OSHAWA R/C Club History

History of the Oshawa Radio Control Club
as told by Bud Edwards

Once upon a time there were three bears---- 0oops
wrong story
I first became interested in model airplanes back in the 1930's with free flight
rubber models, and then gas powered models, but I always wanted to have one that
would come back to me.
I joined the Army when I was eighteen, so I was away from modeling for a quite a
few years. Then after the war it took a while before my interest was renewed. One
day while talking to a guy in a restaurant the conversation some how turned to model
airplanes. He told me of a fellow who lived in Prince Albert that was flying Radio
Control Models,a fellow by the name of Barry Fletcher. When I got home I called
Barry and asked if I could possibly come out and see his aircraft, he was a most
gracious host and a gold mine of information. I bought a used (Control Air 10 Channel
Reed Set) from a guy named Al Cordy, a plane from Barry who kindly loaned me an
engine to get me started in the hobby. Barry lived next to a golf course and had
access to a large field owned by his father which was about 100 feet from his back
door. He then undertook to teach me to fly.
To go back a bit, today we take R/C so much for granted,but I will never forget my
reactions when Barry first showed me his plane. The model was on the bench and
Barry stood ten feet away with the transmitter, all of a sudden the plane starts to
make a noise, the elevator is moving up and down and the rudder was moving left and
right, I was hooked. It was nothing short of magic. I contacted Waiter Kirby, who I've
known since childhood, and another boyhood chum Ray Zambonelli and introduced
them to Barry. Through Barry I met Al Cordy and Al Cameron and we all flew
together - - well, they flew, I crashed. I finally built a "Sterling Piper Super Cruiser"
with a six foot wing span. Al Cordy was an excellent builder and a good flyer, I was so
envious I decided to show Al a thing or two, so I crashed my plane into the side of his
car (I'd teach him). Fortunately for me Al didn't stick my fingers into a running
propeller and he also had a friend who was in the body repair business, so it didn't
cost me as much as it might have. We all had a great deal of fun at Barry's field and
after flying there was usually coffee and cookies served in Barry's workshop. I will
always remember my first flight box, a green garbage bag. One day as we stood
around talking a stray mutt walked onto the field, went right over to my plane, cocked
his leg and let go over my flight box (the Green Garbage Bag). Al Cameron suggested
that maybe the dog was trying to tell me something. As hard as Barry I tried he
couldn't seem to teach me to land in the same field that we took off from, so I became
quite adept at climbing fences. These events took place from 1964 when I first I met
Barry to 1967 when Barry sold his house and moved into an apartment. The result
being we lost the field and had no place to fly.
On Saturdays I'd call on Waiter and Ray and we would spend the day driving around
the countryside looking for a flying field. Most farmers would not even consider our
proposals to use a piece of their land as a flying field. One day we got lucky and
found a beautiful field at the corner of Audley and Taunton Road which was
approximately 1/2 mile long by 1/4 mile wide with no trees (Perfect). Through a
friend of mine I was introduced to the owner and he gave me permission to cut a
section of grass suitable to fly from.
I invited my flying friends to bring their lawn mowers and rakes, I remember Al
Cameron, Waiter Kirby, Ray Zambonelli and myself and there might have been
others two, but my memory fails me on this. I remember that after lifting the lawn
mowers over the fence to cut our new found field there was not a cow in site. By the
time we measured and laid out our perimeter we were surrounded by a herd of cattle
that would make any rancher proud. I guess they were hiding in the woods on the
other side of the field.
Well, not to worry because when we start these lawn mowers these critters are going
to run away, Right? "Wrong", they loved the noise. I shall never forget Waiter
pushing the lawn mower along with two or three cows following him and the
expression on his face when he got to the end of his cut and turned and saw those
huge cows right behind him. I recall one large white cow in particular which I thought
was anti social or an outcast as it did not mingle with the rest of the herd. Now I don't
mind admitting that I am very cautious when it comes to cattle, I think "scared" would
be a better word for it. At this point this large white cow was right where I wanted to
go. I am not a farmer, but at this close range I could see that there was something
wrong with this poor thing, it only had one teat, or so I thought. So I did some rough
calculations as to the distance between me and the fence, me and the cow. Could it
get to me before I could get to the fence? Well, they say the Lord hates a coward so
I gave it my best "HooWah Git," all it did was lower its head a little more. I gave it
another yell and it still didn't move, I yelled louder the third time and stamped my
foot. I guess it thought I stamped my foot to scare it away so it ran a little ways back
or, could it have had a keen sense of smell and knew why I was stamping my foot?

