Edition: Model Aviation - 2021/11
Page Numbers: 97
Dennis Thibodeau seated among model aircraft at the Warbirds Over Ellington event.

District I

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont

Northern Connecticut RC Club (NCRCC) member Dennis Thibodeau, the contest director (CD) for the annual Warbirds Over Ellington, invited me to this year’s event. The last time I attended was in 2017. As luck would have it, Dennis again offered to write the following report. All I had to do was to take the photos and enjoy the gathering. Dennis wrote:

Because of health issues, this will be my last year as the CD for the Warbirds Over Ellington event. The event was started in 2009 at the request of my best friend, Guy Beaudoin Sr., with the idea of including a raffle to benefit local charities and give something back to the community. Sadly, Guy passed away in April 2021.

Throughout the past 12 years, the earnings from the event’s raffles have been donated to the Wounded Warrior Project, Disabled American Veterans, and the Connecticut Children’s Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. Without the increasing turnout of attendees and the support contributed by club members, event participants, spectators, and community officials, the event would not have been as successful.

The gathering was originally named Axis and Allies and remained with that name for its first 2 years. In 2012, I changed the name to Warbirds Over Ellington in order to better diversify all of the military-type airplanes and not to simply focus on World War I and II combat aircraft. The name change contributed considerably to the event’s growth in participants and attendees because it attracted all types of military-themed models from WW I through current jet-age aircraft.

In 12 years, with suggestions and help from many NCRCC members, we brought this event from its infancy to the

Dennis Thibodeau seated among model aircraft at the Warbirds Over Ellington event.
Dennis Thibodeau, a B-52D crew chief during the Vietnam war and the CD for Warbirds Over Ellington for the past 12 years, conducted his final event.

prominence it enjoys today in Southern New England.

I commend the NCRCC ground crew for the fantastic condition the field has always been in for gatherings. I hope that this event will continue to grow in the future, and we can see many new and old warbird pilots attending the annual Warbirds Over Ellington.

Thanks, Dennis, for the report and for your years as a CD promoting the sport of aeromodeling. And, thanks to NCRCC for providing the venue for so

A pilot stands behind a model Bristol F2B Fighter on a grass field.

Bill Glade flew his SeaBees Bristol F2B Fighter.

Three pilots with a P47 Thunderbolt, Fokker Dr.1, and DH.82 Tiger Moth model aircraft.
(L-R): Pilots Craig Korsen, Scott Ballou, and Leo Nordell flew their respective P47 Thunderbolt, Fokker Dr.1, and DH.82 Tiger Moth.