A SHORT HISTORY OF THE TRI-AREA RC FLYERS
By Pete Granger (circa 2010)
In 1998 there was a small hobby shop named Mini-Mania in Port Hadlock, WA, that catered to plastic models. While browsing there one day I found a sign-up list to form an RC Club. I was a member of the Sequim Aeronauts at the time, but the trek to Sequim was getting really old, so I signed up. Months passed, and finally an organizational meeting was announced. We met in the Chimacum Community Center, and agreed to start an AMA chartered club. Arvin Wylie was elected president, and Bill Anliker became secretary/treasurer. Charter members who are still on the roster are Anliker, Becker, Downs, Fitch, Granger, and Merrill.
Our early meetings were held in the county library until they decided to charge us room rent. Wylie, a crusty retired Army mess sergeant who had failed retirement and worked part-time in the Mini Mania hobby shop, was able to arrange for us to meet at the shop rent-free. About this time an air-minded local offered his cow pasture (behind Chimacum High School) to us for a flying field - also free. In those days the club had almost no money, so free was essential. Someone came up with a large piece of belting from the pulp mill which we laid on top of the the pasture grass. It did not take long for the cows to discover that this was a good place to poop. Takeoffs and landings soon got tricky!
The club intensified its field search and Frank Merrill found Roger Short, a local rancher, who was looking for something to "improve his image". Roger agreed that we might satisfy his need; we looked the spot over, and signed up. Wylie was able to borrow a riding mower and trailer, and we carved out our new field. We acquired our storage shed soon after, but continued to use old (but free) wooden cable reels for tables until the AMA published an article about starting stands. Wylie and I built the first two or three and they were an instant success.
The club's first organized event was a Fun Fly held in 2002. As CD I got to dream up the events and make the rules. Most of the events worked out really well and we had a blast. Our now-annual Fun Fly continues to be the only organized flying event we put on.
Wylie continued as president until the summer of 2004 when his cancer got so bad he was forced to resign. As sick as he was, he did not miss a meeting until he was bed-ridden. The club named our field WYLIE FIELD in his honor and he was able to see the big prop that is now mounted on the storage shed before he died.
In the early days meeting attendance numbers were frequently only three or four people as compared to the 15 or so that is typical of present meetings. Above all, our members are mostly participants and contributors to our club. Each year we manage to improve our flying field a bit more and add more aviation oriented activity. Our club is still growing even though we draw from a pretty limited population, and activity continues to be robust.
Pete Granger
By Pete Granger (circa 2010)
In 1998 there was a small hobby shop named Mini-Mania in Port Hadlock, WA, that catered to plastic models. While browsing there one day I found a sign-up list to form an RC Club. I was a member of the Sequim Aeronauts at the time, but the trek to Sequim was getting really old, so I signed up. Months passed, and finally an organizational meeting was announced. We met in the Chimacum Community Center, and agreed to start an AMA chartered club. Arvin Wylie was elected president, and Bill Anliker became secretary/treasurer. Charter members who are still on the roster are Anliker, Becker, Downs, Fitch, Granger, and Merrill.
Our early meetings were held in the county library until they decided to charge us room rent. Wylie, a crusty retired Army mess sergeant who had failed retirement and worked part-time in the Mini Mania hobby shop, was able to arrange for us to meet at the shop rent-free. About this time an air-minded local offered his cow pasture (behind Chimacum High School) to us for a flying field - also free. In those days the club had almost no money, so free was essential. Someone came up with a large piece of belting from the pulp mill which we laid on top of the the pasture grass. It did not take long for the cows to discover that this was a good place to poop. Takeoffs and landings soon got tricky!
The club intensified its field search and Frank Merrill found Roger Short, a local rancher, who was looking for something to "improve his image". Roger agreed that we might satisfy his need; we looked the spot over, and signed up. Wylie was able to borrow a riding mower and trailer, and we carved out our new field. We acquired our storage shed soon after, but continued to use old (but free) wooden cable reels for tables until the AMA published an article about starting stands. Wylie and I built the first two or three and they were an instant success.
The club's first organized event was a Fun Fly held in 2002. As CD I got to dream up the events and make the rules. Most of the events worked out really well and we had a blast. Our now-annual Fun Fly continues to be the only organized flying event we put on.
Wylie continued as president until the summer of 2004 when his cancer got so bad he was forced to resign. As sick as he was, he did not miss a meeting until he was bed-ridden. The club named our field WYLIE FIELD in his honor and he was able to see the big prop that is now mounted on the storage shed before he died.
In the early days meeting attendance numbers were frequently only three or four people as compared to the 15 or so that is typical of present meetings. Above all, our members are mostly participants and contributors to our club. Each year we manage to improve our flying field a bit more and add more aviation oriented activity. Our club is still growing even though we draw from a pretty limited population, and activity continues to be robust.
Pete Granger
Port Townsend Leader Newspaper Article July 2000