From:Barry Kiefaber |
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![]() Me at 6 and my dad had already bought me a couple
A‑J Hornets, and I was able to fly them by myself. |
I was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio and was facinated with model airplanes from the first time I saw one fly, more than likely before I was 5 years old. When I was 6 years old, we moved to Kettering, a new suburb at the time (1950) across the street from Oakview Elementary School. Our house was directly in front of the well manicured grassy yard where the teachers parked. From the start, it was a great place to fly 1/2A U-Control models. When school wasn't in session, you could take off from the concrete parking area, and then step back a few feet and fly over the grass. |
My story started when we moved to Kettering. We had a combination hobby, sporting goods store in the new shopping center 2 blocks from where I lived. It was called Miller's Sporting Goods. My dad would walk down to Millers with me when I was good for a while and buy me an A-J Hornet. I remember the smell of the big rubber band that came with it, and the square box it came in. I probably had several dozen of them growing up, and I remember they would fly higher and longer than the Testor's version that was out at the time. I even remember a few of them thermaling on a hot summer afternoon, and flying farther away than I was allowed to go. I remember most of them met their demise from over winding, and breaking the fuselage in two pieces, but within a few weeks, Dad would buy me onother one and I would have fun flying for a couple more days until I broke that one.
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We took it down to Southern Field one sunday afternoon to try and get help from the older guys who knew how to fly well. I remember one of the guys came over to help us. He looked at my airplane,frowned,and just said: "He will never learn to fly with that airplane. It won't run well and is too heavy." My dad asked him what to do, and he said: "Go to Miller's Sporting Goods and get a Jim Walker Firebaby. Buy either an OK Cub 049,or the new Cox Thimble Drone 049. Throw the metal prop away that comes with it and buy about a dozen plastic 6/4 props, because you will break them, but a firebaby is the best airplane to learn on." |
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In Viet Nam playing with the big airplanes. That is an OV-1 Mohawk. I was a technical observer and navigater and oporated the infa red equipment. That's me on the far left. By The Way, the guy on the right is a friend of mine named Andy Slatt. He's from Portland, Oregon and I'm sure knows who Jim Walker is. |
After a while, I started building the Scientific Kits. My favorite one was the Super Stunt Master. I think I built most of them over a several year period, but the Firebaby was always a favorite, and I'd always have one or two of them ready to fly. I eventually started building 35 size models such as the Ringmasters and Noblers. By this time I was in high school, the Jim Walker models disappeared from the shelves, and modeling changed. Years later I got into RC, and still love it, but I still remember my first years of flying models, and the A-J Hornet, 404 Interceptor, and my all time favorite, The Firebaby. |
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I'm now back from Nam and stationed in Fort Huachuca Arizona, met my wife Judy. She is helping me fly my Sterling Yak 9 with a K&B Torpedo green head 35 engine. Pic 5 (right, above) is something I forgot about. The day Judy and I were at the High School Yard Flying, A reporter with nothing better to do came along to watch. This article ended up in the paper two days later. Obviously there wasn't much going on out there in 1969. |
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Me recently with my 5 year old Grandson Hagan. He is a died in the wool John Deere Fan. One of these days maybe I can turn him on to airplanes. Heaven knows I've tried! |
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