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ARCA By-Laws - Club History |
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ARCA CLUB HISTORY |
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Back in the last millennium the earth cooled
and then Don Wade and Jesse Yarbrough started flying radio
controlled airplanes at the old Helena Drag Strip. Don’s family owned the Drag strip and Don and Jesse used the quarter mile by forty foot paved surface as their private R/C airstrip. Don’s
parents lived next to the drag strip and had operated it from1954 until 1962 when it was closed due to noise complaints from
developing neighborhoods. Soon others started coming by asking if they could fly too. |
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Several people responded and a meeting was held in the old Triple J restaurant across the street from the Shelby County Hospital. Today the Triple J is the Sol Azteca III Mexican restaurant. From that meeting the Alabaster Radio Control Association was born. |
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| Don Wade | Charles Bogaty | Randy Perkins | |||||||
| Ken Wright | Jessie Yarbrough | Walter Brownell | |||||||
| James Little | Boyd Eddings | Randy Dewberry | |||||||
| G. S. Norris | D. E. Spencer | Marvin Autry | |||||||
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This is the Shannon Glen area across Hwy 58
from
Penhale Park. The
original ARCA
flying field |
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| The Helena Drag Strip operated from 1954 until 1962. In 1980 it was used as the first flying field for the newly formed Alabaster Radio Control Association. | |||||||||
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The new club used the drag strip as a flying field until some of the pilots started complaining that the paved strip was too narrow and the fence on each side too challenging. The club decided to move to an open field on the South West side of Alabaster near a Little League baseball field. Unfortunately anywhere you have R/C flyers you have “hot dogs” and after buzzing the Little Leaguers the flyers were asked to leave. |
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| The Flying X glider field served as home until civilization and tuned pipes collided, with civilization winning. | |||||||||
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The club moved to the “Flying
X” glider field on Highway 22 where they coexisted with the gliders for
2 – 3 years. Every time a glider wanted to take off, the R/C’ers would
land and clear the runway. |
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Before there was a paved runway, before there was a shed, before there was a fence or bleachers, there was a grass runway and a flat, open field. |
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The club went to work on the new site immediately. Trees were cleared to make way for a grass landing strip. Current club member Bob Moore got the square tubing that the shed is built from donated by his Company, Hanna Steel. Another member who worked for Sherman Concrete Pipe had the concrete donated for the shed. The original relief station (out-house) was constructed. |
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The grass landing strip never really materialized toanyone’s satisfaction. It was always bumpy and the lack of water created a poor crop of grass. In September of 1984 a special vote was taken to pave the runway at a cost of $6,900. A special assessment of $125 for each member for two years paid off the loan. new run way was 316 long by wide. | |||||||||
| The fence and spectator's bleachers were added in 1987. | |||||||||
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By June of
1991 the infamous dip had appeared in the runway. After much
debate it was decided to repave and extend the runway by 100' (thus
making it 416' by 44'), repave the asphalt taxiway and pit area, and
fill in the dip. The final negotiated price of $6,400 was paid
out of the club treasury plus a special assessment of $50 from each
club member. On Friday, June 7, the contractor graded the area for
the additional 100' of runway. The next Monday, of binder asphalt
was laid to the extended area and the pit area and taxiway was
resurfaced. Next, a tack coat was applied to the runway and binder
material to fill the dip was delivered.
When the spreader and compactor equipment attempted to lay and compact the dip area things went terribly wrong. According to Barry time, the moisture in the ground and the loosely compacted soil (remember, this is a reclaimed dump site) caused the heavy equipment to sink through the existing asphalt and create a major tar baby. The equipment had to be pulled out and the asphalt in this area was eventually laid and smoothed by hand. In the end the project was a success even though the goal of filling in the dip was not accomplished. |
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The infamous Dip in the runway. Depending on your timing it can either give you a nice catapult on liftoff or a sudden stop on landing. |
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In November of 1991 the club held the first of what was to become a popular annual club auction. |
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| On Thursday, December 5, 1991, after wandering from meeting place to meeting place during its first eleven years, the club held its first meeting at the First United Methodist Church of Pelham. This was to become the permanent home for meetings for the next eleven years until the Church decided to relocate and closed the building just prior to the August, 2002 meeting. | |||||||||
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The club was incorporated in
February of 1992 as Alabaster Radio Control Association, Inc. |
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| In May of 1992 Roy Cooper presented the club a design for a new logo. Roy logo, showing a bi-plane with a spinning prop, can be seen on the front cover of every Crosswind. | |||||||||
| In June of 1992 several of our members formed a glider club called the Central Alabama Soaring Society. A field was found where the gliders didnt have to compete with power planes, baseball teams, rocket launchers, or anybody else. Barry Mohl and Jim Larkin were two of the original members of this new club and have maintained membership in both clubs ever since. | |||||||||
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In September of 1996 dues were raised from the original $40 to $100 to
pay for repairs needed to the field and to create a New Field Fund. |
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| In December of 1996 Glenn Sorrow won the Gathier Norris Outstanding Service award for the fourth time. In January of 1997 in recognition of Glenn’s continuing dedication and service to the club the Award was renamed the Norris / Sorrow Outstanding Service Award. | |||||||||
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The club entered the computer revolution in February of 1998 when
Robbie Howerton started the original club web site.
