The History
of Model Aviation and the AMA
One Man's View of How AMA History
Was Driven
By Technology
(c)1991 by GEORGE M. MYERS - ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED
70 Froehlich Farm Road,
Hicksville, NY 11801-3406
Permission granted to AMA clubs to publish
WITH THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE.
Permission granted to publish in parts.
Mythologists trace the urge to fly back to Icarus and his wings of wax and feathers, a story
told 20 centuries before Christ. Historians look back to the 15th century notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Engineers say that
aviation, as we know it, was born in America in 1903. Orville Wright created the American Flying Club to promote aviation,
because it was being ignored by politicians, military and businessmen.
By
1915, Igor Sikorsky had flown a 4-engined transport airplane with sleeping berths, carpets and dining accommodations in Russia,
his "Ilya Mourometz." It was used as a bomber in World War I (WWI). The largest plane in America then was a Curtis
Flying Boat with a three man crew. The Wrights and Curtis engaged in a lengthy battle over patents, which crippled aviation
growth in the United States.
WWI, 1914-1918, demonstrated the importance
of aviation, which many Washington politicians, Generals and Admirals also tried to ignore. By 1921, Col. Harold E. Hartney,
commander of the U.S.Army's First Pursuit Group (which produced aces like Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker and Lieut. Frank Luke)
resigned from the U.S. Army, to "give his whole enthusiasm to the building up of air consciousness on the part of the
public." He reorganized the heavily debt-ridden American Flying Club into the National Aviation Association (NAA).
General Billy Mitchel (who had been Col. Hartney's superior officer in WWI) sacrificed
his career in an attempt to make the military recognize the importance of aviation. (The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in
December 7, 1941 and the later attack on Alaska in June 7, 1942 followed the scenarios presented to the U.S. War Department
by General Mitchell years earlier.) Major Alexander P. de Seversky, who had been a leading ace of the Russian Air Force during
WWI, also tried to interest the military in modern aircraft without success. His book, "Victory Through Air Power"
was written to persuade the public to influence the military, and was made into a movie by Walt Disney. Education was the
tool with which Aviation's leaders hoped to arouse public, military and political support for improvement of the air forces
sufficient to protect America from the consequences of World War II, which the leaders of the world accepted as inevitable.
Model aviation was viewed as pre-school for the pilots that the nation
needed for its survival. Spruce, Bamboo, tissue paper, cellulose acetate glue, Amyl Acetate (banana oil) and Cellulose Acetate
Nitrate Dope (a lacquer-type finish) were the most important materials for models. Most of the models were free-flying Scale
and Endurance types, powered by twisted rubber.
The NAA helped create
several model airplane clubs for youth. The Junior Birdmen of America (JBA, 645,000 members) became the official NAA Committee
on model aviation, supported by W.R. Hearst and his newspapers. The Air Youth of America (AYA) and the Airplane Model League
of America (AMLA), with 400,000 members, were supported by the Bamberger (in NJ) and Marsh (in Boston) department stores.
Companies to supply model airplane kits, such as Junior Aircraft Supply Company (JASCO) sprang up. The Junior Birdmen held
their first national model airplane competition in 1928.
Small gasoline
motors became available for model aviation about 1931. Gasoline motors converted model airplanes from kid's toys into
adult toys. The Junior Birdmen opposed the use of gasoline motors in model airplanes as "too dangerous." Mr. Hearst
asked the Department of Commerce to urge the States to ban them. Two states did.
The name Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) was invented by Lieutenant Harold W. Alden, then Chairman of the NAA
Committee on Model Aeronautics.
AMA was developed in the period 1934-1936
as a national organization "of, by and for" the model airplane builders of the nation, primarily by modelers who
wanted to use gasoline engines. At that time, Radio Control (RC) systems were built by radio amateurs, so a close coordination
with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) began and continues to this day. AMA emphasized education and competition and
promoted gasoline powered, radio controlled models.
