May 2026 bring you blue skies and fair winds. I’ll start out the new year with a report from Wyoming Associate Vice President (AVP) Craig Bastion.
Last September, I was invited to attend the Privateers RC Aircraft Club’s end-of-the-season get-together to enjoy some flying, food, and stories.
The Privateers, AMA Charter 4729, has been around since 2006. Its flying field is located a few miles west of Casper, Wyoming. The Wyoming prairie can make creating a grass field a challenge, but the Privateers has a large, mowed area that allows pilots to take off and land in most any direction needed. Even though this is a small club of only eight members, they still share compassion and the love of flying.
Flying on this day began about mid-morning and continued all day with sport nitro-powered airplanes and electric helicopters. Privateer members provided lunch under the shelter. No one left hungry when lunch was complete.
I want to thank the Privateers members for their hospitality and friendship; it was appreciated.
Here are a few words from South Dakota AVP Jim Tiller and his visit to the annual Omahawks R/C Auction on October 5.
I have been a frequent visitor to the Omahawks Auction. With the blessing of the HobbyTown HobbyPlex store in Northeast Omaha, Nebraska, the club sets up in an indoor car space. This is a great venue, and the club members work hard to make the auction a success. I always bring a few things and go home, to my wife’s dismay, with a few more items. That’s the joy of attending these kinds of events.
My early history in RC flying goes back to this area, and I always enjoy talking to Dean Copeland and Paul Edmunds, who were longtime pilots in the Byron Expo way back in the 1980s. My mentor in this hobby, Larry Scott, was also in the Byron group, so we have a lot of stories to share.
While swapping all of the memories (and lies) from those many Byron Expos, Paul mentioned that he married his wife, Cindy, at one of them. It seems that Byron Godberson gave away the bride.
Somehow, I had no recollection of that event, so I was taken by this story. Hopefully you will be seeing a more complete telling of this and other stories from these guys in the pages of Model Aviation.
Oh, and believe it or not, I did not bring home a single treasure from the auction.
Here is 88-year-old Gailen Strumbaugh strutting his award-winning Diamond Demon. He was not able to attend the Vintage Fly where the award was given, so he sent in this picture of his accomplishment.
This aircraft was built many years ago and is powered by an open-rocker O.S. four-stroke engine. This aircraft and many others are flown by Gailen at the Casper Airmodelers field in Casper, Wyoming. Congratulations, Gailen, and keep ’em flyin’.