I've been an active modeler, off and on, for over fifty years. Starting as a sixth-grader with tiny rubber-powered stick models, I went through dozens of planes (and an even greater number of disastrous crashes) before discovering sailplanes in 1973. I briefly had a powered R/C plane, but never liked it; I thought I'd found Nirvana when I built an Olympic 99, a beautiful-looking plane that flew so slowly that it was useless in winds over 3 mph.

Not long after, there was enough sailplane activity around St. Louis so that a small group of us began to fly together regularly, and soon after, we formed a club. In those days we flew exclusively from hi-starts; our only exposure to winches was when we traveled to out-of-town contests. Planes were built up from balsa with spruce spars, and were all too easy to bust on the winch. On the flip side, it didn't take long to build one, and those who wanted to experiment had free rein. I built many original designs and flew them in a variety of contests, enjoying modest success at a variety of events including the National Championships and the FAI team trials. One of our most active members in those days, Bob Gill, won the Precision event at the Nationals, and inspired many of us with his masterful flying.

However, in 1978 I moved to New York City, and was away from soaring for nearly a quarter-century. The only planes I flew there were paper airplanes down the hall of my office.

In 1998 I moved back to St. Louis, and by chance found the MVSA website. The members welcomed me, as they do with every visitor to the field, and I immediately wanted to give it another try. Today's generation of planes was just beginning to develop, and I was fascinated with the computer radios and bagged wings. I built a number of original RES designs, which flew well, but I wanted to master the Unlimited class. I got a Fazer and a JR 783 radio, both primitive by today's standards but a lot fancier than anything I had had before. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that my old style of flying was worse than useless with the new equipment, and all I could do was go up and come down. I tried and tried, but it just seemed that my fingers and thumbs were too stupid.

However, even a slow learner can catch on, and eventually I got to the point where my flying is respectable, if not awe-inspiring. Jeff McKee, the perennial club champ in those days, took a lot of trouble to try to teach me, as did a lot of the other old-timers when they served as timer for my contest flights.

Even today I'm most at home with an RES plane (won the Mid-Am Championship in 2007), but I love the fancy full-house moldies and I have had a tremendous amount of fun with them. My current favorite plane is a Pike Perfect Lite, which is as close to the ideal model sailplane as I can imagine. When the wind blows hard, the plane is a bit too light, but then it's time to switch planes.

I've served as president of the club several (non-contiguous) times, and I'm sort of hoping this will be my final term. But while I have the responsibility, I intend to do as much as I can to build the club's membership, expertise, and fun quotient.