What's in a Name
Harold Harrison
Back in the 50s a handful of guys used to fly free
flight scale near
the parade ground by the Valley Forge Chapel. Radio
was in it's infancy
then. Vacuum tubes, big heavy batteries, rubber bands,
escapements, etc.
The airplanes were ugly, boxy high wing cabin types.
They flew on
rudder only with lots of dihedral and had to be hand
launched because the
engines didn't produce enough power to take off from
the ground.
Rudders were sewn onto the fin with thread in a
figure eight. A button
was pressed to turn. Push once for a left turn, push
twice for a right. If
two left commands were needed, it was necessary to go
through a right, and
two quick pushes to get back to a left. All of these
commands unwound the
rubber band powering the escapement. Through all of
these commands you
needed to remember what the last command given was.
A plug with a hook was
fitted to the rear end of the fuselage for winding the
rubber band.
Batteries were somewhat rechargeable baking them in
the oven. There was a
fee required by the government for a FCC license to
permit operation of a
radio transmitter.
Things needed to get better and they did. Transistors
replaced vacuum
tubes, nicad batteries came into being, and along came
servo driven control
surfaces. Digital Proportional Radios were manufactured
in the US by
companies named KRAFT, ORBIT, and CITIZENSHIP to name
a few and there was
even a kit system offered by Heathkit and Royal. In
the early 70s RCM
printed a radio system that could be assembled from
the monthly magazine
articles once a month. Pride of ownership came with
these new radios. In
the 70s a Kraft 6 channel digital proportional system
would have cost you
over $300. All of these systems were on 27mhz band.
One day while the guys were flying at the parade
grounds, someone came
up with the idea of starting a club. Dick Gum asked
me to join. That was
1959. That was the year that I had discovered that there
were other things
in the world besides airplanes. I married her. I became
too busy adjusting
to this new found discovery and looking forward to building
a house to get
involved in this thing called a model airplane club.
Dick said, "since you
can't join us, we need a name for the club. Can you
think of something?" In
those days radio was king and the airplanes were just
something to put it
in, so I suggested "Valley Forge Signal Seekers".
Dick submitted that to at
the next club meeting and it was voted on and adopted.
Joe Krush designed
the club logo and the rest is history.
PREZ SEZ
The flying field has been mowed and is in great
shape for flying. The
bulletin board renewal is being undertaken by Joe Yalove
and Joe Weizer,
along with a new wind sock. A note of caution, please
stay in
the box while flying. If you are not sure of the flying
limits of the
field, check with the field Marshall. To protect the
environment it is
essential that everyone use an overfill bottle while
fueling your airplane,
it saves fuel.
At the June 10th Fun Fly, the club will be giving
away 5 great door
prizes at 12 Noon. Come to the fun fly and bring your
airplane or come as a
spectator. You must be a year 2000 member to qualify
for a door prize.
Tickets will be given out at the field. Prizes are:
Futaba 6XAS radio
O.S. Surpass 91 engine
Hangar 9 ARF 40 size cub
Sig-4 star 40 kit
1 case fuel
Thank You Harry
Harry Charnock donated a Hangar 9 Easy 2 Trainer airplane
complete with
engine, radio and buddy box - ready to fly. This allows
the club to have
another student training airplane. Thanks Harry!
The 4th Eagles All Electric Fly-In
Saturday, May 13, 2000 Hope, New Jersey - 9 am to 4
pm
Hosted by Old Time Eagles M.A.C. Sell, buy, swap and
fly.
Rain date May 13th.
Call Joe Beshar for directions.
To take part in the pilot profile feature created by
the previous editor,
please fill out the following questions and email or
us mail them to Ernie
McGauley .
PILOT PROFILE INTERVIEW
At what age did you become interested in airplanes?
What made you become interested in airplanes?
Are you a builder?
What was the first airplane you built?
Was that a kit?
Was that an RC plane?
What type of airplanes interest you?
Are you a competition builder?
Have you ever won awards as a builder?
Are you a competition flyer?
Have you ever won awards as a competitor?
Are you a veteran of the armed forces?
If so; where & when did you serve & what branch?
When did you become a member of VFSS?
Who were your instructors if any?
When did you solo?
Have you ever been an officer of VFSS?
Please write a short paragraph that tells us more about you personally.
The WRAM Show or The Pressure Was
On!
Nathan Marks
As the big day approached for our annual trip to
the WRAM Show, the
pressure began to build. What pressure you may be asking
yourself? You get
on a bus, you go to the show and then you come home.
But, it's not that
simple! First of all, you know that you're not going
to travel five hours
round trip and then come home empty handed...Pressure!
So the first thing
you have to do days in advance, is make a shopping list
of the goodies that
you would like to buy. You sit down with the catalogs
from Tower, Omni,etc,
and thumb through the pages,desperately hoping to find
a "gizmo" that you
don't already own ten of...more pressure! Then you have
to decide whether
to bring cash, credit card or use a combination of both.
You have to know
the latest up-to-date weather conditions to determine
if you can wear your
satin-like club jacket to this event. Believe me, these
decisions cause
consternation.
