District X
Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah
Lawrence Tougas
Vice President
ama.district10@gmail.com
Box 276, Fairfield CA 94533
(707) 480-2053
www.ama10.org
ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENTS
Tim Attaway, Chula Vista CA; (619) 427-6392; trattaway@cox.net
Forrest Barton, Woodland CA; (530) 383-9019; cbarton328@aol.com
Jim Bonnardel, San Diego CA; (858) 292-5518; nitrbblast@hotmail.com
Alan Friedman, Eloy AZ; (520) 876-0232; proplan@aol.com
Tim Johnson, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA; (562) 965-4288; timothy@johnson.us.com
Mike Lee, Redlands CA; (909) 792-8424; mlee8249@msn.com
Barry Mattison, Las Vegas NV; (702) 218-3827; bm.brabbit@gmail.com
Dave Meriwether, Laguna Beach CA; (949) 350-4075; meri wed@comline.com
Jim Mohan, Phoenix AZ; (623) 434-1351; jmohan351@cox.net
Gil Terzo, Las Vegas NV; (702) 523-9897; gterzo@aol.com
Peter Vogel, Santa Clara CA; (408) 569-7067; vogel.peter@gmail.com
Roger Willis, Murrieta CA; (951) 249-9688; willis aoc@aol.com
EVENT SANCTION COORDINATORS
Tim Attaway (CA south of Bakersfield), Chula Vista CA; (619) 427-6392; trattaway@cox.net
Forrest Barton (CA north of Bakersfield), Woodland CA; (530) 383-9019; cbarton328@aol.com
December is here, and with it, I wish you all a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, a joyous Kwanzaa, and if you celebrate Festivus, go easy on the Airing of Grievances.
I recently visited the Torrey Pines Gliderport. It has a special history in the world of Soaring. In 1930, none other than Charles Lindbergh was the first to use the lift along the cliffs at Torrey Pines as a part of a soaring distance flight. Others soon followed, and the gliderport quickly became a haven for manned sailplanes.
In the 1950s, amateur radio operators began putting RC gear in large Free Flight models and trying their luck with the ridge lift. Many of these early gliders were single control (rudder only), yet on one flight in 1956, Dr. Bob Chase managed to keep his RC glider aloft for more than 8.5 hours at Torrey Pines, setting an FAI world record and helping to usher in a new type of Soaring.
RC blossomed at the site in the 1970s through the formation of the Torrey Pines Gulls (TPG) RC Soaring club and later expanded to scale sailplanes through the Torrey Pines Scale Soaring Society. These two AMA clubs share the site today.
This same period also brought hang gliding and paragliding to the site. It is a unique resource—not only for its history with RC but with so many forms of motorless flight. With such a scenic location, portions of the movie Jonathan Livingston Seagull were filmed at Torrey Pines, with TPG members Mark and Rod Smith flying RC seagulls for the cameras.
Throughout the years, members of both RC clubs have helped to protect the site for all forms of gliding, and it was the first gliderport listed on the California and National Registers of Historic Places.
In 2003, the gliderport was dedicated as the first site in the AMA’s National Aeromodeling Heritage Program. Soaring at Torrey Pines is fantastic when the wind is up and safety is paramount. The next time you are in San Diego, check out TPG!
My thanks to AMA member and TPG historian Dr. Gary Fogel for his help with this story, and best wishes to all of the modelers who call Torrey Pines home.
Until next month, I wish you all nothing but happy landings.