AMA established
categories for competition, published rules, kept records and published its newsletters, to advance the science and performance
of models and to educate our youth. AMA continued its association with the NAA, through which it maintained contact with the
FAI and other organizations, to have direct contact with aviation and other bureaucracies, world-wide and at the highest levels.
AMA was managed by adults, supported by NAA money and directed at youth. Many enthusiasts supported a few individuals who
tried to manage model aviation problems on a National scale.
AMA had
barely started when most of its members were drafted to fight World War II (1939-1945). The pilots inspired by the JBA, AYA,
AMLA and AMA contributed significantly to winning that war. Then, as adults, they got busy making homes and families. Balsa
wood, silk and Cellulose Acetate Nitrate Dope became modelers' most important construction materials.
Gasoline engines in Free Flight models predominated. Fast, wire-tethered, gasoline-powered
model airplanes, boats and cars appeared.
The post-World War II home
building boom consumed flying sites. Jim Walker introduced U-Control, which became the dominant category of model aviation
because it fit into smaller fields than Free Flight. Noise and Safety problems arose. AMA espoused Pull Tests and Noise Abatement.
AMA bought Insurance, starting January, 1956, which helped modelers obtain and hold flying sites.
Ray Arden's glow plug made powerful alcohol-fueled engines practical and automatic screw machines made them cheap.
L. M. Cox and others sold glow engines by the millions. Glow plugs don't need high-Voltage electricity to light them and
alcohol doesn't explode like gasoline, so "Glow engines" were accepted as safe enough for youth and became the
dominant power source. Molded plastic aircraft became common at the entry level.
Cellulose Acetate Butyrate dope was adopted to resist nitrated alcohol fuels. Some adults brought U-Control to a
high state of perfection, resulting in extremely powerful glow engines and models capable of 200 mph.
Rockets were invented in China in the 1300s and developed in America by Dr. Goddard in the
1920s. Again, America ignored a significant technology until Hitler began dropping V-2s on London. WWII had raised the power
of explosives to the nuclear-bomb level. Military units, worldwide, concentrated on fitting nuclear bombs to intercontinental
rockets.
The Sputnik era introduced the "Space Race" and reinforced
the idea that we needed to train youth in Rocketry. Harry Stine created the National Association for Rocketry (NAR). The youth
loved it! For a while, AMA supported competitions with rocket-powered airplanes. NAR grew rapidly.
George Washington initiated NAR's decline when he urged celebration of the 4th of July with fireworks. Subsequently,
cheap fireworks in the hands of children provided an ever-increasing toll of injuries and property damage, which was tolerated
for a while. Then a college student, reading from open literature, designed a personal atomic bomb. That got everyone's
attention! Laws prohibiting personal fireworks proliferated. (Americans hadn't learned anything from the alcohol prohibition
fiasco.)
NAR emphasized safe operation of model rockets, but that fact
made no difference to the legislators. NAR shrank ... a direct result of the anti-fireworks laws. Motors for model rockets
can still be sold, due to exemptions from the fireworks laws obtained by NAR. But there is little activity in the hobby. Perhaps
the Challenger disaster would have been avoided if more youth had been involved in model rocketry. The NAR saga illustrates
the danger of abandoning Science to "Have Fun" or blindly promote Safety. A world where nothing happens will be
perfectly safe for people who do nothing. Life is unsafe and Science is the only way we have to control the danger. Consider
AIDS, cancer, hailstones, tornados, earthquakes and the common Cold as things which Science may someday control for us.
With Dr. Shockley's invention of the transistor in 1948, cheap radio control (RC) systems
for models became practical and RC grew to dominate the hobby. Radio Control satisfied more people than U-Control, which languished.
AMA's main concern became "How to get, and keep, portions of the radio spectrum for model aviation." John Worth,
a pioneer modeler, moved from AMA President (1964) to Executive Director of AMA (1965-86).
