I heard about this yesterday morning. My son, Robby saw it on Ron Testa's facebook page. I called Mike Ostella to confirm it and he told me that it was indeed true. We talked for quite a while about what happened and what the club may now do to obtain a new field. There are some possibilities.
For me this was very sad news. I first went to that field with my father around 1959. I don't remember too much from that day, but I do remember seeing a blue Ruffy stunt ship and I just fell in love with it. Strange what freeze frames in time the mind remembers...
When I began flying Stunt competitively in the mid 1960s, that field was a mainstay for me and for all the East Coast Stunt fliers. I can remember that contests started at 8 AM, and that was when registration closed as well. No one complained about the early start back then; it was the norm. I can also remember that if you arrived late - 7:30 AM or later - you had to park on the road and walk about an eighth mile back to the field with your gear because there were so many cars. The small parking lot overflowed quickly in those days.
My Stunt Mentor, Bill Simons and I would go - along with Gene Schaffer and Bob Lampione and others - to the nearby Rich's Hobbytown field early on GSCB contest days to get in a few practice flights before heading over to the GSCB field, so we always had to park down the road and walk back. In thoes days there were dozens of competitors at each GSCB contest, and it was normal to get in only one flight because of the large entry; especially during the Fall contest when the days were shorter. Sometimes we flew right up to when it was dark.
My favorite memory of the GSCB field was the first Old Time Stunt contest in 1970. John Miske called me and asked me to attend that contest. I told him I didn't have a model that qualified for the 1952 cutoff date. He reminded me that my Veco Mustang was kitted in 1952 and that it was legal but would take a 20 point hit due to the flaps. I decided to go and fly anyway, and wound up winning that first OTS contest! Second place went to John D'Ottavio who flew an All American, and I think Tom Niebuhr was third flying a Barnstormer. This is especially poignant, considering that the 50th anniversary of that contest is coming up next year. Hopefully the club can find a field on which to hold that event. If not, they can hold it on my new flying field (the LVRCS field here in Easton, PA).
Other memories include flying with the SAFADS (don't ask...), which was made up of Ed and Kevin Capitainelli, Glen and Neil Meador, Mike Turo, Ken Purzycki, and Rich Tower. We had tons of fun flying and busting each other's chops (it's an East Coast thing...).
It was on that field where Gene Schaffer brought out his first twin rudder model. On the left wing was a huge USA, and on the right wing was an equally huge AMA. Bill Simons looked at the ship and asked Gene what the name "Oosa-Amma" meant. Gene, puzzled, said that the model didn't have a name. Bill said, "it sure does, USA AMA, "Oosa-Amma!" Gene hated that name, but it stuck, and before too long even Gene referred to it as the Oosa-Amma!
I could probably write a good size book about all the stories that happened on that field. It was a magical place. It was also a terrible place to fly due to the turbulence cause by all the closely surrounding trees. But, as Coach Lombardi used to say, "It snows equally on both sides of the field." Everyone had to contend with the turbulence at that field and after a while no one seemed to care.
An era has come to an end. We were blessed to have had that club and that field for so long. It will now live on in legend.
In sadness, but with fond memories - Bob Hunt
P.S. A a brief historical aside, I talked yesterday evening with Tom Huff. He and his brother, Pete, went to the field after Ron and Mike left, and they actually flew on the back field while the demolition was going on at the front circle. Tom gets the distinct honor of being the last person to fly at the GSCB field! - Bob
Topic: GSCB Field (Read 2575 times)