GIL COUGHLIN MEMORIAL TO CLELEBRATE HIS LIFE

[Shultzie]

Just received an E mail from Heather and Cameron about public memorial.barbeque to celebrate his amazing life on June 20th a the DesMoines Activity Center.

[James C. Johnson]

Frank and Gil..

I would also like to add, Gil Coughlin passed within hours of Frank or vice versa.. they were both peas in a pod and loved Jim Walker and Northwest Model Aviation.

Gil was a watcher... slow to warm up to you. But once he did, you were a friend for life. He was a big part of the Northwest Expo each year promoting Model Aviation History. In early 2003, I was compiling my book Flying Model Collectibles.. and "thought" I needed Gil's wonderful collection to be part of my book but since I was a "newbie".. I don't believe anyone took me seriously that I was going to do it.. I got a resentment at Gil for being so stand-offish.. and that resentment gave me the boost to "show" everyone I was willing to put some action behind all my talk.. in Jan, 2004, the book was published .. I got to show it to Gil and I had him sign my copy.. and he told me he was proud of me.. that meant a lot.. as he was a "premier" collector of modeling memorabilia.

That year at the Northwest Expo I saw him limping on Sunday afternoon as the show was closing and he was having problems loading all the stuff he would bring.. I needed to know more about him so I stayed and helped him load. We talked.. my did he have his pride.. but he finally let me into his world that day.. I cherish the little pin he gave me for helping him.. his way of saying thanks...

Gil was the foremost collector of Elf engines in the world !!.. and was instrumental in helping John Brown write his book, Dan Calkin and his Elfs. At the show in Pasadena in 2005 it was "rumored" that Gil was offered $100,000 for only part of his Elf collection and he turned it down.. the stuff he had was museum stuff.. one of a kind Jim Walker factory ideas, planes, documents. Things that I still stand in awe of.. he was a modeler... and a collector.. extraordinaire !! BTW way.. I had 932 photos for my book without a single item from Gil's Collection.. I have since reasoned his stand alone collection was a "book" all by itself.. and still needs to be written..

I will miss him .. he was one of a kind.. yet part of that flock of modelers willing to preserve the past. He always had a smile for an airplane model in flight.. almost like a little boy.. I guess that is one of the primary reasons all of us fly.. only we never see it in ourselves but we do in each other... no wonder I hate flying alone. 



Both Him and Frank Macy are good candidates of worthy mention for nomination to the AMA Hall of Fame.. the were tireless promoters of Model Aviation History and "old school" modeling.. 


Gil Coughlin wrote the following autobiography.

http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/museum/bio/Coughlin.pdf


and here is some FAI History

956 Lennart Petersson, 26, Sweden

The World Championships returned to Sweden, at Hoganas. This would be a combined Contest, with FAI Power, Nordic A2 Glider, and Wakefield. I emphasize this because in 1957 there was a Glider contest, but no Power or Wakefield contests. Maybe what I am about to present next is a clue to what happened to the WC in 1957. Frank Zaic in his 1955-56 MAYB printed the voting results of the December 1955 meeting in Paris, France of the FAI/CIAM at which the following Wakefield issues were raised:


    * 8 to 2: Against increasing the maximum flight time by more than the existing 180 seconds.
    * 8 to 2: Against increasing the number of flying rounds beyond the existing 5 rounds.
    * 9 to 0: Against increasing the weight of the aeromodel more than the weight now set at 190 grams (8.01 ounces) minimum.
    * 6 to 1: For revising the rules for the 1957 WC (Author: is this why there was no 1957 WC? Because they could not come to an agreement before 1957?)
    * 6 to 4: For reducing the weight of the rubber motor to 50 grams.
    * 6 to 2: For abolishing the ROG requirement.


Meanwhile back at Hoganas, Sweden: Boxes filled with Wakefields arrived, along with two members of Team USA Jerry Kolb and George Coughlin, who packed Wakefields to the contest belonging to: Cliff Monplaisir, who was on the 1952 and 1953 Team, and Herb Kothe, who was on the 1955 Team. Kothe's Wakefield would be flown in the WC by Arne Hakansson, who came in second in the Wakefield event last year. Monplaisir's Wakefield would be flown by none other than Arne Blomgren The 1952 Wakefield Champion. Teams, or boxed Wakefields arrived from 16 nations including: Sweden, USA, UK, USSR, Finland, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Italy, German Democratic Republic, Federal Republic of Germany, Czechoslovakia, Canada, New Zealand, France, Guatemala, and Japan, represented by 58 contestants. Sunday, August 19, 1956 was Wakefield Day, and flying would begin at 7:30am.

ROUND 1 to 4: The weather stayed consistent through rounds 1 to 4, overcast skies, with little to light lift, with an increasing wind since the 7:30am start. At the end of round 4 the Leader board looked like this:

Place   Name   Country   Round l   Round 2   Round 3   Round 4
1   G Fea   Italy   180   180   180   180
1   H Kothe   USA   180   180   180   180
1   L Petersson   Sweden   180   180   180   180
3   J O'Donnell   GB   180   180   180   151
4   E Knudsen   Denmark   180   166   180   165
5   E Smirnov   USSR   180   163   167   160
Access full results

[Bill Adair]

Thanks for posting those wonderful memories, of the greatest model enthusiast I've ever known!   

Gil was the highlight of all my annual visits to the Puyallup Model Expo! I spent more time at his display, than all the R/C displays I'd come to see! I never tired of watching him wind and launch his amazing mini creations, and talking about his collection. Tried my best to talk him into selling me one of his many Fire Baby kits, but Gil was not into collecting for profit.

It was so thrilling to watch all those kids gathered around his tables to watch Gil fly, and trying to be the lucky one to retrieve one of Gil's airplanes. Gil always rewarded them with a big smile, even though he had to get out the glue occasionally to repair slight damage caused by overzealous retrievals.

God speed, Gil, and Frank. 

The model community has suffered a double tragedy in their loss, but it's almost as if their passing together was not left to chance.

Bill