Larry Scarinzi called and told me that Elaine Miske, (John's wife) had just called him and told him that John passed away this morning. Several years ago, John had a stroke, and has been in declining health since then.
John started modeling in the 1940's with solid and rubber powered kits. In 1945, Santa brought him a Rocket .46. The next day, John went down to the local hobby shop and bought a Stanzel Tiger Shark. Several airplanes and engines followed ending with a Fox .35 powered Barnstormer in 1951. Now, he had an airplane that would do all the tricks!
John was drafted into the Army in February ,1953. He was sent to Karlsrue Germany, and met in to Lt. Ed Burns, and they started flying together. They went to the London to attend the 1954 British Nationals at RAF Waterbeach where John entered stunt with a Fox .35 powered Barnstormer. He only got one flight, and found out later that he had placed second.
John joined the Garden State Circleburners in 1963, and was president for 11 years total. For 7 years he helped out with the dinner dance which was a big fundraiser. Larry Scarinzi also helped out even though he was busy with his bicycle shop. John was awarded with a lifetime membership with the Circleburners for his efforts with the club.
In 1969 a speed event was dropped from the Circleburners October contest. A few of the members wondered if an event could be held which would allow them to use some of their older models. From this suggestion, John developed Old Time Stunt, using 1951-1952 AMA rulebook stunt pattern. The event was to be flown using designs no newer than December 31, 1951. To be qualified, the models had to be listed in magazine articles (kitted) or published as a magazine article prior to 1953.
John had a complete collection of model magazines (Air Trails, Model Airplane News, and Flying Models) He listed all the Stunt Kits and another Garden State Circleburner member listed all the construction articles that would qualify for the O.T.S. event. As long as it was kitted or published, in a magazine or book prior to 1953, it could easily be confirmed as elgible.
The first Old Time Stunt event was held on October 4, 1970 at the GSCB field in New Jersey. John Miske was the event director for OTS, and there were 17 entries. Bob Hunt won open with his Veco Mustang, and John D'attavio placed second with his Debolt All American Senior. Tom Niebuhr came up from St. Louis to fly his Barnstormer, and Jimmy Dammerell flew a duplicate of the Sterling Ringmaster factory demonstrator. Wayne Colgan won jr/sr OTS combined.
After the first OTS contest, word spread around the USA and to other countries. This was a fun event with a slightly different pattern. He supplied copies of the OTS rules, and the two lists of approved airplanes and plans for the old designs to all who wrote or called. The rafters of John's basement were full of plans for the Old Time stunt planes. This was necessary because there were and are some very inaccurate OTS plans being sold. (John called them "sweetened" plans) The money from the sale of the plans went into the GSCB treasury.
Old Time Stunt was first flown at the Riverside nats in 1977. It grew in popularity through the 1970's and '80's and is still being flown at most controline contests.
John operated an old fashioned hobby shop (John's Clifton Hobbies) in Clifton, NJ from August 1992 thru September 2001
John Miske accomplished many more things than I have written here. His biography will be published in an upcoming Controline World magazine.
De Hill
Topic: John Miske; The Father of Old Time Stunt-October 19, 1932- November 6, 2014 (Read 4210 times)