In the Air
Membership news and updates
from AMA Headquarters
AMA Air Award
AMA’s bimonthly news program, AMA Air, has received an award from Association Trends, a weekly online publication for association professionals. AMA Air won gold in the Monthly Newsletter or Communication category in the 2016 All Media Contest. AMA Media Producer Matt Ruddick accepted the award in February on behalf of AMA’s Media and Publications department during the Association Trends Salute to Association Excellence awards banquet, held in Washington D.C. The award was for the July 2016 episode.
AMA Air premiered in October 2015 as a monthly video webcast program. It is produced by AMA’s Media and Publications department. To receive email notifications when the episodes are posted online, go to http://air.modelaircraft.org/subscribe.
New AMA Foundation Chairman
An AMA Life Member has been tapped to serve as the new chairman of the AMA Foundation Board of Directors.
During an AMA Executive Council meeting, held April 1 at AMA Headquarters in Muncie, Indiana, it was announced that Daniel “Dan” Bott Sr. is the new board chairman.
Dan is a Certified Investment Management Consultant (CIMC), team leader of the Bott Group, and a global institutional consultant with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. As a financial professional, he has the experience that the AMA Foundation’s Board of Directors requires.
An avid aeromodeler and an AMA Leader Member, Contest Director, and AMA Foundation Heritage Level supporter, Dan has several ideas for the AMA Foundation’s future. He has been an AMA Life Member for more than 25 years.
The AMA Foundation Board of Directors was established in 2015 and is responsible for deciding how AMA Foundation funds are allocated and helping review major gifts to the foundation.
AMA Thanks Its Lifetime Supporters!
The Academy of Model Aeronautics recently welcomed Life Members Bill T. Buchar, Shorewood IL; Rodney Lord, Mechanicsville VA; Theron N. Trowbridge, Los Angeles CA; Bob S. Tursack Jr., Glenmoore PA; Joseph Chau, Denver CO; Tyris Audronis, Katy TX; Julio Caban Jr., Boca Raton FL; Anthony R. Kolenski, Jupiter FL; Andrew D. Yockel, Camden SC; Craig A. Rykal, Brooklyn Park MN; Rick J. Rios, Rowland Heights CA; Bradley E. Niles, Haltom City TX; and Garrick R. Stafford Sr., Moorestown NJ.
For information about becoming a Life Member, contact AMA Headquarters at (800) 435-9262.
—AMA Membership Department
Hobby Shop Winner
Congratulations to Brownie’s Pro & Sport Hobbies of Staten Island, New York, for being awarded $100 through its participation in the AMA Retailer Incentive Program.
The hobby shop was entered into a drawing by signing up new AMA members in its store.
Do you own or work in a hobby shop? What are you waiting for? Join the AMA Retailer Incentive Program and start earning cash today! For more information, contact Erin Dobbs at erind@modelaircraft.org or (765) 287-1256, extension. 272.
Northrop Files
AMA Plans Services now houses all plans formerly sold through Model Builder magazine, Bill Northrop’s Plan Service, and the Scratch Builder’s Almanac. There are more than 1,000 plans in the collection.
The Great Speckled Bird, a rubber-powered Free Flight airplane designed by George Perryman, won the Mulvihill Trophy at the 1977 Nats. The 300-square-inch aircraft is made of balsa.
You can order the Great Speckled Bird, plans number 7783, for $10 by calling AMA Plans Service at (800) 435-9262, extension 507.
2017 Nats
It’s that time again. Registration for the 2017 Indoor and Outdoor Nats is now open. You can register for this year’s contest by visiting http://nats.modelaircraft.org to download a form.
The Indoor Free Flight (FF) competition will again be held in Rantoul, Illinois, at the Rantoul National Aviation Center, Village of Rantoul, Hangar #3. The Indoor FF Nats will take place July 18-22.
New this year, the National Society of Radio Controlled Aerobatics will host the 2017 RC Aerobatics (Pattern) Nats in Blytheville, Arkansas, July 25-29, at the Arkansas Aeroplex.
All other outdoor competitions will take place at the International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana, from June 23-August 3. Each genre has a different registration deadline. The deadlines are listed on the registration form.
Don’t forget that if you want to keep up with the action at the 2017 Nats, you can subscribe to receive email notifications when each issue of NatsNews is posted online. Visit nats.modelaircraft.org/subscribe.
Early Engines Summer Exhibit: Jopson Engine, Baby Engine, and Gamage Engine
Gas engines for model airplanes weren’t successful or manufactured until after Maxwell Bassett and Bill Brown Jr. flew the Miss Philadelphia II in the 1933 Nats. No one had the ability to design or engineer high-quality parts that small before that date—or so the story goes. There is, however, roughly 20 years of miniature engine history missing from the story.
During the Nats this summer, visit the National Model Aviation Museum to see three examples of early miniature engines in a special, temporary exhibit. The three engines are:
- An original, restored Jopson gasoline motor, designed and sold by W.G. Jopson of London, beginning in approximately 1910.
- On loan from Art Gaier, who researched and restored the engine.
- Weighs roughly 7½ pounds.
- Four-cycle, horizontal opposed type, two cast-iron cylinders of 1¼-inch bore, and 1⅜-inch stroke.
- A reproduction of an engine design manufactured by W.A. Gamage of London, dating approximately 1909 or 1910.
- One cylinder, two-cycle engine.
- Weighs roughly 7 pounds.
- Our reproduction is based on a reproduction located at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.
- A reproduction Baby Engine, manufactured in Connecticut and sold from roughly 1911 to 1914.
- One cylinder, two cycle.
- Weighs 7½ pounds.
- Our reproduction is based on a reproduction located at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.
None of these engines are small enough to be model airplane engines as we think of them today, but for the early 20th century standards, they were tiny. All anecdotal evidence indicates that they ran well and there are photographs that show the Baby Engine installed in model airplanes at a contest in 1913 or 1914. Anecdotal evidence that goes along with the photographs states that the models flew several hundred feet. There are also drawings and photographs of a Jopson engine installed in a model built by J.W.K. Clarke.
Author Louis H. Hertz speculated in his book, The Complete Book of Model Aircraft, Spacecraft and Rockets, that the unpopularity of gas engines before 1933 was not because they were difficult to manufacture, but because of the cost to do so. After all, what teenager had the ability to pay $35 for the Baby Engine in 1911?
This summer, watch the museum’s social media sites for more information about these engines. Museum employees plan to include research and pictures from Art Gaier while he was restoring the Jopson, commentary on the engines from contemporary sources, and documentation of the reproduction process of the Baby Engine and Gamage engine. And, of course, you can visit the museum in person to see these three historic engines for yourself.
—National Model Aviation Museum staff
Sources:
Hertz, Louis H., The Complete Book of Model Aircraft, Spacecraft and Rockets. Crown Publishers, 1967, the last chapter specifically, “The Story of Model Aircraft.” Pg. 176ff.—specifically from 254 on.
Cavanagh, George A., Model Aeroplanes and Their Motors. Originally published by Moffat Yard and Company, NY in 1916. Republished by Gustav’s Library of Davenport, Iowa, in 2004. Pg. 106ff.
