This was a one-channel (rudder) foam beginner glider kit with a 48" wingspan. Interestingly the receiver and servo were combined on the same board. It came with a rubber band launcher. This plane quickly became a mass of unrecognizable foam since I was just 12 years old at the time and had no help available from anyone. As I remember it didn't fly very good, but I had some mild success throwing it from hills.

This was a complete foam kit including an Enya .15 glow engine and a transmitter. The glow engine was almost impossible to start, then almost impossible to keep running correctly. Some limited flights were made on a dry lake, but damage resulted from every (crash) landing until the plane became more epoxy than foam.

This was a foam semi-scale kit of a Cessna Cardinal. It had the same Enya .15 glow engine on it which ran poorly. Again, some limited flights were made on a dry lake, but damage resulted from every (crash) landing until the plane became more epoxy than foam.

This was the famous Kadet with 78" wingspan. It was not a kit, but was built from borrowed plans that came with a kit. Assembly was done entirely with wood glue or epoxy, so it was a little heavier in weight than it could have been (7.3 lbs). Covering was Monokote. I had an OS .40 on it which was just enough to fly it. This is the plane I soloed on (alone) and actually became a pilot with. My first solo flight was made north of Lancaster, California, on Avenue C near Sierra Highway, and the propeller came loose and was lost during flight. I flew this plane for a few years, and the poor landings became marginal landings, then with time, good landings. Eventually it became worn out and oil soaked.

This was my first original design, constructed of balsa and Monokote. The cowling was a poor attempt at fiberglass, but I made the pilot's head turn in conjuction with the rudder, which seemed kind of cool at the time. The plane flew poorly due to a warp in the wing that I wasn't able to fix.

My second scratch-build was an attempt at an A-10 Warthog, J4F (Just for Fun). The first flights were made before the engine nacelles were added. It flew poorly.

This was a balsa flying boat with an .049 glow engine, built from plans out of Model Airplane News. It was only hand-launched, but it made really good landings on wet grass fields. It flew pretty good, but the .049 engine was noisy and messy. I took this plane on a trip to Lake Mead, but it was damaged in transit.

This plane was built from plans out of Model Airplane News. It was big and impressive, required a .40-.60 4-stroke, but all I had was a .40 2-stroke so I went with that. It flew well but was underpowered.

This plane was built from plans out of Model Airplane News. It was powered by an .049 glow engine, and was unusual in that it was rudder and elevator only as a low wing (no ailerons). However, the generous dihedral made it a good flier.

This was my first original design .049-powered plane. It was fast and responsive, exactly what I needed to grow my piloting abilities at the time. This was also my first use of a plastic soda bottle as a canopy, although this one was not heat-formed.

"Remote Sensing Vehicular Platform" was a purpose-built aerial photography platform with a 35mm autowind camera internally. I got a lot of great pictures from this setup, and calculated the altitude of each shot by triangulation. This plane also had a three-piece wing using aluminum tubes and hardwood dowels as connectors. Flew very well.

This was a purpose-built "workhorse" platform to experiment with different wings and bomb-drop mechanisms. Flew very well.

A large delta flying wing from Model Airplane News plans. Was supposed to be foam cores cut by hot wire, I didn't have a hot wire cutter so I made ribs out of Sturdyboard and covered the plane with balsa. An excellent flyer with a .40 glow engine. Notice the old Futaba gold case transmitter in the photo? By the way, this photo (and a few others in this collection) were taken at the old Uniroyal test track north of Lancaster, California, which is now fenced off.

The second variant in the Mule series, this plane was my first twin with a pair of .40 glow engines mounted on the wing. Flew great until the wing folded during a loop.

My first original design glider. Was too heavy and did not fly well.

A tailless design from RC Modeler plans. I modified it to include functional air brakes just for fun. Crashed on its first flight.

A second attempt at a glider of original design, but wasn't any more successful than the first one.

An original design of a basic plane. Flew very well.

Built from the Sig kit, this plane was an excellent flier and taught me many aerobatic maneuvers.

This was a flying saucer-type plane with a .40 glow engine in the middle. Constructed of foam board and cardboard, it had large vanes in the propwash to hopefully counteract torque. It made a few not too successful tethered hovers, and had no gyro.

