and trying to pitch itself into the ground at a moments notice.
But nothing made me more comfortable flying than when I tried my luck pylon racing. At first I wasn't sure if I was even worthy of being out there. I flew real high, afraid to tangle with someone and cause a crash. Then I realized that even the good pilots crashed, not because of me, just that things happen. Something breaks, mid-airs take place, hey it's racing. Sometimes the wind would start howling, and I'd think "are we really gonna race in this? You people are nuts!!" But we would, and I soon realized that I could fly in these conditions. Let the plane get tossed around a bit and quit worrying!! Pylon racing helped me get past the mental blocks that would have held me back if I had never tried it.
So here I am, with five airplanes and three helis...with the number growing all the time...and even more obsessed with flying then when I started.
George Leap, Treasurer
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Jake Boatman, Safety Officer
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it My spark for R/C started way back at the age of about 5 or 6 fueled by a fellow WCF member and life long friend. Going into his shop and smelling nitro fuel, seeing star burst wings of all sizes and colors and hearing that distinctive sound of a nitro engine firing up for a test sparked the flame in me for this wonderful hobby. Been a flyer of electric, nitro, gas and edf jets for 10 years and WCF member for 7 years. Being a member has been a pleasure, I've met and made great friends on and off the flight-line.
Merle McGregor
My love for aviation started like lot of other guys, when I was about 12 years old. My first plane was a cox P-40 control line. I was hooked, I built lots of free flight, rubber powered and control line models. Radio control in the 60s was only for the rich. Airplanes were in my blood, so I wanted a career in aviation. I did achieve a private pilots license in 1967 while in the air force, but the career in aviation didn't happen. I've been enjoying radio control since 1988, starting with sailplanes progressed into nitro. I just can't seem to get enough of RC flying! This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
John Reade
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Mike Cracciolo
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Blaine "Buzz" Russell
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view itI first started flying when I was 7-8 with rubber band models first, I then moved on to U-Control models. I got into Free flight for a brief time. With two planes lost I was done with that part of the hobby. My Dad played a key role in teaching me the art of model building over to years, he was a pilot and owned a plane that was nicer than our car. That really sparked a lot of good memories and the love of flying. I started flying R/C in 1968 and never looked back, a Goldberg Sr. Falcon was my first plane. In the 70's did a little Quarter Midget racing. I joined The Redwood Modelers in the 70's , was club President, VP, and News Letter editor.
I enjoy building kits and scratch building when I have the time, No ARF's then. Since retiring I have just enjoyed boring holes in the sky and flying for fun. I also love to build scale boats as well. Salmon fishing takes me to Alaska and out our coast in the summer months to get my head out of the clouds.
I have been a member of AMA (974) for almost 50 years and hold a Leader Member and Contest Director card.