The bus arrived on schedule Saturday morning, which
certainly lowered
my level of anxiety. We clambered on board, got comfortable
in our seats,
and just when I began to relax, Joe Weizer picked up
the microphone and
announced that we had one hundred hoagies on board and
a truckload of
doughnuts, potato chips, pretzels, Snickers, Peanut
Chews, M&M's, sodas and
other treats. We single handedly would have been able
to feed Washington's
army during their encampment at Valley Forge! Holly
cow, what do I eat
first....Pressure!
We arrived at the show at 11:00, which gave each
man five hours to
navigate his way around a multitude of booths and displays
of vendors
selling just about every conceivable item connected
with our hobby. There
was Lanier, Ace Hobby, Airtronics, Century Jet Models,
Dave Brown Products,
Fox, Hitec, Hobby Hangar, Great Planes, National Balsa,
Robart Mfg., Sonic
Tronics, SR Batteries, Cermack Model Co., Sullivan Products,
Top Gun
Aircraft, just to name a very few! Dave Brown, and Nick
Ziroli senior and
junior were there to represent their product lines.
There was so much going
on, and so much to see and do, but only five hours
to do it...It was time
to get moving...Pressure! Before we knew it, the time
had passed. That's
what happens when you're having fun. We saw numerous
products on display,
spoke to the representatives of the companies, visited
the room upstairs
which housed the static display of the most beautiful
model aircraft,
including the Spirit of St. Louis that was featured
in our magazines. And,
oh yes, we made our purchases! We bought planes, tools,
servos, balsa
sheeting, and other paraphernalia to make almost everyone
happy. The Moki
engine Bob Sudermann wanted to buy still remains elusive,
however!
I would like to thank Joe Weizer for orchestrating
this trip. Thanks,
Joe!
So, in closing, gentleman, if you think you're man enough
to endure the
pressure of going on a most enjoyable day's outing with
a busload of nice
folks who are devoted to our hobby, then by all means,
do join us next
year.
The WRAM SHOW is held every year on the last
weekend in February. If
you have never attended, plan to go on the next trip
in February 2001.
Next Club Meeting
The next club meeting will be held at the Valley Forge
Presbyterian Church
on Tuesday May 9th at 8PM.
Summer Meetings
The June, July , and August meetings are planned to
take place at the
flying field in Valley Forge Park.
This handsome group of club members is our bulletin
board rescue team. As
many of you know, our bulletin board became a casualty
to vandalism this
past winter. The members below, Joe Weizer, and Joe
Yalove are rebuilding
the bulletin board with park permission. When club president
Walt Pierchala
offer to rebuild the structure instead of the park
rebuilding it he was
given the approval of the park authorities. Thank you
to the "TWO JOEs".
The picture below was taken this week at the
field. The critters not
visible in this picture are the deer ticks. Let us
not forget that Valley
Forge Park has a large population of deer. With this
comes the unwelcome
visitors "deer ticks".
You should wear light colored clothing so that ticks
can be spotted more
easily. The best protection from these pests is to
wear long sleeved shits
and long pants at the park and tuck them into
your socks or boots.
Infection can usually be identified by the characteristic
"bull's eye"
rash, muscle aches, joint aches, and headaches. Symptoms
may take as little
as 3 days or as many as 30 days to appear. A vaccination
is available.
BOG Review
The minutes for BOG meetings in February and March
are not going to be
published because there were no BOG meetings in those
months.
All members are invited to attend the monthly
BOG meetings at the
church. If there are any issues or topics that you need
to discuss, this is
where you should do it.
April BOG Meeting
BOG Meeting opened at 7:12 PM by the President
1999 FIELD GUIDE AS TO 95DB NOISE LEVEL OFFICIALY ENTERED.
AT THE JUNE FUNFLY ALL PILOTS WILL BE ALLOWED TO PARTAKE
IN A TICKET DRAWING FOR DOOR PRIZES. MORE INFO TO FOLLOW.
THE ASTRONOMY CLUB WILL BE SHARING OUR FIELD AT TWILIGHT
ON SOME EVENINGS THIS YEAR,THEY HAVE PARK PERMISSION
TO BE THERE.
A MEDICAL EMERGENCY PHONE IS LOCATED AT THE LOWER PARKING
LOT AT THE FIELD.
ALSO AN EYEWASH FIRST AID WILL BE LOCATED AT THE FIELD
STORAGE.
AS A GENERAL NOTE: BOG MEETINGS ARE OPEN TO ALL CLUB
MEMBERS. COME AND ATTEND ONE.
MANY STANDARD RULES OF FLIGHTLINE, AND FLYING PROCEDURES,
ARE NOT BEING OBSERVED BY SOME MEMBERS. THIS HAS CREATED
THE NECESSITY TO REAFFIRM THE CLUBS POSITION. EXPECT
TO HEAR MORE AT THE NEXT MEETING.
CORRECTION
In the March newsletter it was mistakenly reported that
Al Campana had been
awarded the Doug Davidson Award two years in a row.
In 1999 the Doug
Davidson Award was presented to Joe Pasquini for all
that he had done for
this club in that year.
Feedback or comments to:
Ernie McGauley , HearYe editor
Michael Myers, Webmaster
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