This was a Sig Kadet Senior scaled down to 75% of original size. Flew great with a .40 glow engine.

This was another Sig Kadet Senior scaled down to 75% of original size, this time with ailerons and flaps. Although the plane doesn't really need flaps, they were fun to build and experiment with. They certainly made a difference in landings even with this design.

Built from Model Airplane News plans, this had a .40 glow engine on the back and a functional canard in the front. This plane crashed on its first flight.

Built from RC Modeler plans, this delta with a mid-mounted engine was fast and looked cool.

First in the original "Get In The Air Now" series, this plane used an existing wing from a previous plane, therefore reducing build time. The fuselage was sheet balsa with no film covering, but was painted with Pactra Formula-U. Remember that stuff?

An original design of a sort of pattern plane, it was an excellent flier.

Second in the original "Get In The Air Now" series, this plane used an existing wing from a previous plane, therefore reducing build time.

My second twin, built from Model Airplane News plans. This plane used a pair of .25 glow engines. It looked cool and flew OK.

Built from some obscure kit manufacturer, this was a "Quickie 500" type plane. I won the kit in a flying contest.

Bought as a kit at a swapmeet, it flew great, and was modified to have an .049 glow engine on a pylon above the wing. Very good glide ratio, definitely gentle. One day I hand-launched this plane and forgot to turn on the receiver. It gently circled higher and higher as I waited for the Cox .049 Black Widow to run out of fuel. It was found with help after a few hours search.

Third in the original "Get In The Air Now" series, this plane used an existing wing from a previous plane, therefore reducing build time. I made several hundred flights with this plane.

Another original A-10 Warthog, this time with a .25 glow engine on the nose. First flights were made without engine nacelles. Plane flew well but was a little underpowered.

Another Bee-tween from Model Airplane News plans.

An original design with an unusual wing. Wing was made from thick sheet balsa with a bend in it (Saratov airfoil). This plane flew well but didn't glide well (draggy wing) so landings were hot. First time I heat-formed a plastic soda bottle for the canopy.

This was a prototype trainer given to me to evaluate the kit. The name was simply the manufacturer's part number. Was a heavy plane, but actually flew well, not necessarily for a beginner.

Another tailless design from Model Airplane News plans. Flew quite well.

Built from the Ace kit, this was my first biplane. The top wing struts were attached to a fuselage hatch which worked very well. The plane crashed on its first flight.

Built from the Goldberg kit, this plane was powered by a .25 glow engine and flew very well. Was surprisingly aerobatic.

This was my first foam plane and use of paper covering of the World War 2 attack plane. It flew very well and looked good.

Named after the family cat by my Daughter, this was my second paper-covered foam plane, and first V-tail. Flew OK.

A scratch-built smaller version of the Force One, the Force Half was powered by a .049 glow engine. It was underpowered.

A semi-scale attempt at the unmanned aerial vehicle, it was powered by an .049 glow engine at the back. It was underpowered.

Designed by my oldest son, we built this as a chuck-glider first to check the CG and viability. When satisfied, we scaled it up in foam and had a .40 glow engine on the back. It crashed on its first flight.

My second Stingray built from Model Airplane News plans. This one was actually built per the plans since I obtained a hot wire foam cutter, but the wingtips were extended a little beyond the original design. It could also drop bombs. Flew excellent.

My first flying saucer, made from a paper-covered foam disc, powered by a .46 glow engine. Took a little time to learn how to fly effectively, but was an extremely maneuverable plane, very fun to fly. A big attention getter too, especially by people who believed it wouldn't actually fly.

My second Slo Motion,a tailless design from Model Airplane News plans. Didn't fly as good as the first one.

An original design, my first swept-wing plane. Was fast with a .25 glow engine, but had a nasty tip stall habit.

An original foam flying wing, flew poorly.

My first electric plane! A foam delta flying wing with a Speed 400 on 7 NiCd cells. Flew very poorly.

This was a "dime-store glider" converted to RC. It had elevator and rudder controls with a Speed 400 on 7 NiCd cells. Flew marginally.