From the beginning. How did you start flying RC?

[stangflyer]

Guys these stories are awesome. Thinking about that far back it really amazes me how far rc has come. I hope with gas starting to really come back down. I hope even though all the hub bub. I hope 2015 gives a real jump to pilots to come out and fly.

Absolutely.... '15 will be the best on record. Lots of new airframes being released, lower gas prices, huge interest from our younger people it seems, more older (using that term gently guys) pilots willing to step up to the plate and offer guidance, support and enthusiasm.... This year is going to be awesome.

 

[Pistolera]

I was fortunate to grow up in an aviation-oriented family. Even my Granddad & Grandmother were private pilots and they were born in 1903 and 1906. Did a bunch of control line through my formative years and got my first RC in the '60's....a Testor Skyhawk....Cox .049 powered rocketship!!!!!! It had a single channel transmitter for the "Galloping Ghost" rudder control. Was real pain-in-the-ass to learn to fly and didn't last very many flights before I destroyed it.

For those wondering how it was controlled....with the needle set for max RPM it was trimmed to always climb. When you added rudder to turn, it would slowly roll in that direction, but would also lose some lift during the turn and the nose would drop. Then when you added opposite rudder to level the wings the nose would come back up....BUT since it now had a bit more speed it would continue to rise above its normal climb attitude until it stalled . The trick in flying it was to initiate ANOTHER turn at the appropriate moment to cancel the ensuing "zoom climb" that is coming. Needless to say, it was a real trick to figure it out WHILE you were learning to fly the damned thing!!!!!

So....as with all old things, any survivors are now collectibles and are commanding higher prices than one could ever image. I found these photos on the web.....wish I still had mine

Oh....post script....didn't get back into RC until about 50 years later

 

[orthobird]

i was age 5. my father had 5 children, and the 4th and 5th were boys. (me being #5) the 1st 3 were girls, guess you can say he kept on trying cause he wanted boys. he is old school.
I have to say i am very fortunate and my childhood was awesome! he did everything for us that he could, and since age 5, he got me and my brother a Cox control line airplane with the nitro .049 motor with the spring starter. You all know that one. mine was the P51. i can still recall seeing my fathers index finger with blood on it, as he had lacerated it with the small prop while he was turning it on.

 

[CatalinaWOW]

Dad flew free flight when he was a kid, and when us kids came along thought that would be a good family thing. He designed and we built a free flight sport flyer powered by an Atwood 0.049. That engine was terribly hard to tune, but we periodically got flights out of it. Until one day it went up and didn't come down. Then on to U-control with the Cox machines and a few of our own designs. About that time mufflers and college came along and the hobby went to the back seat. After college the interest was there, but money and time weren't so didn't get back into it until my grown kids gave me one of those "easy to fly" RTF electrics. They had already been bitten by the RC bug and were flying Parkzone Super Cubs and more advanced electric stuff. After many crashes and repairs got so I could fly that machine. After the first few crashes the kids tried to show me how easy it was to fly. They couldn't. Turns out that easy to fly machine (an engine over the wing V-tail configuration) is still one of the harder to fly planes I have tried. Progressed through a lot of electrics, a few glows and now gas. Somewhere in that progression I joined the AMA and then a club. In retrospect I sure should have joined AMA and a club sooner. Would have made things go a lot smoother. I guess I am hooked now.

 

[Rooman]

Progressed from control line

 

[rcpilotacro]

chuck gliders in the 70s, Model Kits and Control lines after that in the NCC (Something like Boy Scouts but Service Specific [Meaning Army, Navy & Air Force]), Sabbatical due real flying career, after finishing up with one war, and loosing friends, i said Fcuk it, one life, !! So, got into whole lot of things (ticking off the bucket list basically), also went back to my first love in the 90s and here I am and Oh ! yeah like !! Like Terry says "Life is Short !! Fly Hard" i am doing that, in real & RC, to the hilt

 

[Stingray528i]