Many modelers resisted learning Morse Code and radio theory, which was required to obtain an Amateur Radio license.
John worked long and hard with AMA's volunteer Frequency Committee (mostly ARRL members like Dr. Walter Good and Ed Lorenz)
to persuade the FCC to give us public (non-Amateur radio) channels for RC. They obtained one licensed channel on 27MHz, then
6, then 8. Citizens Band (CB) "communicators" drove us off the 27 MHz band with their illegal, high-powered transmitters.
A few more volunteers worked equally hard to get licensed channels on the 72 MHz Personal Radio Service (PRS) band. After
a while, the FCC admitted that CB was out of control, so licensing was abandoned for both CB and PRS.
We soon found that giving model aviation an unlicensed "Secondary User" status
on 72 MHz, then limiting us to 3/4 Watt into a hand-held 1/4 wave antenna, was futile while the Licensed Primary Users were
allowed 300 Watts into a mast-mounted high-gain antenna on the same channels. More volunteer effort, led by Bob Aberle as
Frequency Committee Chairman, produced today's unlicensed 50 narrow-band channels, exclusively for models. The "exclusivity"
was challenged immediately. AMA fought back against the challengers and has won all the battles but one. More battles are
expected.
Peculiarities of the Balsa tree life cycle, world-wide deforestation
and the development of "super-tankers" combined to push the price of balsa wood very high. Supertankers used balsa
for insulation, to keep oil from congealing while it was being transported. Oil is used to create plastics. The plastics are
used to create "Almost Ready to Fly" (ARF) airplanes, which are now cheaper than balsa wood kits and quicker to
build. ARF airplanes created a "sport" of RC flying, in which the emphasis is on performance, rather than on science
and craftsmanship. The sport has attracted many men in the 30 to 40 age bracket into AMA, because AMA offers very cheap insurance.
Some people have carried the Science of aviation to extremes. Consider
Burt Rutan's gasoline-powered, crew-of-two, non-stop Round-the-World "Voyager", Bob Boucher's 24-hour solar-cell
powered electric flight of the "Sunrise I" in 1974 and Dr. MacReady's international London-to-Paris flight of
the electric-powered "Solar Challenger" for examples. A whole movement grew up around hang gliders and ultra-light
aircraft, from designs started by Chanute, Lillienthal, Montgomery and others, before the Wright brothers.
Glow engines now develop enough power to drive ducted-fans that simulate jet engines, without
the noise, stench and fire hazard of kerosene turbines. They permit 200 mph RC models of fighter aircraft. Lightweight gasoline
engines, developed for chain saws and leaf blowers, power large RC model airplanes weighing 100 pounds and more. Miniature
TV systems and data telemetry fitted inside RC models creates the "cockpit experience" while the RPA (remotely piloted
aircraft) pilot's feet remain on the ground. An RPA sport has been created. RPAs are said to be too expensive, complex
and dangerous for our youth. Materials of construction now are molded plastic parts, vacu-formed plastic sheet, plastic foams,
fiberglass, hardwoods, shrink-wrap plastic covering materials, epoxies and Cyanoacrylate adhesives. "Where are the Juniors?"
is the cry. Where indeed?
Computers are merely tools to do what the
human brain already does (but without the problems of fatigue or boredom). They are as old as mankind. Perfection of Large
Scale Integration (LSI) of complete electronic circuits on single silicon chips and Surface Mount Technology (SMT) have led
to rapid improvements in computers and in COMPUTER GAMES. Our youth adopted computer games as their preferred hobby. They
have quarters to play with and nobody can get hurt.
Rapid improvement
of computers and robots promoted manufacture of smaller, lighter, stronger, cheaper and more reliable RC systems. Rate gyros
and in-transmitter mixing of control signals made model helicopters and other complex aircraft practical. Cobalt magnet electric
motors and better batteries made electric-powered aircraft practical.
