Not sure Doc was ever that young.... This was fascinating to me. I just started in the hobby as a youngster at about this time. I only slightly remember that K.C. K flying site-seemed to me to be down in a hole. I was from the Missouri side of the line and we flew at Swope Park but we went to a Sodbusters contest at that field. Some of those names had long-left my memory but boy they name right to the surface here. Paul Woodford, Buster Kegeries, Jim Duncan , Bill Wright , Ray Reinscmitt, June Bug and Tommy Cooper and yes, Bill Schwagerman (Sr) were cronies from my flying site. Most of these guys are gone now but were my local heroes. To read about 100 modelers using the KCK field......Don't think we had quite that many but a nice Saturday or Sunday afternoon you could find more than a dozen waiting to get a flight on the fabulous concrete circle there and a number of families making it a picnic affair. That circle was put in after this article was written so it had to be in the '63-'64 time frame. Before that was an asphalt pad not more than 10 or 12 feet long and a lone park bench well soaked in old castor oil. With all the active clubs, hobby shops and fliers in the metro I doubt it was a hard sell to get the City of KC to pour that circle. I think we were up to about six busy CL clubs going within the two county region. Today there is Doc and me.............
Thanks Bill! You still haven't been out to fly with us............spring WILL come again.
Dave Trible
Thought I'd add something. Jim Kraft has often said the common occurrence at Swope in the day was for guys to say when headed to the circle "Hold my beer and watch this!". Very true and yet to this day I've never seen or been able to duplicate some of the flying skill some of these guys did routinely.