OldTown Valley Flyers RC Club hands controls over to general public Model Aviation Day
LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP – Overnight thunderstorms throughout the region on Friday cleared just in time for members of the OIdTown Valley Flyer’s RC Club to assemble and hold their annual Academy of Model Aeronautics National Model Aviation Day for a few hours Saturday morning before the weather once again took a turn.
Flight enthusiasts were instructed to sign in and begin with instruction on a flight simulator inside a mobile home. After completion, they were ready to join up with a licensed pilot to begin flying using a buddy box, wherein the pilot and student each had their own controls linked with a cable. With a flip of a switch, the pilot could either cede control or take over control of the aircraft from the student.
Marshall Zimmerman, from Navarre, along with his dad, Zach, was the first to fly with Jim Gowan, acting as the pilot in control. Zach said that they found out about the event through a newspaper announcement.
While some club members kept things simple with one or two aircraft to maintain at the event, others brought an entire fleet.
Sherrodsville resident Timothy Lohr arrived with a travel trailer full of 14 varying aircraft. Some were conventional drones, others were traditional fixed wing aircraft, while one was outfitted for a single purpose: experimentation.
Lohr employed the use of GI Joes from the 1960s and 1970s era when they were still full sized. He outfitted one of his planes with a special servo-controlled drop box to enable the action figures to parachute to the ground over the club’s field. Lingering winds from the overnight storms prevailed, however, and his first GI Joe drifter far into the cornfield, where members assisted with search and rescue to no avail.
“He’ll just have to become a victim of the combine,” Lohr said, after the search was called off.
Tracing the club’s roots
Formation of the club can be tracked back to the 1980s when it was run by a collective of like-minded remote controlled enthusiasts. Their charter was established with the Academy of Model Aeronautics in 1992.
Over 25 years as a club, fliers have taken flight in four different locations, according to the current club president, Robert Draman, who started flying with the club around 2010.
Draman provided a detailed account of the club’s past and present operational locations in Tuscarawas County.
Site 1: 290 Chestnut St. S, Gnadenhutten. “There were many pilots that would fly off of the ballfield. We still have members today that flew at this site. I am not sure how long they flew here but the runways were like a cross where they could use both depending on the wind direction.”
Site 2: 3380 Oldtown Valley Road SW, New Philadelphia. “This is the location where we joined AMA. From what I have heard from other pilots, this field provided a totally open on three of the four sides and at one end of the runway there were some trees to either take off over or land over.”
Site 3: 4371 Hardy Ridge Road NW, Dundee. “This site started in 2002 and ended 12/31/2020. History tells us that other people did a lot of work to level, prepare and seed the field. The rest of the property ended up with a lot of pine trees near the road. The runway, approximately 600 x 100, ended up really being one that people talked about and liked. The drawback of the site is that at one end of the runway and winding around the back side of the field there is at least 25 acres of trees, hills, locus trees and underbrush that makes lost planes invisible without much work.”
Site 4: (where the club currently flies): 10141 Wilkshire Blvd. NE, Bolivar. “This site came out of the road called Arrowhead that many members have flown off at various times during their life. This led us to explore the farmland and its owner and led to a lease … we had our first club activity on New Year’s Day as it is a long time activity no matter the weather.”
Draman also began his interest in radio controlled flying at a young age, around the time of World War II.
“My dad was into flying and got his private pilot’s license in 1946. I got to be about 15, and there was a small airfield in Orville, of which he was a member. We took a few airplanes apart down to bare wires and put them back together – that kind of thing.
"So, I was involved in regular planes, but never took it any further. At that point in time, you couldn’t solo until your were 16. And so, when I turned 16, I got my driver’s license and the rest is kind of history.
"I guess I enjoyed hanging out with my buddies more than I did flying. I didn’t really do a whole lot with flying until I moved out here and I saw these clubs and it peaked my curiosity.”
For more information on the club, visit its website: https://www.oldtownvalleyflyers.org/
T-R staff photographer Andrew Dolph can be reached by phone at 330-289-6072, or by email at adolph3@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: OldTown Valley Flyers RC Club hands controls over to general public