But back to preparing the field we cut, we raked, we filledholes, we worked very hard.
The next time we seen our new found field it was covered with cow dung and
hoofmarks. I requested permission from the land owner to put an electric fence
around all our hard work, but he said perhaps it would be better if we found another
field some where else. So it was back to cruising the roads looking for another flying
site. (Field number two Gone).

One day while we were driving along Bloor St East towards Courtice we spotted the
perfect site, on the south west corner of Trulls Road and Bloor Street . While we were
sitting there admiring the field ,the property owner drove out of his driveway . We
motioned him to stop to listen to our proposal. He suggested we go over to the house
and talk to his son Charlie Gabourie. We explained to Charlie what we needed and
Charlie didn't HEM or HAW around, his first words were SURE where would you like
it? After we caught our breath, we explained to him what we required and he said
"you pick the spot." "I can't do much for you at this time of the year as the ground is
frozen, but come Spring we can plough and disc and you can plant your grass seed."
There was never any mention of cost, "UNBELIEVABLE".

We planted grass and invited our flying friends. Our rules were simple, don't fly over
the road, don't fly over the houses. We had a new flying field and a good one too. It
wasn 't long before someone mentioned that we should become a Club, and have a
President and all that neat stuff. So basically this was when the Oshawa Radio Control
Club was formed. The year would have been about 1969.

At about this time Charlie Gabourie, started taking full size flying lessons at the
Oshawa Airport. He proceeded to make a runway down the centre of one of his fields
and invited a few full scale pilots to park their planes and use his runway. Needless to
say we had to keep a watchful eye for full scale aircraft while flying our models. Since
Charlie had his landing strip known or registered at the local Airport, we figured
perhaps we might get the "Old Heave Ho" from the Department of Transport.

I believe Ken Rose was our first Club President and it seemed that he had a bit of
influence with some of the City Fathers, at any rate, he inquired about a place to fly at
the Camp X property. In 1971 Ken got a letter from Mr. Roy Barrand City Clerk,
informing him that we had permission to use an area of land approximately 300 foot
square on the Camp X property. We were a small Club then, only a few members and
we had no money, but we had to prepare a new field.After debating how we would go
about it, we decided that each member would pay two years dues in advance, in order
to pay for levelling the land. Our first Membership card was issued in 1971 for a two
year period. Everybody went down to the field to pick rocks and plant grass seed. We
had a first class field on the Camp X property which was at the North West corner of
Phillip Murray and Thornton Road.(At no time did Charlie Gabourie ever ask us to
leave the old field, in fact, he was very disappointed when we left.) A few years passed
before there was talk of the Camp X property being developed into an Industrial
Park. Our President at that time, Norm Stirling made inquiries and received a letter
dated 13 February 1975 that said in part the Oshawa Radio Control Club was granted
permission to continue using the existing flying site until such time as the site is sold
or leased. Further that the Oshawa Radio Club be granted permission to establish a
new site east of Thornton Road and south of Phillip Murray Ave. This letter was
signed by the Clerk of the City of Oshawa. We continued to fly on the original "Camp
X " site while making plans to prepare our new site on the South side of Phillip
Murray Ave. With the new site completed we were finally given notification to vacate
the North field . We flew on the South field until the fall of 1987 when we were given
notice that construction would begin in the Spring of 1988 and we would have to
vacate this property (two more fields lost).

Negotiations commenced with CLOCA concerning the Heber Down Conservation
area site which was South of the old landfill site on Cochrane Street South of No 7
Highway. Norm Stirling lead the negotiations with the full backing of the Club. In 1987
after a lot of measuring and pacing by Norm and his committee it was decided that the
Heber Down site was not a good location and negotiations were abandoned in
December 1987.

Meanwhile we flew around construction equipment for most of the Spring and Summer
of 1988. On October 2, 1988 the Club leased the present Orono field which we
relocated to in February of 1989. These are the facts as I remember them. Through
the years we have had some great people on the Club executive, although I cannot
take any credit myself for the operation of the Club. I would like to give credit to the
late Waiter Kirby, who in the early years when we had no money, still put on a great
Fun Fly , and hand crafted a lot of the prizes . I must confess that even though I
maintain my Club membership that I have never flown from the Orono field. I guess I
just can't let go of a good thing which I had a hand in getting started ,a long time ago .

Many of us owe Barry Fletcher a "Vote of Thanks" as it was he who got a lot of
modellers in this area started in the hobby of flying Radio Control.

-------------Bud