AMA FOUNDATION FEEDS NATS PILOTS
By Rachelle Haughn, AMA Foundation Donor & Programs Specialist | rachelleh@modelaircraft.org
WHEN THE FOOD TRUCKS that were scheduled for the 2023 Nats (https://nats.modelaircraft.org) canceled, AMA staff stepped in to assist. To help welcome Nats pilots, AMA employees from various departments cooked and served food at the International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana.
Food purchased by the AMA Foundation included Papa Johns pizza (www.papajohns.com), hot dogs, chips, cookies, and soft drinks. Although it was hot on some days, the employees enjoyed interacting with the competitors. Some pilots from other countries said that they enjoyed having an “all-American” lunch.
In exchange for lunch, Nats attendees could donate to the AMA Foundation. In all, $2,195.80 was donated! Thank you to all of the employees who volunteered and all of the attendees who donated.
AMA FOUNDATION YEAR-END GIVING
By Austin Perlee, AMA Digital Engagement and Development Specialist | austin@modelaircraft.org
EVERY YEAR, the AMA Foundation ascends into year-end giving, a time when nonprofits around the world ask donors for their first or final gifts of the year. You will likely receive multiple mailers or emails asking for a donation. We know it can be overwhelming to choose which good cause to support.
We have kicked off the AMA Foundation’s year-end campaign, and we are asking for your help to meet our 2023 goal of $430,000. Many nonprofits receive 40% to 60% of their annual fundraising goals in the last two months of the year. We are excited about where we are currently, but we know that we still have our work cut out for us in order to reach 100% of our goal.
Whether you are able to give $10, $100, or $1,000, each dollar moves the needle, and it only happens with your support. To learn more about all of our giving options and the different funds to which you can contribute, visit our website at https://amafoundation.modelaircraft.org.
JIM MARTIN, 1936–2023
JIM MARTIN was born in Evanston, Illinois, in 1936. He passed away on September 3, 2023, at the age of 87. His website can be found at www.jimmartin.co.
Jim’s contributions to the hobby of model aviation were monumental. He was the founder of Hobby Lobby International Inc., a hobby shop that he opened in 1964. Hobby Lobby International Inc. was initially a small 600 sq. ft. building. The company sold both RC airplanes and slot cars. In 1969, the hobby shop began selling electric power products. Soon after, Jim moved Hobby Lobby International Inc. to Brentwood, Tennessee, where it was upgraded to a 4,000 sq. ft. building with 12 employees.
While his hobby shop found success because of his knowledge, Jim made it clear that he could not have accomplished this feat without his wife, whom he married in 1984: “My wife, JoAnne, is responsible for a lot of the good things that happened for me businesswise. I would write the ads and JoAnne would do the graphics.” Jim sold and retired from Hobby Lobby International Inc. in 2008 at the age of 72, but the impact that he and his hobby shop left will forever be remembered.
Jim Graham, a friend and former employee of Jim’s, once wrote, “From where I stand, I could say that Jim Martin changed the face of RC. He nurtured electric flight in the US and ultimately made power systems and airplanes that would change our perception of electric flight.”
Although he spent much of his life in the realm of model aviation, Jim had experience in full-scale aviation as well. He flew tankers in the Air Force, Strategic Air Command, and the National Guard as a pilot, received the top aerobatic pilot award in primary training and the top instrument pilot award in basic.
Jim preferred model aviation over full-scale. He once stated, “In a full-scale airplane, you have to mess with constant training, reading, work, knowledge of charts, maps, NOTAMs, and most of the flying is about as interesting as bus driving. You don’t get to do the fun stuff, which is contact flight doing Cuban 8s and Split Ss while you’re listening to Strauss waltzes. With a model airplane, you get to watch the airplane move.”
Jim once stated, “For 40 years, I owned and ran a business that dealt in stuff that I love, with people that I love. I’m a very lucky guy.”
Model Builder Plans
AMA PLANS SERVICE now houses all plans formerly sold through Model Builder magazine, Bill Northrup’s Plan Service, and the Scratch Builder’s Almanac. There are more than 18,000 plans in the collection.
The Hurricane, designed and inked by Chuck Felton, was originally published in the 1988 issue of Model Builder magazine. This airplane has a roughly 60-inch wingspan, an area of 28 sq. ft., and is modeled after the first eight-gun monoplane fighter in service with the Royal Air Force.
Plans for the Hurricane can be ordered for $27 by visiting https://plans.modelaircraft.org or calling the AMA Plans Service at (765) 287-1256, ext. 507. The Hurricane is plans number 10881.
History Preserved
WE RECEIVED SUCH POSITIVE RESPONSES on the random items articles that ran in the January, March, May, and July 2023 issues that we thought we’d offer a bonus round. There wasn’t room for all of the items that we wanted to share, so in no particular order of appearance, here are three bonus items from the collection:
Bonus 1: This catalog for The Model Supply House is from the George B. Armstead Jr. Collection. Dated 1915, this New York-based company offered many model kits and completed models. In addition, the company sold supplies, such as silk, varnish, propellers, and wood for building models of the time (spruce, cypress, birch, bamboo, and other types), as well as tools and reference materials, including model blueprints and books. Instructional text on building and flying models is near the back of the catalog, and on the inside of the back cover is a helpful glossary of terms.
On page one of the catalog, in the foreword by Walter H. Phipps, the company made a guarantee that its models would “exceed the performances of any other machines on the market.” On the inside cover, it states that the company offered $1,500 worth of prizes for various events throughout the year of 1915! Tucked inside of the catalog is a flyer for the new Lightning Racer model, offering 25¢ off of the $1.25 model. That sounds like a good deal today!
Bonus 2A and 2B: The images presented are just two of the thousands of slides in the Robert H. Munn Collection that we received in 2020. According to information written on one of Munn’s slides, these images show Col. Hurst Gray Bowers (1924-2004) at an Indoor Scale event at “Andrews—Navy Hangar” (possibly meaning it was held at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland) on February 21, 1975. These images showcase the excitement about the joy of aeromodeling. In one image, you can see Hurst working with a cabin model. In the other, he’s involved in stretch-winding a biplane.
Some of you might know that Hurst was the first curator of the National Model Aviation Museum when it was in Reston, Virginia, as well as a 1992 Model Aviation Hall of Fame inductee. The museum has various model aircraft and other modeling-related materials that were donated by Hurst, and biographical material about him can be read on the AMA History Project website at www.modelaircraft.org/sites/default/files/BowersHurstGray.pdf.
Bonus 3: An encouraging flyer in the David and Walter Erbach Collection—among other
items collected from participation in the 1979 Nats—included good information for attendees of that year’s events. Titled “The Gas Shortage and the Nats,” it states that, although gas shortages might have been shown on the news, recent experiences had demonstrated that many people luckily found gas just fine in smaller towns—especially in Nebraska, where the Nats was being held that year. That probably relieved many attendees who were driving long distances.
Did you drive to the 1979 Nats? If so, did you face any problems filling up at gas stations along the way? Let us know! Your comments could make their way into an upcoming “History Preserved” column.
Once again, we give a hearty shout-out to our wonderful donors, for without them, these items would not be here at the museum. Thank you! And thanks for joining us on this bonus journey through more random collection items. If you like these random highlights, let us know and we might continue doing them.
If you want to see the museum’s collections from your computer, smartphone, or other chosen mode of accessing the internet, check out our digital collections at https://modelaircraft.pastperfectonline.com.
