UAS4STEM (SPONSORED BY SKYDIO) 2024 REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN
Exciting news about a thrilling opportunity!
By Gwen Mathis, AMA Education Development Coordinator | gwenm@modelaircraft.org | Photos by Kyle Jaracz
UAS4STEM (SPONSORED BY SKYDIO) is a drone competition for everyone! The competition is designed for youth competitors ages 11 to 19 to learn, practice, and demonstrate professional UAS knowledge, mission planning, flight skills, data collection, analysis, and safety practices in a competitive, team-oriented environment. Competitors develop
professional skills, including—but not limited to—public speaking, teamwork, time management, and troubleshooting through all of the steps of the competition. Teams must have at least four student team members (although no more than 10), as well as an adult mentor. Each team can have an optional adult assistant manager.
Read more about this exciting program beginning on page 36. Registration for the 2024 UAS4STEM (Sponsored by Skydio) competition is now open. Visit https://fs2.formsite.com/AMAMarketing/x3qw6do09g/index.html.
If this competition sounds like something you’d like to participate in, or if you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to AMA’s Education team at education@modelaircraft.org. We look forward to hearing from you!
ORVAL CHRISTY “O.C.” STEWART (1929-2023)
ORVAL CHRISTY “O.C.” Stewart was born on August 26, 1929, in Clarksburg, West Virginia. He passed at the age of 93 on August 14, 2023.
Before he knew how to read, O.C. was trying to build models. Model building and flying was truly a lifelong passion, one that he fully immersed himself in throughout his entire lifetime. From setting records and winning various competitions, to being an airplane building instructor and becoming the director of multiple clubs, O.C. truly was a gift to the hobby.
O.C. started modeling in 1935 and joined AMA in 1938. Eventually, he became an AMA Life Member, contest director, and AMA Leader Member. O.C. was so dedicated to the hobby that he moved to Muncie, Indiana, in 1999, “because the AMA Headquarters and flying field are located here,” he once explained.
Starting in November of 2000, O.C. volunteered his time at AMA’s National Model Aviation Museum. He gave tours to museum visitors, assisted with restorations, and worked on building models for the museum.
National Model Aviation Museum Director Michael Smith said that “O.C. lived for model airplanes. He really enjoyed building and flying, and he enjoyed talking to people about them. He always had a story to share! On his gravestone, he even has ‘Gone Flying.’”
Until September of 2001, all that O.C. ever flew were Free Flight (FF) aircraft. As he once stated, “Some dogs are born to chase cars. I was born to chase FF model airplanes.” The models that he built were mostly scratch-built from magazine plans, although he also built some that he had designed himself! Aside from his FF aircraft, O.C. eventually began to fly RC gliders.
While O.C.’s competition statistics are impressive, they don’t truly show you the type of person that he was at his core. Bob Sifleet, a friend of O.C.’s since 1952, shared stories of his interactions with O.C., highlighting just how generous, dedicated, and respectable O.C. was as a friend. Following are excerpts from these stories:
“In 2003, I won the World Championship in F1E in FF Gliders. The only person who wrote an extensive letter congratulating me for winning was O.C.”
“There was a gate at the east end of the field, and we went through the gate, and he got half in and half out of the car through the window, hanging on to the rearview mirror, looking up at the airplane, telling me where to drive because it was really high. A flight like that, if you get it back at all at any time soon, you’re really lucky. So, he was telling me, ‘Oh, turn right here! Turn left there!’ while I’m saying, ‘Well you’re going to fall out of the car!’ and he goes, ‘Don’t worry about me, I’ll stay in the car.’ So, he guided me right to the airplane. Right when it landed, we weren’t any more than a block away because it was in a big residential area. We got back with only about 40 minutes, so I made the third flight with ease. But this just showed what he would do for somebody if he liked you. I never thought much about it over the years, but then, you know, you think about these things and say, ‘he was certainly unselfish to do that.’”
“He tried to help me make a few changes to make it fly better. It improved! It was nice for him, in the middle of his flying, to take an hour of time to coach me a little bit. Later in the day, he talked with my father and me and said, ‘Well, Bobby, what you’ve got to do is build lots of airplanes. Learn how to build them correctly, really work hard at making them as straight and true as possible, and then go out and fly them as much as you can to get them going as best as they can. When you go to contests, really concentrate, and learn what it takes to win.’ And those were his words of advice to me at that particular time.”
