LEE FOSTER CAMPBELL 1946-2025
By Mark Freeland, RetroRC | retrorc@live.com
IT IS WITH A HEAVY HEART that I let you know that my dear friend, Lee Foster Campbell, passed away peacefully at the Waters of Muncie nursing home on the evening of June 7, 2025.
Lee was born in Rochester, Pennsylvania, and spent much of his life in Michigan, Florida, and Indiana. He is survived by his younger sister, Lynne Campbell, his eldest daughter, Ranay Dawn Baffy, and youngest daughter, Alison Marie Campbell. His middle daughter, Tera Lynn Grinspun, passed in 2013. Lee also had four grandsons, one granddaughter, and several great-grandchildren.
Anyone who has flown Free Flight (FF) in the US in the last 60 years has undoubtedly met Lee. He built his first model at the age of 8 (a Comet Phantom Fury) with his father’s help. Six years later, he built his first successful stick-and-tissue model, a Comet Sparky.
He first competed in a contest in 1963 and had been a fixture at contests throughout the US ever since, competing in numerous categories ranging from Hand-Launch Glider (HLG), A1, A2 Towline Gliders, Scale and Duration Rubber, 1/4A, 1/2A, and A Gas.
Most FF fliers undoubtedly purchased from his mobile hobby store a few kits or some critical piece of hardware that you lost or forgot to bring. If you did, you will remember him entertaining you with his endless stream of jokes. If you were never lucky enough to have met him in person, you coveted one of his famous “red box” kits at local hobby stores.
Lee is best known for his model company, Campbell’s Custom Kits. He made his first HLG kits in 1974, although he did not formalize his company until 1980. He manufactured all of the kits himself, using the best quality wood that was available to him and his trusty band saw. His kits all contained handmade parts cut on the band saw, not die-crunched. They gained a reputation for being well put together with quality wood. He sold directly and through many hobby stores around the country.
Lee’s larger kits were always packaged in red boxes that were easy to spot on a hobby store shelf. He also stocked many support items, which he would bring to the contests and sell from his trailer. It is hard to fathom that throughout the years, he manufactured more than 70,000 kits!
Many of you have known Lee a lot longer than I have and will have many fond memories and stories to share. I first knew of Campbell’s Custom Kits when I relocated from the U.K. to Michigan to take a job at Ford Motor Company. I found the local hobby store, Joe’s Hobby on Wyoming Street in Dearborn, where I spotted some nice-looking kits in red boxes.
It wasn’t until 2012 that I met Lee when he stopped at my booth at the Toledo Show:
R/C Model Expo and introduced himself. He was looking for someone who could do some laser-cutting for him, specifically to cut the long, tapered fuselage for the Straight Up CLG. He said his hand was not as steady with the band saw as it once was. To be honest I don’t know how he was ever able to cut the straight taper from 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch across 12 inches. It was a thrill for him to ask me to cut some parts for his wonderful kits.
Lee became a good friend. After he got a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2015, he asked if I might like to buy his business and continue producing Campbell’s Custom Kits. It has been a true honor to do so and to have Lee as a mentor for the past 10 years.
He will be deeply missed by the many FF fliers who knew him.
To learn more about Lee’s life and many accomplishments, you can read the AMA History Project Autobiography of Lee Foster Campbell at www.modelaircraft.org/sites/
SEPTEMBER MUSEUM HOURS
THE NATIONAL MODEL AVIATION MUSEUM typically closes for the winter season. That time is quickly approaching, so make sure to plan your fall museum visits accordingly.
The museum will be open Tuesday, September 2 to Saturday, September 27, Monday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Note that it will be closed on Monday, September 1, so that staff can celebrate Labor Day. Saturday, September 27, will be the last day of the open season this year.
The full 2025 schedule is available on the AMA website at www.modelaircraft.org/museum/museum-info. When the 2026 schedule has been finalized, the website will be updated. Alternatively, you can call (765) 287-1256 ext. 504 or 511 for hours.
Model Builder’s YMF-5 Waco
A Golden Age beauty
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 YMF-5 Waco was designed by Al Wheeler and appeared in the February 1994 issue of Model Builder. The all-wood, Stand-Off Scale biplane was built for .25 power. It has a 40-inch top wingspan and a 35-inch bottom wingspan. It is 32 inches in length and weighs 66 ounces. It requires a four-channel radio.
This is an all-around fun airplane—not difficult to build and not too large to carry around. If you like classic biplanes and want one that looks good and flies well, scratch-build a YMF-5 and keep in touch with the Golden Age.
Plans for the YMF-5, plans number 2941, can be ordered for $13 by visiting https://plans.modelaircraft.org or by calling AMA Plans Service at (765) 287-1256, ext. 507.
AMA Thanks Its Lifetime Supporters!
The Academy of Model Aeronautics recently welcomed Life Members Michael McClish, Santa Rosa CA; Joe Gamertsfelder, Midland TX; and Greg Stone, Yorba Linda CA.
For information about becoming a Life Member, contact AMA Headquarters at (765) 287-1256, ext. 129.