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In March of 1998 active club member Roy Cooper died. That October a Roy Cooper Memorial Giant Scale Fly In was held at the field. |
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On January 16, 1999 active club member Glenn Luther Sorrow, Sr. died. Shortly thereafter the field was named Sorrow Field in his honor. |
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The sign over the shed dedicated the field in the memory of Glenn Sorrow. |
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In March of 1999 the outhouse was rebuilt at a cost of $1,100. |
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In April of 2000 the club name was changed from Alabaster Radio Control Association to North Shelby Radio Control Association to better identify who we were. |
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In June of 2000 the runway was repaved again at a cost of approximately $10,000. Another 100' was added to the East end of the existing runway but the new asphalt stopped at the dip. Because of cost considerations the new asphalt was only paved 30' wide, making the new runway 300' by 30'. In order to take better advantage of the extension a new pilot station was created east of the existing stations. |
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In July of 2000 former club member Harry Campbell died. In recognition of Harry dedication to the club his wife donated the proceeds from the sale of Harry airplanes to the club. $500 was donated outright and 12 gift certificates of $35 each were given as monthly door prizes. |
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In August of 2000 a full scale Cessna made
an emergency landing at Sorrow Field.
A broken throttle cable created an emergency and the pilot
could not make it to nearby Bessemer Airport.
The plane had to be disassembled and towed to the Bessemer airport
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This Cessna had to be disassembled at our field and towed to the Bessemer airport. |
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On November 19, 2000 the long time center of R/C activity in the Birmingham area, the Hobby Hut was completely destroyed in a fire. When owner Jeff Hill decided not to reopen, Richard Douglas, one of Jeff Hobby Hut employees opened Competition Hobbies in Hueytown. |
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The more things have changed for our club, the more they have remained the same. We are still talking about approaching real estate developments and the possibly of losing our flying site. We are still worried about what to do to repair the runway and we are hesitant to make any major capital investments because of the uncertainty of the future. Maybe, by understanding our past we can better plan for our future |
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Today, thanks to the hard work and dedication of countless club members before us, we have an excellent model aircraft facility. It is up to us to insure that people who take up the hobby after us can say the same thing. |
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Club Presidents: |
Norris/Sorrow Distinguished
Service Award |
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1980 Ken Wright 1981 Ken Wright 1982 Don Wade 1983 Don Wade 1984 Jerry Luenberger 1985 Charlie Glenn< 1986 R. B. Kincaid 1987 John Freeman 1988 John Freeman 1989 Joe Griffith 1990 Joe Griffith 1991 Barry Mohl 1992 Barry Mohl 1993 Ronnie Quarles 1994 Joe Miele 1995 Joe Miele 1996 Joe Miele 1997 George Routon 1998 Jim Larkin 1999 Jim Anderson 2000 Robbie Howerton 2001 Robbie Howerton 2002 Nelson Forbes |
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1984 Don Wade 1985 Jerry Luenberger 1986 Walter Thomas 1987 Don Wade 1988 Glenn Sorrow 1989 Joe Griffith 1990 Glenn Sorrow 1991 Joe Griffin 1992 Bill Bailey 1993 Glenn Sorrow 1994 Joe Miele 1995 Ronnie Quarles 1996 Glenn Sorrow 1997 Don Wasden 1998 Ronnie Quarles 1999 Bob Anderson 2000 Robbie Howerton 2001 Buzz Currin |
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I would like to thank everyone who contributed there time and materials
to help make this history complete. |
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Larry Kelley |
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