“I am now 74 years old and have returned to electric aircraft flying as a means to relax. My beginnings came with a gift from my parents when I was 12 years old of a plastic Cox U/C airplane for my birthday which, because we lived on a corner lot, I was able to fly in the front yard. One of my friends would help by holding the plane until I got to the control handle – I was hooked. Other things like the Boy Scouts, girls, the U.S. Navy and marriage slowed my interest but did not stop it. After discharge, I began building U/C airplanes from available kits and flew them from available open fields. When we moved from Virginia to Indiana and I went to Marian College (now Marian University) in Indianapolis, Indiana, I managed to build a workbench and began building my own radio control system and building and flying Radio Control aircraft. Together with four other guys, we formed a club and were associated with the Association of Model Aeronautics (AMA) in Lebanon, Indiana. Our club grew and included other young people, businessmen, a surgeon, and several others. At that time, we all built and flew our own planes. Well, life got in the way and I gave up the hobby for roughly 38 years; I kept the planes I had built and the ones I had under construction but decided to go for the less expensive foam aircraft being produced by FliteTest (again economics has made a decision for me). It is now almost the end of winter here in Indiana, I have one plane built, the Simple Cub, that needs to be painted (it can be flown without paint), that weighs about 10 ounces, and I’m anxious to fly it at the field. Now, about the ‘other airplanes,’ I have “salved” from my earlier years; they are all balsa built-up planes, mostly from kits two are from plans (maybe 3) because that was more interesting and challenging. The largest plane I built and flew was the ‘Apprentice’ and weighed just under 4 pounds without fuel and the smallest plane that I flew was the ‘Goldberg Falcon 56’ which weighed just under 2.5 pounds. Model aviation then and now is fun and relaxing and enjoyable.”