—AMA Membership department
THE AMA FOUNDATION EXTENDS THANKS TO HORIZON HOBBY
By Clarissa Poston, AMA Foundation Chief Communications Officer | clarissap@modelaircraft.org
THE AMA FOUNDATION’S recent Club Training Day Starter Kit initiative saw ample success, with 55 AMA Introductory Pilot Program clubs across the country receiving various materials to help strengthen training efforts and draw newcomers into our hobby.
Although this success relied in part on the eagerness of AMA clubs to share our hobby with their communities, it also heavily depended on our partnership with Horizon Hobby. With each kit providing clubs with Horizon Hobby products, including a HobbyZone AeroScout, Blade Revolution, or RealFlight RC Flight Simulator, this company was the backbone of the initiative, allowing the AMA Foundation to supply AMA clubs with reliable RC products.
The AMA Foundation extends its sincerest thanks to Horizon Hobby. Without this partnership and Horizon Hobby’s overwhelming support and contributions, this initiative would not have been nearly as widespread and successful as it was.
The AMA Foundation staff is looking forward to seeing how each club chooses to utilize its Club Training Day Starter Kit!
We’re eager to see the Horizon Hobby products and AMA materials put to use. Here’s to sharing the hobby that we all know and love with newcomers of all ages, ensuring that model aviation is celebrated and furthered for generations to come.
SOURCES:
Horizon Hobby
www.horizonhobby.com
The patch on the next page was issued posthumously to Bill in 2013 for his induction into the AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame [A2024.10.42]. The patch is retained with correspondence about his induction in a folder within the collection. You can find more about the AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame, including a brief history, list of inductees, and instructions for how to submit a nomination application at www.modelaircraft.org/museum/history-recognition/ama-model-aviation-hall-fame. You can also request a nomination form to be mailed to you by emailing nominations@modelaircraft.org.
The seven books and booklets that were added to the library have been cataloged in our collections database and the library catalog records. Those are available online in the museum’s Digital Collections. We received two copies of Merrill C. Hamburg’s Beginning to Fly: The Book of Model Airplanes, Revised Edition, Houghton Mifflin, 1930, 197 pages [LIB2024.11.06, Call # M000.011.02 (1)]. Shown is one of those copies.
Handwritten on the first page of this book is a message directly to Bill from the author: “To my good friend Wm Chaffee with the best of wishes, Merrill Hamburg.” Chapter XVI of the book is titled, “Chaffee C-4 Indoor Fuselage Model,” beginning on page 164 with, “The C-4 shown in the accompanying photograph is one of the best indoor fuselage models, and because of its attractive appearance has become the favorite with model-builders [sic]. William Chaffee, 1926-27 World’s Indoor Record holder, is the designer.”
Also mentioned on that page is that the Airplane Model League of America had created a “special kit for this model.” The chapter includes building instructions and model diagrams.
This particular book miraculously still retains its original book jacket despite the jacket being in two pieces, completely split apart where it meets the spine of the book. The other copy does not have a book jacket. We have both copies of the book stored in our Rare Books storage room; they are available to view upon request when you visit.
The donors stated in their notes, “Bill Chaffee collected these artifacts because they represented an event, person, thing, or idea that meant something to him. His three children, in consultation with the museum, selected these items for donation so that others who share his interests will have the chance to see some aspects of the history of model aeronautics. We are very grateful to the museum for helping Bill’s legacy live on.”
And the museum is incredibly grateful to the donors for choosing to share their father’s collection with the museum!
See for Yourself
If you’d like to see the items that appear in this article (and more) online, search the museum’s Digital Collections at https://modelaircraft.pastperfectonline.com/search. Catalog records for archives and library material from the Chaffee collection are linked in the Digital Collections by using the search term “William (Bill) Henry Chaffee Collection.” Include the quotation marks when doing a keyword search using that phrase.
Read more about Bill Chaffee through the AMA History Project website at www.modelaircraft.org/sites/default/files/ChaffeeWilliamBillHenry.pdf. Included is the biography written by Bill’s son, Henry, for Bill’s AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame nomination application and a 2016 AMA media release about Bill Chaffee’s contest-winning Boeing P-12B that was on loan to the museum.
Do you have a collection of aeromodeling materials that you would like to donate to the museum? Give us a call at (765) 287-1256 ext. 500 or 511 or email museum@modelaircraft.org.
SOURCES:
A2024.10.07, A2024.10.35, & A2024.10.42, William (Bill) Henry Chaffee Collection, #0529, National Model Aviation Museum, Muncie IN. Credit: Donated by Bill Chaffee’s children, Ellen, Henry, and Clark.
AMA media release, National Model Aviation Museum Announces New Exhibit: Bill Chaffee’s Boeing P-12B to be displayed in the museum’s main gallery, May 31, 2016 [AMA History Project, www.modelaircraft.org/sites/default/files/ChaffeeWilliamBillHenry.pdf, page 5]
Beginning to Fly: The Book of Model Airplanes, Revised Edition, Merrill C. Hamburg, Houghton Mifflin, 1930 [LIB2024.11.06, Call # M000.011.02 (1)]
AMA History Project Presents Biography of William Henry (Bill) Chaffee, Henry (Hal) Chaffee, 2013
www.modelaircraft.org/sites/default/files/ChaffeeWilliamBillHenry.pdf, pages 1-4]
Notes submitted by the children of Bill Chaffee - Ellen, Henry (Hal), and Clark, January 2025
