NATS VOLUNTEER DIES
AN ANNUAL FIXTURE at the Indoor and Outdoor Free Flight (FF) Nats, who served for many summers as the contest’s event manager, has passed away.
Phil W. Sullivan, age 81, died at his home in Anderson, Indiana, on June 27, 2021. He retired from the Nats in 2014 after serving in that role for more than 10 years.
In addition to overseeing the Nats, Phil was the former president of the National Free Flight Society (NFFS). He was inducted into the NFFS Hall of Fame in 2012.
As time allowed, Phil competed in the Nats. He participated in the FF Nats in 1973-1974, 1978, 2000-2003, 2007, and 2015. His best finish was third place in 2003 in Hand Launch Glider. He also enjoyed building FF models.
Phil was an AMA staff member when AMA Headquarters moved to Muncie, Indiana, from Reston, Virginia, in 1992. He was a member of the Central Indiana Aeromodellers club and organized many of its indoor events.
Another of Phil’s passions was sports. He was an athlete in high school, lettering in golf, basketball, and football as a quarterback. While attending Ball State University in Muncie, he was the football team’s quarterback, lettering in football two years. In golf, he lettered three years. He graduated in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in math, physical education, and health, and earned his master’s in 1974.
For much of his professional career, he taught math at his alma mater, Anderson High School, where he also coached football and golf. His additional involvement with athletics included serving as an official/referee for high school football and basketball.
His coaching years with the Anderson High School golf team included state championships in 1972 and 1974. He served as president and in other offices within the Indiana High School Golf Coaches Association. Ball State awarded him Alumnus Golf Coach of the Year.
Phil took a 5-year hiatus from teaching in 1986, and moved to Virginia, where he was the Virginia State Golf Association’s executive director.
Survivors include his wife of 23 years, Denise; his children, Nancy Bowyer of Florida, Phillip Sullivan of Anderson, and Rodney Sullivan of Colorado; and stepsons, Aaron, Andrew, and Steven Bevilheimer.
Phil was known for his quick wit and passion for the hobby.
When interviewed for a November 2004 article in Model Aviation about the 2014 Nats, Phil said that the relationships he developed throughout the years were the best part of the annual competition. “What I remember is the people that you meet and you reacquaint with,” he said. “You call them good friends, but you see them once a year. I think that is the greatest thing that you will remember over the years.”
PROLIFIC COMPETITOR PASSES AWAY
AN AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame member who competed in Control Line (CL) Precision Aerobatics, conducted model building seminars, and who served as an FAI world championship judge, has died.
Robert “Bob” Gialdini died December 13, 2020, at age 87. He was inducted into the AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame in 2000 and was a 1996 inductee of the Precision Aerobatics Model Pilot Association Hall of Fame.
Beginning in the late 1950s, Bob was a competitor, designer, and official, both nationally and internationally. He served as an FAI world championship judge in 1966, 1976, and 1992.
As a competitor, Bob won the Open event and the Walker Cup at the 1963 and 1965 Nats. In other Nats, he finished third, fourth, fifth, 10th, and 11th. Overall, he accrued 48 first-place trophies in CL Precision Aerobatics and placed well in CL Combat contests. Bob also placed third at the 1964 FAI F2B World Championship, held in Budapest, Hungary, leading the US team to victory.
As a designer, he had a variety of plans published. These included the Olympic MKVI in 1963, published in American Modeler; the Sting Ray (American Modeler), the Rayette (American Modeler), and the Atlanta 60 (Flying Models).
He pioneered the use of mufflers long before they were required and won the 1965 F2B event at the Nats with a muffler-equipped model. It was fitted to another aircraft of his design, the Eclipse. Throughout a long period, he worked at promoting sound-reduction programs. Two of Bob’s models, including the Eclipse, are currently in the National Model Aviation Museum.
He served as president of the Devil Creek Flyers, Inc. from 1991-1998. On several occasions, he served as a contest director for local meets, and in 1963, he managed the F2B Team Selection event.
Bob was preceded in death by his wife Joanne “Jo,” and is survived by two children, four grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
AMA Thanks Its Lifetime Supporters!
The Academy of Model Aeronautics recently welcomed Life Members Jonathan D. Falgout, Lafayette LA; Albert F. Vidal, Caguas PR; Thomas P. Lorenz Jr., Minneapolis MN; Erin Dobbs, Mooreland IN; Timothy E. Strom, McCleary WA; Thomas W. Strom, McCleary WA; Allen Waugerman, Nicholasville KY; and Jacob Dybala, Park Ridge IL.
For information about becoming a Life Member, contact AMA Headquarters at (800) 435-9262.
—AMA Membership Department
course, there was a banquet for the Celebration of Eagles on Saturday night, this time held at the Horizon Convention Center in downtown Muncie. Approximately 100 people attended.
Another banner was signed for this celebration and is also in the museum’s collection. We have a scrapbook from the event in the Norm Rosenstock Collection. A program from that scrapbook the event “A Gathering of Champions.”
The article for this celebration, printed in the November 2001 Model Aviation,
stated, “This year’s group was somewhat smaller than in previous years, and a regular topic of conversation was how many previous participants were not in attendance because of having passed on or having health problems that prevented travel, a natural consequence of advancing age.” (pg. 28) This added a somber tone, and although the article ended with a hopeful note about a possible fourth celebration, the Celebration of Eagles run ended with the third.
All three Model Aviation articles about the Celebration of Eagles, used as source material for this article, can be accessed via the Model Aviation Digital Library by going to www.library.modelaviation.com.
The museum has more images and memorabilia related to the Celebration of Eagles
I, II, and III. You can see some of those now through our Digital Collections, and we plan to continue adding more in the future! Search for artifacts using the phrase “Celebration of Eagles” (with quotation marks).
If you were planning a Celebration of Eagles IV event, who would you invite? Who are your favorite pioneering aeromodelers of the last half century?
SOURCES:
“A Celebration of Eagles: A once-in-a-lifetime gathering of many great names in aeromodeling,”
Dave Thornburg and Matthew Usher, Model Aviation, November 1996
http://library.modelaviation.com/ma/1996/11/1
“Celebration of Eagles II: Modeling greats meet in Muncie to share rich heritage,”
Shelia Ames, Model Aviation, February 1999
http://library.modelaviation.com/ma/1999/2/1
“AMA Gala 2001: Celebration of Eagles III”
John Worth, Model Aviation, November 2001
http://library.modelaviation.com/ma/2001/11
“History Moments: Week 4 - November 22, 2011
“The Three Celebrations of Eagles”
www.modelaircraft.org/november-2011-history-moments
