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The Early History of
Treasure Coast Radio Controlled Aircraft Modelers
By Courtney Payne
Author’s Note;
Recently, Jerry Wickline requested I write a brief history of our club so
the members would have an idea of how this club came about. I agreed, to
do it, and here it is.
Having talked with several people who are old
timers in this club, and the fact we are going on their memory alone, I have
stayed away from names with the exception of the first few Presidents and
those who were instrumental in the organization of the club. If anyone feels
slighted, it is only because I am going back twenty-six years and it is
impossible to ascertain accuracy without documentation. Our club
does not retain archives that can be used. I would request the reader’s
indulgence in this matter and to bear with the fact there are very few names
mentioned in this paper.
Courtney
Background:
Modeling sort of descended on St. Lucie and
Martin Counties from 1976 through 1978. There were small bands of people
flying where ever they could. I’m sure there were many people even before
that, but, it seems the period 1976, 77, 78 and 79 were when the people
became organized into the clubs we recognize today. One flying site was the
new construction in the booming community of Port St. Lucie. As houses were
built they moved from site to site.
One group (later called Martin County Moders)
actually flew off Witham Field’s inactive runways in 1978 but, this was soon
terminated by the Grumman operations people. Other locales utilized were
Martin Downs, portions of I-95 that had just been paved, and several others
or wherever a couple of people could find a deserted road or pasture.
The
Starting the Club:
There were many folks coming in from the
north settling in St. Lucie and Martin County. Two of these early fliers
were Karl Reinbold and Robert (Bob) Nichols (now deceased). They did not
know each other at first, Bob being fully retired and Karl still working.
(On a personal note, as Vice President of one of the local clubs I got to
meet both men early on and sat in several county-sponsored meetings
regarding obtaining flying sites with Bob Nichols).
One day Karl Reinbold met a man who was the
construction field boss of Martin Downs and asked him if there might be
another place they could fly. He asked Karl if twenty acres would be big
enough for them to fly in and Karl couldn’t believe his ears! Karl and
Bob Nichols went to look at the twenty acre site and were well satisfied
with what they saw, however, it did need a lot of work. The fact that Karl
was still working and Bob was retired meant Bob did a lot of leg work and
Karl too when he could get time off.
They printed up some flyers to hand out to
anyone they saw flying at Martin Downs and also Port St. Lucie. They
wanted to start a club and this was the only way they knew how to do it.
Some people were for it and others were not and wanted to remain
“independents”. After signing up a few guys the opportunity folded at Martin
Downs and they didn’t get the twenty acres. Additionally they had a hard
time getting the new “members” to do anything. Things did break with another
contact who suggested Phipps Park as a flying site.
New
Club-New Sites:
The club was named by Karl Reinbold
“Treasure Coast Radio Controlled Aircraft Modelers”, which of course remains
our name to this day. Karl also designed the club logo which we still
have. The flying ensued at Phipps Park; however, there was another site in
their future. A member named Tom Finley had a contact at the new South Fork
High School and was given permission for them to utilize the new soccer
field. Jumping on this new locale they were happy there for about a year
(approximately 1986-87) until they were told the area they were flying at
was slated to be the new football field.
Sold out again, the new club was saved
by another member interested in RC models, a man who was a full-scale pilot
named Alex Cardenas. He said he had flown over the Mecca farms area several
times and saw a paved landing strip that they could inquire about. Alex
also knew the owners and arranged for our club to fly on the Mecca Farms
paved strip. This is the same site we occupy today (probably one of the best
in the state of Florida).
Anderson
Field:
Karl Reinbold in his ongoing search for a
flying site came across an area in Palm City owned by Mrs. Virginia
Anderson. Mrs. Anderson and her daughter Charlotte, owned what had at one
time been a dairy operation by her late husband. She gave Karl permission to
fly there and this beautiful open area was named “Anderson Field”. It was
used for some time as an alternate field. The cutting, trimming and care of
the field (and setting up a frequency system) was taken care of by Larry
King, Billy Bardsley, and Karl who frequently flew at the site.
There was an additional plus to the field in
that it was close to a lake also owned by the Anderson family. Some members
used it on occasion, however, your author never made it there. If memory
serves me it was referred to as “Five Mile Lake”
A few years ago the author used the field as
an excellent place to train new pilots
who were intimidated by the normal crowd on a Sunday at Mecca farms. Once
Mrs. Virginia Anderson became ill and was put in a nursing home her daughter
Charlotte, sold their holdings in Palm City and bought a horse farm in
Ocala. The field is now a nursery….Sad!
Presidents:
As
I said in the note in the beginning I will name the first several
presidents. There is no way to find out who the total list was as the club
goes back to 1986. The first president was Karl Reinbold. He was in office
for five years! (1986 through 1991). The following is through 1994;
Tom Finley, year 1992
Joe Pokay, year 1993
Walt McGlynn year 1994
There you have our club history and
hopefully, our history is just beginning.
It’s a wonderful hobby with wonderful people.
All the
Best,
Courtney
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