FREE FLIGHT SCALE
CLEVELAND MODEL & SUPPLY COMPANY
By Dennis Norman | dennis@airacemodels.com
IN THE LATE 1940s, a hobby shop in my hometown of Akron, Ohio, was going out of business. The merchandise that was being liquidated included kits of a Grumman Avenger and a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 that were made by Cleveland Model & Supply Company (Cleveland Models). My dad picked them up for $6 each. I managed to halfway build the Grumman Avenger. I had only been modeling a few years and did not have enough experience to successfully cope with building a Cleveland kit.
I thought that, because the hobby shop was going out of business, Cleveland Models was also folding. Years later, in the late 1960s when I was in law school, I came across a fairly recent model magazine that featured an ad for Cleveland Model & Supply. The ad gave the company’s address and telephone number.
Out of curiosity, I called the number, and when a man answered, I asked if I had reached Cleveland Models. The man replied, “Yes; I am Cleveland Models.” I introduced myself and asked if the company was still in business. To my delight, I learned that it was, and I quickly made an appointment to visit the establishment.
A couple of years before my call, I published my first article in the December 1966 issue of Model Airplane News (MAN). It featured a scratch-built Mosquito bomber powered by a double spool in the fuselage that was connected by two rubber bands to a single spool in each nacelle. The double spool was held in place by a removable wire because the rubber motor in the fuselage was wound from the tail.
When the motor was fully wound, the restraining wire was removed from the double spool, causing it to turn, drive the single spool in each nacelle, and turn the propellers. There was not enough power for the model to climb, but the system was strong enough to provide “powered” glides up to 100 feet.
A few days after my call, I made my first trip to Cleveland Models with my Mosquito
and a copy of the MAN issue that presented my model. Upon arrival, I met a distinguished-looking gentleman dressed in a suit and tie who introduced himself as Edward T. Packard. I showed him my Mosquito and he looked at it with recognition. He then stepped to a stack of paper and, like the comedian W.C. Fields, deftly pulled a set of Cleveland plans from the early 1930s.
To my amazement, the plans were
for a Boeing B-9 bomber that used the exact propulsion setup that I was using in my Mosquito 30 years later! As Socrates said, “The only thing I know is that I know nothing.” Mr. Packard seemed impressed with my “original” design and asked me if I would be interested in designing for him. I said that I was in law school and unfortunately did not have much time for modeling.
Edward explained that Cleveland Models
was about to relocate to a new building and asked if I might be able to assist him with the move. I thought for a moment and said that I might be able to get four or five of my classmates to help him on a Saturday, and he gladly accepted my offer.
A couple of Saturdays later, four of my classmates and I helped him for a day. He apologized that he was not able to pay us. We graciously understood, but Edward eventually insisted on giving me $300 worth of his plans and print wood as a gesture of his appreciation.
A couple of years after that, I graduated from law school and moved to Cleveland with my wife and children. At that time, Edward and his family lived on Lake Avenue in Lakewood, Ohio. Ironically, my family ultimately moved to Lake Avenue, but on the portion located in the city of Cleveland.
By the 1990s, Edward found himself unable to continue running Cleveland Models. He was in his 90s and had continuously owned and operated the company for 77 years! Aviation writer Charles Tracy had written in Oldest Model Maker Hailed for the now-defunct Cleveland Press that Edward was honored by the AMA because he was “the world’s oldest (model) aircraft manufacturer under the same management since starting business,” which was in 1919 when he was 13 years old.
In the spring of 1996, Edward sold Cleveland Model & Supply Company to John Jaycox in Indianapolis. John is the present owner of Cleveland Models. If you want to read more, I highly recommend the book Aviation’s Great Recruiter, Cleveland’s Ed Packard by H.L. (Herm) Schreiner.
SOURCES:
National Free Flight Society (NFFS)
www.freeflight.org
Aviation’s Great Recruiter: Cleveland’s Ed Packard
By H.L. Schreiner
https://amzn.to/354IMdv
Cleveland Model & Supply Company, Inc.
(317) 257-7878
www.clevelandairline.com
