When the wind lifts over a grass strip in Montezuma, Iowa, you can almost still hear the low, steady hum of a blueand-white clipped-wing Cub flying slow, graceful loops in the sky. For more than half a century, that familiar sound meant that Hazel Sig-Hester was at the controls. A pioneer of both model and full-scale aviation, Hazel passed away on October 10, 2025, at the remarkable age of 103, leaving behind a legacy that spans generations of builders, pilots, and dreamers.
All Good Things Come in Threes
When Hazel looked up at the sky, she saw possibility, freedom, and adventure. Born on March 3, 1922, in Grinnell, Iowa, she seemed destined for a life in motion. She was the third child in the third town her parents had lived in, born on the third day of the third month. Legend has it that at just three years old, Hazel’s father took her for her first airplane ride with none other than Charles Lindbergh. When all is said and done, it comes as no surprise that Hazel often said that three was her lucky number.
She grew up in a world where engines and motion were a way of life. After high school, Hazel worked as a dental assistant until, as she loved to recall, "Glen came roaring into town on his Indian motorcycle in 1942." Glen "Poncho" Sigafoose was a linotype operator for the Montezuma Republican, of which Hazel soon mastered the trade herself. They married in 1943, creating a partnership that would take them from the growling roar of motorcycles to the whispering wind of balsa wings.
After marrying, Hazel and Glen made their home in Montezuma, Iowa, where their shared love of speed and machinery soon turned skyward. Their garage became a workshop filled with airplane parts, balsa dust, and the smell of glue. Eventually, building and flying model airplanes together became more than just a pastime, taking off in ways that neither of them could have imagined.
Sig Manufacturing Company
Hazel and Glen’s first venture together was a small motorcycle parts business, but when aluminum shortages occurred during the Korean War, the couple had to refocus their creative energy. Their shared love of aeromodeling lit the spark for the influential fire that would blaze into Sig Manufacturing Company.
Founded in 1951 across the street from Hazel’s childhood home in Montezuma, the couple was initially frustrated by the lack of precut balsa wood for model airplanes, so they began a mail-order business selling balsa sheets. "We figured out that if we charged 10¢ for the catalog instead of giving it away, we sold more," Hazel once laughed. Her business instincts were as sharp as her aileron control.
That little mail-order venture would eventually grow into one of the world’s best-known suppliers of model-airplane kits, parts, and radio-control gear—including Hazel’s own signature clipped-wing Cub.
"People would come up and say, ‘You got me started in aviation,’" Hazel once recalled. She guided the company for decades, overseeing every element of production, from glue to paint and balsa to plywood. Employees admired her hands-on leadership, from helping with puzzles in the break room to taking blood pressures and offering personal support. Hazel infused the company with warmth, ingenuity, and a fierce dedication to quality, ensuring that Sig Manufacturing thrived as one of the top model aircraft companies in the world.
The company didn’t just supply modelers with materials, however—it fueled a movement. Sig Manufacturing helped to shape modern model aviation, setting standards that have endured decades later. From Iowa to international airfields, the name "Sig" is now synonymous with the joy of building, flying, and dreaming big. Reflecting on the company’s growth, Hazel once laughed, "If I had known it was going to get this big, I never would have done it."
Grace in Motion
Hazel earned her pilot’s license in 1958 and taught dozens of new pilots the art of stick and rudder. Her lessons were practical and fearless. "I taught my students to hedgehop," she said. "We were careful and we knew the land. I wanted them to be confident flying low in case they ever got caught in weather."
Her curiosity soon led her to aerobatics. After studying Duane Cole’s Roll Around the Poleand logging long training days in Nebraska, Hazel converted her Cub into a clipped-wing version—her now-iconic blue-and-white bird. "A regular Cub glides like a dream," she said. "A clipped-wing Cub glides like a brick. But the rolls—oh, they’re beautiful."
She went on to fly Pitts Specials and Smith Miniplanes, performing across the Midwest with Glen and fellow modeler Maxey Hester. Their three-ship routines thrilled local crowds, even earning them the nickname "Sig’s mini–Air Force." Hazel once remembered, "Glen would roll inverted with Maxey and me as wingmen. We flew over the town before the show to draw a crowd."
Tragedy struck in 1980, however, when Glen died in an air show accident in Centerville, Iowa. The loss was devastating. Hazel sold her Pitts and took a step back from performing but never truly let the tragedy keep her grounded. She continued to fly, teach, and build both model and full-scale airplanes with renewed determination, including the Spacewalker that she co-built with Maxey. She eventually married Maxey and ran Sig Manufacturing with him. Her courage inspired those around her, turning loss into legacy and proving that the love for flight, like love itself, never truly fades.
Throughout the decades, Hazel logged thousands of flight hours and became a familiar sight on Iowa’s horizon. Her reputation as both a skilled builder and a pilot earned her invitations to air shows and events nationwide, where her performances and fearlessness made her a role model for pilots everywhere. Even in her later years, she remained a fixture at fly-ins and competitions, proving that her passion for flight wasn’t just a career—it was a lifelong calling.
More than an aviatoror entrepreneur, Hazel embodied the spirit of possibility. In a world that often told her what she couldn’t do, she simply went out and did it anyway. Her story reminds us that flight isn’t only about wings and engines; it’s about courage, imagination, and the will to rise above whatever holds you down. And, in true Hazel fashion, it all came full circle in threes—her love of flight, her dedication to building, and the countless lives she touched while forging a legacy that will inspire generations of dreamers to come.
Hazel once said, "Flying has given me everything—freedom, friends, and fun. I wouldn’t trade it for anything."
SOURCES:
AMA History Project Presents:
Biography of Hazel-Sig Hester
modelaircraft.org/sites/default/files/files/SigHesterHazel.pdf
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