Electric
motors are quieter and significantly less dangerous than internal combustion motors. In some areas, our youth have taken up
electric RC flying, after they have outgrown their interest in electric-powered RC cars and boats. The low power/weight ratio
of available electric power systems encourages an interest in science and craftsmanship to obtain performance. Some youth
are entering the hobby of model aviation, electrically, because it is a challenge that they can accept and master. We should
encourage them.
THE FUTURE
Aviation is the best way we have to move people and other perishables over long distances.
If we don't run out of fossil fuels, aviation won't need further development. If we DO run out of fossil fuels, or
if we get a little closer to killing off all life on earth through our pollution of the environment, then we can expect a
great need for changes in all transportation (Beam Me Up, Scottie!) In order to have people interested in and able to make
such changes, we have to train them.
Aviation (in the sense of a transportation
system) has been developed about as much as necessary for this earth. I've read that the SST has yet to make a profit.
The AeroSpace Plane (Washington to Tokyo in 2 hours) probably won't make a profit, either. Existing airplanes have become
slower point to point and make less profit, due to price gouging by oil companies, security measures necessitated by insane
terrorists, ground transportation defects in and around airports and by populations concentrating around airports.
AMA must survive, to continue to protect the environment in which modelers flourish, because
modelers are important to survival of our nation. In Korea, for example, Aviation is taught as a REQUIRED SUBJECT in their
middle schools. Not so in the U.S.A., where education is controlled by people with other priorities. Only AMA is left to fill
that educational gap. AMA must educate the educators.
As I see it, airplanes
have lost their hold on our youth, because the youth can no longer see them and touch them. Airports are places with fences,
guard dogs, intrusion alarms and armed police, to keep people away from airplanes. "Real Airplanes" don't have
propellers on the nose, they have jets. Real airplanes fly too high to be seen. On the other hand, there is ample reason for
our youth to be attracted to RC cars and boats, because they can ride in and touch them any day.
The United Nations fought Desert Storm using a mix of professionals and volunteers plus superior organization. They
won the battle, using aircraft and RPAs in a way that has never been seen before. How many of those pilots had some experience
with models?
Model airplanes are noisy, smelly, dirty, dangerous things
that must be banned to places where women with small children don't go --- at least, that is the popular image. If you
know anything about Science, you know that it is always noisy, smelly, dirty and dangerous. That's what makes it exciting.
The same applies to Sports. It should be obvious why we have very few children involved in model aviation. Two other things
are obvious about both Science and Sports:
(1) Success comes to the
best organized and prepared.
(2) They have outgrown private barns and vacant lots.
Model aviators, as a class of people, must become better organized to survive. AMA must learn how to organize effectively
and must teach organization to our members. AMA must learn to make better use of the talents in our Chartered clubs. The need
has always existed, but seldom satisfied.
Flying sites are disappearing.
Lose the Flying Sites and you lose the hobby. AMA must take an active part in Flying Site acquisition and protection. My crystal
ball says that model aviation must generate large, well developed and intensively used flying sites. That means sharing the
facilities with many people. Land is too valuable to leave it vacant, just so a few people can fly model airplanes over it
for a couple of hours per year. Look at all the shopping centers that used to be airports. Consider how many formerly public
beaches now have hotels squatting on them. Look at all the campgrounds that the Boy Scouts "used to own." Guess
what will happen to our present flying sites, if AMA fails to take vigorous action to protect them.
The people who grew up with aviation and with the AMA have aged, without bringing in enough younger folks to replace
them. AMA membership stands at 180,000, nationwide. Modelers (as represented by the national organization) have shrunk from
0.8% to 0.08% of the population. We are 10% of what we used to be!
The
"old folks," perhaps seeking a less demanding environment for their "golden years," concentrate on nostalgia,
Giant Scale and "Fun Flys," rather than on science and improvement through competition. The focus on "fun"
is killing AMA. The Sport Aviation organization which is trying to get started at AMA's expense is a perfect example of
what is wrong with model aviation, today. AMA must challenge vigorous young adults or it will certainly die. At the same time,
AMA should be developing a multi-tier organization, designed to accommodate both the laid-back old folks and the aggressive
young folks.