“In 2000, Joe Williams, a friend of O.C. who lived in Pennsylvania, experienced a flood. It had flooded the basement and part of the house, and when O.C. heard about this, he immediately packed up and went to Pennsylvania to help Joe with his airplanes. Apparently, he had spent two or three weeks up there helping Joe get his airplanes back in order.”
Thank you, Bob, for sharing stories that highlight the type of person O.C. was at his core: generous, dedicated, and thoughtful.
To read O.C.’s AMA History Project autobiography that he wrote in November 2002, visit www.modelaircraft.org/sites/default/files/StewartOrvalChristieOC.pdf.
History Preserved
A LONG TRIP AROUND THE CL CIRCLE
By Michael Smith, National Model Aviation Museum Director
IN MAY 1957, members of the Eugene Prop Spinners model airplane club made a presentation to the Eugene Oregon Exchange Club. The club highlighted details about model flying in hopes that the Exchange Club might sponsor its aeromodeling activities. This included an attempt to set an endurance record of 100 hours.
Prop Spinners members, including Control Line (CL) pioneer Oba St. Claire, were building the model for this flight, which was expected to fly 3,000 air miles while averaging 60 mph. The cost of the record-setting project was estimated to be $312.55, including the model engine and fuel. The Exchange Club agreed to sponsor the event, with the flight planned for the third week of June. The record they were planning to beat was a time of 35 hours and 8 minutes.
Before the flight, members of the Exchange Club visited neighbors around the ballpark, telling of the proposed event. Thirty people signed a petition that they would not mind the noise, with the Eugene Hotel offering rooms, free of charge, to those who the noise would bother.
On Monday, June 17, the first attempt was made at the Bethel Ball Park as part of a larger four-day CL model contest. This came to a crashing halt at 12:29 p.m. after 26 hours and 23 minutes. The ground crew hoped that repairs could be made quickly, allowing for a second attempt.
Once ready, pilots would be taking two-hour shifts and, when not flying, they would camp out in the park’s baseball dugout. Unfortunately, the second attempt did not fare much better, lasting only 14
The photo shows one of the 13 pilots, Gary Jacquemin (17), handing over controls to Ray Howard (35) while ground crew member Wendell Gray (16) looks on. In the image, the fuel tank worn by the pilots can be seen on Gary’s chest.
hours and 23 minutes. “Extreme vibration, tearing an elevator hinge, and breaking the motor mounts, caused the crash,” noted a reporter from the Eugene Guard. It was also stated that the group in California that currently held the endurance record had taken 17 attempts.
On September 1, 1957, the Prop Spinners made the third attempt, this time at the Eugene Speedway. Thirteen pilots exchanged the handle during this flight, lasting 64 hours and 33 minutes. It was estimated that the model flew more than 2,705 miles, consumed 30-7/8 gallons of fuel, and flew at roughly 36.5 mph, later increasing to 44 mph. Sixty-foot control lines were used, along with two electrical lines and the fuel line.
The flight was accomplished with the aid of a fuel tank, worn on the pilot’s chest, with a fuel line running down the control
On August 31, 2023, the Spirit of Exchange was officially donated to the museum.
lines. One of the ground crew members would then make occasional trips to the circle’s center to refill the fuel tank. Pilot exchange then required not only the passing of the handle but the fuel tank as well. At one point, concern arose that they would not have enough fuel, but Shirley’s Air Service volunteered to fly a Prop Spinner to Portland, where a 55-gallon drum of fuel was acquired and flown back.
The record flight ended at 4:41 on Tuesday, September 4. As the Prop Spinner president commented, “The engine finally wore out, it just reached the end of its life.”
AMA Thanks Its Lifetime Supporters!
The Academy of Model Aeronautics recently welcomed Life Members Stephen M. Colligan, Wasilla AK; Ryan Bridges Hickerson, Wichita KS; Alvaro Gorrin, Coral Gables FL; Steven R. Eagle, Wabash IN; Michael J. Wizynajtys, Ortonville MI; Oliver Slesar, Stowe VT; Mohamed Pazhoon, West Palm Beach FL; Russell Titus, Lakewood Ranch FL; Jacob Aytes, Nort East MD; Joseph E. Millette, Las Cruces NM; and Dan Basovitch, Staten Island NY.
For information about becoming a Life Member, contact AMA Headquarters at (765) 287-1256, ext. 129.
—AMA Membership department
