HAZEL SIG
By Jay Smith, Executive Editor | jays@modelaircraft.org
SO THERE I WAS, sitting in the hangar that once housed Hazel Sig’s full-scale clipped-wing Cub and her Spacewalker. Hazel and I had lunch together shortly after I interviewed her on camera while I was in Montezuma, Iowa, for the Hazel Sig Centennial RC Fly-In. I casually asked her, “Hazel, have you lived in Iowa your whole life?”
She looked up with a smile that indicated to me that she had a witty reply in store. Her response was simply, “Not yet!” I laughed profusely at her humor. Hazel had turned 100 on March 3, 2022, and told everyone she was working on being 200.
Beyond the interview, I spent a few hours with her and she shared many stories about aeromodeling, full-scale aviation, and Sig Manufacturing. She has had an amazing life, and freely shares stories with everyone who approaches her. Most asked her to sign their Sig aircraft, and I am also guilty!
Hazel’s first flight in a full-scale aircraft was with Charles Lindbergh in 1925 when she was only 3 years old! She has loved aviation for her entire life, and it is clear that her passion for it is still as strong as it was when she was a child flying model airplanes, or at age 35 when she earned her full-scale pilot’s license. By the time she stopped flying full-scale, she had logged more than 7,000 hours.
Hazel’s first flight in a full-scale aircraft was with Charles Lindbergh in 1925 when she was only 3 years old! She has loved aviation for her entire life, and it is clear that her passion for it is still as strong as it was when she was a child flying model airplanes, or at age 35 when she earned her full-scale pilot’s license.
Nearly everyone who attended the Hazel Sig Centennial RC Fly-In took time to talk with Hazel and share his or her appreciation. It was clear that she enjoyed the interactions as much as we did.
