LOFT by Frank Wren and Ray Hayes
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LOFTFORMED JAN, 1975Fort Wayne, Indiana OFFICERS: Ray Hayes - Frank Wren LEAGUE OF FLIGHT BY THERMALby Ray Hayes - LSF 803 - NSS 29 It all started when I drove to Chicago to See the 1970 Soar contest. I took a few pictures, caught on to what they were doing and drove home completely hooked on RC Sailplanes. I started with a scratch built design powered by an .049 gas engine, next built a small t-tail kit from California and then started a long love affair with Mark's Models Windfree kits. November, 1974, as a member of the local power club, the Flying Circuits, the first sailplane contest in Ft Wayne was held. Flyers were very hungry for contests (great social events) and came from several states to compete. New friendships were started that have lasted a life time for me and I have been putting on sailplane contests every since. The power club is very large and it didn't take long to realize the need for a separate sailplane flying site. I asked the Ft Wayne State School for permission to fly on their open field and LOFT was born. Many wonderful memories for many people from all over the USA have sprung from LOFT field. Some thirty three years later, as of this writing, and I am still flying my favorite woody sailplanes at the original LOFT field.
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In the beginning... one autumn evening in 1974, my telephone rang: "Hello." "Hi Frank, its Ray." "Hey, what's happening Ray?" "Well, we are going to form an R/C Sailplane club" "Uh, ok. When?" "Can you come over to my house Sunday afternoon about three O'clock? I'm going to ask Eric and Bill to be a part of this also." "Sure can. See you Sunday at three." Frank Wren on a windy contest day waiting his turn to fly. Sunday afternoon... The four of us met at Ray's house and took over his den and discussed the pros and cons of our endeavor. Eric and Bill consented to be interim officers in the new club with the understanding that since they really had very little time to apply to the position they should be replaced as soon as possible. Ray and I nodded accord and the AMA club paperwork was completed, with Ray as Treasurer, myself as President and Bill and Eric taking the positions of Secretary and Vice President. Bill and Eric left shortly afterward and that's when Ray and I got down to the 'nuts and bolts' of building a club. Nuts and Bolts... We knew we wanted a "flying" club, not a 'social' club like the many kinds he and I had seen or been in before. I suggested we set the clubs operations up on the corporate type set-up whereby the elected officers had a wide range of powers and could transact club business without going to the members for votes on every little issue as meetings of the general membership were to be minimal. A draft of the clubs by-laws stipulated that there would be one general sit-down meeting annually where the previous year's annual report would be given out in hard copy to each member (and one mailed to each member prior to the meeting). This was the place and time where members could actively engage in the administrative operations of the club, just like the annual meetings of stock corporations. Officers held office for 2 year periods with 1/2 of the club positions up for re-election each year after the first year. This worked well as it didn't burn out the officers and each year there were 2 'experienced' officers to mentor the newly elected ones. This assured a seamless continuity to the club leadership. Any controversial items of business were discussed at meetings of the officers in the usual planning meetings and opinion polls of the membership were taken at the scheduled club contests and through the newsletter. Most of the members were pleased to have the club being operated this way and had great trust in the officers. The officers honored that trust with hard work and honest, ethical stewardship. Labor of love... Then we moved to the real motive for the club's structure...a club for flying, be it 'fun fly' or competition. In order to assure that members would be flyers and not just club members, we devised a plan where a new member, whether beginner, novice or experienced flyer would 'earn' his membership. Besides paying the nominal annual dues, the new member had to complete level 1 of the LSF soaring proficiency program. This one program was foremost in making sure the members became proficient glider guiders. When completed, they knew how to fly gliders and could wear the LSF patch on their LOFT club shirt. It was always a wonderful sight to see the face of a new member when he wore his (or her) LSF patch to the flying field the first time...such a look of pride! 
Look Ma, I can fly... Within the first year LOFT became a club of proficient flyers. The monthly club contests were well attended and the competition was fierce. Many of LOFT's members began entering competition contests put on by other clubs in the surrounding states and the LOFT shirts were an 'expected' sight at the contests. A lot of hardware (trophies) was awarded to LOFT members, including our junior members. The photo at the left tells it better than words. Three LOFT competitors (Bud Palmer, Ray Holzheuer and Frank Wren) at an out of town contest...3 pilots, 4 trophies! And the membership grew... Since "LOFT Field" (as it quickly became called) was located in a populated, high traffic suburb, many passers-by would stop and watch the flying. Many were past radio controlled power flyers looking to re-enter the hobby/sport and found the concept of glider flying intriguing and it sparked a new desire to get airborne again. For these prospective members we made it a point to answer their questions, offer advice and information and gave them a copy of the clubs latest newsletter containing the club's contact people with their names and phone numbers. Many of these people actually joined the club and went on to be ardent 'glider guiders'. In 6 short months the clubs membership roster grew from the original 4 founding members to almost 20 members...and it kept growing. Many of the new members were out-of-towners and some were from out of state. This created a dynamic atmosphere within the club and gave the beginner a deep pool of experience he could draw from for building tips, flying techniques and in some cases the loan of building equipment and even some one-on-one building and flying help. Many new and lasting friendships developed from the camaraderie. The 'Bottom line'... Not only did the membership grow but the clubs treasury also grew. LOFT's income was based primarily on the proceeds from the contests it sponsored. LOFT Weekend in June and "Cash Bash" in October were very well attended. We drew contestants from as far as Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee in addition to the nearby areas of Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. The word had gotten out that LOFT put on a real 'class act' contest not to be missed! Those contests were hard work for the clubs membership and leadership but proved to be worth the effort when viewed as bottom line numbers in the club's treasury report. Four rewarding years... Serving 4 years as the first President of LOFT I can say without reservation that it was one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences I ever had. I also doubled as the editor of the clubs newsletter and also as its publisher. Remember, this was before 'desk top' publishing and PC's, so all of it was done manually. Fortunately, the company I worked for at the time also had its own print shop and I was allowed to use their facilities (after hours) at cost of materials. I even ran the offset press. I learned a lot about printing thanks to producing the newsletter. It was almost as much fun creating the quarterly newsletter as it was building a new sailplane (almost!). Well, after serving 4 action packed years, I was ready for a break and relinquished the presidency. It was gratifying to see the club continue on for years after that as a viable flying club, thanks in part to the innovative organizational format that I was honored to be a part of and to the continued hard work of the clubs elected leaders and its unselfish members with their "Can Do!" attitude and love of sailplane flying! |
LOFTFrank Wren and Ray Hayesfrom Sailplane Magazine |
LOFT NewsletterVol. 1, NO. 3FALL 1975 |
LOFT NewsletterVol. 1, NO. 4WINTER 1975/76 |
LOFT NewsletterVol. 2, NO. 1SPRING 1976 |
LOFT NewsletterVol. 2, NO. 4SPRING 1976/77 |
LOFT Introduction to R/C SoaringCirca 1977 |
