The model airplane picture that I treasure, is the December 1976 cover of Model Airplane News. It shows The Great Hanno Prettner performing a Knife-Edge fly-by, in front of the Flughafen Klagenfurt Airport (in Austria, I believe) of his incomparable CURARE!
I had been cobbling together control line airplanes from library books, and from my imagination for several years, and at 13 years old...That amazing magazine had just began a new, profound desire in me, to be able to fly R/C that well, with such a brilliant airplane! I had to collect a better condition of the magazine, some years later, as my original copy was no longer in pristine condition.
I acquired an MK kit of the Curare at the yearly auction in the winter of 1988, and built it for the upcoming contest season, on my In-Law's pool table. Great kit, superior wood-went together very well. Flew it in Novice class in the region, and received 3 First Place awards, and one Second Place trophy with that airplane. All that gave me a big head-but it was still just Novice Class.
Well, there is another cover picture that struck a chord with me: the November 1977 RCM, which features a large scale CITATION model and a cute girl, taken near Century II, in Wichita. The picture, not the girl! George Sauer was the builder and pilot of the model, and one of the very fine gentlemen who would take time from their flying activities, to teach me, a punk kid, how to fly, and set engines, and everything. I miss George. He was a GOOD guy!