A museum is essential recognize past leadership, highlight
innovation and provide understanding of the past; but where is the laboratory for developing the future? AMA has become too
conservative. The first reaction to new ideas usually is to ban them instead of invest in them. For instance, AMA should have
got FCC permission for telemetry, by now. A good low-speed wind tunnel could still do wonders for model aviation. The Muncie
facility could be set up as a Development Center for Model Aviation, analogous to the nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,
perhaps in cooperation with it or with some college of Aeronautics. None those ideas ever have been considered in print.
When you talk to modelers, most of them say "I joined AMA for the insurance."
Of course they did. AMA insurance is too cheap! Where else do you get such coverage for $9 per year? I think AMA should get
out of the insurance business, if possible, and concentrate on its chartered business of promoting model aviation science.
If AMA sells insurance to build membership, then the insurance should be priced according to its cost.
The insurance that protects our flying sites also threatens to bankrupt AMA through abuse
of the Tort system of law. AMA has to help change the law. That system must be brought under more reasonable control.
AMA must involve all modelers in that fight. AMA members must get their noses out of their
airplanes and into the real political world, sometimes.
The AMA journal,
Model Aviation magazine, should be using the most advanced media possible. It should attract the most talented, best educated
scientists and writers possible, and give them a platform from which to address the public. There should be less emphasis
on "Who did What for Fun," and more on "Who did What for Aviation." AMA must focus on the needs of aviation
in the 21st Century, for that is its only future.
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About the author:
George M. Myers, AMA 1370,
1928 Born on Long Island, NY, "the Cradle of Aviation."
1934 built his first rubber-powered model
airplane (Boeing B-9).
1941 AMA member #1931R.
1943-46 Grumman employee building F6F, F8F, "Mallard" (summers).
1944 first airplane ride (Piper "Cub").
1946 won Grumman scholarship.
1946-49 U.S. Army paratrooper
(Japan).
1949-53 Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (B. Aeronautical Engineering 1953)
1951 built his first RC model
and radio.
1953-86 Grumman engineer (F9F "Panther" through the Space Shuttle).
1969-70 AMA Contest Coordinator,
District II.
1975- AMA Contributing Editor, Model Aviation Magazine.
1982-90 AMA Frequency Coordinator, District
II.
1984- AMA Contest Director
1987-88 AMA Frequency Committee Chairman 1990- AMA Associate Vice President,
District
II.
Father of 4, Grandfather of 8, widower and retired.
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Suggested Readings:
1. "Up and At 'Em," by Col. Harold E. Hartney, 1940, reprinted by Doubleday
& Co., NY 1971, Library of Congress #75-138931, see pg 299 et. seq.
2.
"Victory through Air Power," by Major Alexander P. de Seversky, Simon & Schuster, NY, 1942
3. "The History of the ACADEMY OF MODEL AERONAUTICS, Including Part One and Part Two,
FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE YEAR 1966," by Willis C. Brown and Dick Black. There is no publisher's data or ISBN number.
This was privately printed for the benefit of AMA. I read a copy from the AMA's Renaud Memorial library.
4. "AMA's 50th Anniversary," Model Aviation, June 1986, pp. 95-102
5. "Kitty Hawk to Sputnik to Polaris," by Cmdr. Eugene. E. Wilson, Literary Investors
Guild, Palm Beach, Fl, 1960, Library of Congress #60-10795
6. All copies
of "American Aircraft Modeler", "Air Trails", "Flying Aces" or "Model Airplane News"
magazines that you can find.
7. "Leadership Secrets of Attila the
Hun", by Dr. Wess Roberts, NY, 1985, ISBN 0-446-51516-7
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