FAI Legends, Les McDonald and Bill Werwage receive awards

[Bob Hunt]

I meant to post this last weekend, but I have been down again with some severe back issues.

I received an email note several weeks ago from Antonis Papadopoulos, the President of the CIAM. He was seeking contact information for Les McDonald and Bill Werwage. He wrote that they were to be two of the FAI Legends Medal recipients at the international meeting of the FAI/NAA, which was going to be held in Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday, October 25th.

The Legends Medal was to be presented to anyone who had won three or more Gold Medals in any FAI event (model and/or full scale). I gladly sent Antonis all the contact info that I had for Les and Bill.

Shortly after that I received a phone call from Les. He asked if I would be willing to attend the meeting and accept his award for him as he was having some nagging health issues that would preclude him from attending in person. He also asked if I would be willing to pick up Bill at his home in northern Ohio and take him to the meeting.

Well, I couldn’t say yes fast enough. What an honor to be asked to perform this task for two of the greatest Stunt pilots who ever lived. Les even insisted on picking up the entire tab for the trip!

I drove out to Bill’s place on Tuesday the 24th of October and stayed overnight on his couch. The next morning we drove down to Dayton and spent most of the day at the Air Force Museum. Then we checked into a motel and got cleaned up and ready for the awards dinner.

The awards dinner was held at the prestigious and beautiful Rotunda at the famed Dayton Arcade. It was by far the most beautiful room I have ever been in. Bill and I met up with a lot of the folks from AMA who were in attendance, including our own District III AMA representative, Mark Radcliff and AMA Executive Director, Chad Budreau. They treated us both like kings.

It was a top drawer affair with the keynote speaker being H, Ross Perot, Jr.. Also in attendance and speaking was the great niece of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Amanda Wright Lane. Incredible!

Antonis greeted us and spent a lot of time chatting with us about our careers in Stunt flying. He’s an extraordinarily nice man.

I felt a bit out of place going up to the podium and accepting Les McDonald’s award, but I know that Les was glad that someone was there to do that for him. Again, a great honor for me to have been able to do that.

Bill and I left the awards dinner venue and went back to the motel to change into our grunge clothes for the ride home (about 250 miles). We couldn’t actually stay overnight because Bill had a dialysis appointment the next morning. We just used the room to change clothes and get cleaned up before the dinner. What the heck, Les was picking up the tab…

We got back to Bill’s place around 2 AM and crashed. I left the next morning (Thursday), and reflected all the way home about the awards dinner, the years (and even decades…) that Bill, Les, and I flew in competition against each other, the teams we were on together, and the amazing amount of fun we had doing all that for so many years. I logged 1,300 miles on that trip, but I would have driven ten times that to complete the mission Les had requested. It’s an honor I’ll never forget.

Bob Hunt
 

[wwwarbird]

 Very cool. A well deserved congratulations to both Les and Bill. 

[Dave_Trible]

Very well deserved for both these guys.  After all these years so many still admire and look up to these gentlemen for their achievements.

Thanks Bob!

Dave

[peabody]

Well deserved for sure. Both are legends!



Bob, maybe your severe back issues might be related to camping on Bill's couch? Just curious.

[Matt Colan]

That’s very cool Bob!! Thanks for sharing! Les is a pretty cool guy for picking up the tab

[john e. holliday]

Bobby you are so lucky to get the honor of doing this for one of my heros.  Have finished reading the Stunt History.  I imagine you guys could tell stories of your experiences of representing our great land at the Worlds.  I used to sit and listen to Bill Wright and Jim Dunkin relate their experiences of representing our country flying F2C   Thanks for the memories as well known person used to say.

[Bruce Shipp]

Here is a link to the FAI site article on the ceremony.  Congrats to Bill and Wes.

https://www.fai.org/news/2023-fai-awards-ceremony-celebrating-heroes-air-sports

[Paul Taylor]

Great story Bob and what a good friend you are to the stunt community.
Thanks for sharing.

Hope and pray your back gets better before the next flying season.

[Les McDonald]

I am so grateful that Bob was able to find the time and energy to see this whole thing through.
From the very beginning we felt it was important for the F2B guys to show up and be represented. During one email from the organizers they were impressed that we stunt flyers had stayed in contact and have remained friends over all those years.
When Bob and I began our conversation about doing this we had planned for him to do the acceptance speech on my behalf. We cleared it through the NAA that Bob would accept my award and then read my speech. A few days before the event Bob was informed that none of the awardees would be speaking because of time constraints so that put a small damper on our plan because I had something to say. Well, I'm going to do that right here and now.
 
The CIAM Legends Medal

Winning any competition requires work and dedication. Everyone in this room knows that.
Skill, practice, determination and a bit of luck make it possible.

Aeromodelling generally starts at a young age when it is just a simple fun activity enjoyed with friends. As the years pass there is a point for some of us to focus on a specific discipline.
In my case it was control line precision aerobatics, an event simple in concept but difficult to master. In the beginning I was enchanted by the beautiful model planes and the exciting graceful maneuvers that I saw being performed. 
As a young adult I began my pursuit of just being able to build and fly these amazing airplanes which then lead me to participate in local and regional contests.

So here I am today, recognized as an international legend by this esteemed organization. My achievements flying model airplanes at the highest level of competition are the pinnacle of my being. I could not ask for more.

I want to thank the FAI and CIAM for this most prestigious award and also all the organizers, judges, tabulators, timekeepers, and pull testers along with everyone else that makes all the contests even possible.

I also want to thank the Academy Of Model Aeronautics and the Precision Aerobatic Model Pilots Association for their past support not only for myself but all of the F2B team members.

In conclusion I would like to thank each and every competitor  I have had the honor to fly against. No matter the results or our differences we have always maintained respect for each other and I have no doubt that if sport aviation people ruled the world it would be a much friendlier place.

Thank You All
            Les McDonald

[Igor Burger]

It is funny. It was too far for me, so Bob, you could take also my medal :- )))))))))

BTW it is surprising how few people were able to do it. That list (I mean of all cathegories) is shorter than I would think. Congrats to all :- ))

[Igor Burger]

It was too short time and too long distance to make such trip. But they promised to send it to our NAC, so hopefully it will come to me sooner or later.

[Ted Fancher]

Plaudits for all the above for/from Less, Bill, Bob and others who embrace their relationships with them for so long! 

I'm sitting here with damp eyes reading all the above and reliving so many shared experiences with them and so many others with whom we all lovingly did battle at the circle and with whom we spent endless parts of our lives admiring for their wisdom, skills and craftsmanship for so long! It was an enormous part of most of my life that I shared with such fine and talented gentlemen.  I've been blessed in many ways in my 80 years on the planet and embrace every moment with and/or just thinking about these gentlemen and how they embellished my life doing what I loved to do...and knew they did as well.

God speed.

Ted Fancher