Back in 1985 I had a motorcycle wreck that nearly did me in, during the time that I was in the hospital the local RC club started building there new site at a field right next to my house so when I got out of the hospital I had several months of recoup at home and kept seeing cars going past my house which was odd because I was the last house on a dead end rd. Well a few weeks later they started flying, I could hear them but I couldnt see what was going on, so one day I got the wife to take me there to see what was going on. Wow I always wanted one of those so the wife and her family talked to the guys to find out what I would need to get started and got it for me as long as I stayed away from motorcycles. Got a Goldberg Eagle 2 and a Royal 40 glow and Futaba radio. Took a couple of months to put together as I could only work for short periods of time before it hurt to bad to be on my feet. I was able to solo on my second outing and I was so pumped I couldn't wait to get to the field again and when I did there was no one there but I figured someone would come so I put the plane together and waited a while and decided to practice taxiing , well I kept going faster and faster and guess what that sucker just took off
my knees and hands were shaking so bad as I flew a few laps and after I settled down a bit I lined her up for a landing but after a bit I realized my plane was getting smaller and by then it was to far away and I was to inexperienced and that was the last time I saw my 1st RC plane. But lucky me my wife felt so sorry for me she let me get another but thats the last one she said, little did she know.

 

[stangflyer]

Back in 1985 I had a motorcycle wreck that nearly did me in, during the time that I was in the hospital the local RC club started building there new site at a field right next to my house so when I got out of the hospital I had several months of recoup at home and kept seeing cars going past my house which was odd because I was the last house on a dead end rd. Well a few weeks later they started flying, I could hear them but I couldnt see what was going on, so one day I got the wife to take me there to see what was going on. Wow I always wanted one of those so the wife and her family talked to the guys to find out what I would need to get started and got it for me as long as I stayed away from motorcycles. Got a Goldberg Eagle 2 and a Royal 40 glow and Futaba radio. Took a couple of months to put together as I could only work for short periods of time before it hurt to bad to be on my feet. I was able to solo on my second outing and I was so pumped I couldn't wait to get to the field again and when I did there was no one there but I figured someone would come so I put the plane together and waited a while and decided to practice taxiing , well I kept going faster and faster and guess what that sucker just took off
my knees and hands were shaking so bad as I flew a few laps and after I settled down a bit I lined her up for a landing but after a bit I realized my plane was getting smaller and by then it was to far away and I was to inexperienced and that was the last time I saw my 1st RC plane. But lucky me my wife felt so sorry for me she let me get another but thats the last one she said, little did she know.

What they don't know can't hurt....US....right? LOL

 

[balsa]

Well my dad was flying rc before I was born. He must have forgot that he did. One day when I was around 10 (that would have been in the early 90's) I found all his old rc stuff it had names on it like kraft, Enya and balsa usa. So after bugging him he dug out this old glider the gental lady and got us a new futba radio and we were off and flying. I did not do so good I always had to walk after the glider after landing. So I begged dad to let me put one of the planes with a motor together I was hooked after the nitro smell. It was another old name like balsa usa swizzle stick , 3 channel with an os .25. I thought if it had a motor I would be able to fly under power back to the road to and land. I did learn to fly that nitro and sevral others and like most took a break in there to go to school and chase girls . So fast forward 15 years now (age 36) a friend got me back into flying and I started with a .60 lucky 13 and just went up from there now I have sevral gas plans that range from 60 to 150 gas. I talked the wife into buying land 5 miles outside of town and built my own field. Now I have a son and he is learning to fly. Man life is good. And me and my flying buddies have our own place to fly.

PS My dad still fly's with me. I will tell one thing tho when training even with a buddy box he still wants to grab the remote out of your hands.

 

[stangflyer]

PS My dad still fly's with me. I will tell one thing tho when training even with a buddy box he still wants to grab the remote out of your hands.

I remember years ago of doing this same thing. Now my son flies better than me. LOL.....