AMA Charter 2258
Newsletter: Tales of the Eagles
Objective of the Eagles: Promote camaraderie and competition among flyers of free flight model aircraft in the Southern Wisconsin / Northern Illinois Area.
Who are the Bong Eagles: The Bong Eagles are a free flight model airplane club based in south-eastern Wisconsin. The Bong Eagles are affiliated with the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA = https://www.modelaircraft.org ), the USA Community of aircraft modelers, which promotes safe and sane operation of model aircraft. The name comes from their favorite flying field, Bong Recreational Area near Burlington, Wisconsin, where they hold outdoor free flight contests. In normal times, during the winter months indoor contests and fun flying take place in Racine Memorial Hall in Racine, Wisconsin. Because of precautions against the COVID-19 Virus these meets have been suspended until further notice.
Why Fly Free Flight Planes: Why do modelers still fly planes without radio control, almost as they would have over 80 years ago? First of all, you surmount the challenge of making and adjusting something that will fly well as it leaves your hand or the launch table. You need to adjust control surfaces and propeller thrust line, and position the center of gravity, for the plane to fly well in climb and glide. You can build light, without radio gear, and use less power. These challenges give the Eagles a thrill and a sense of accomplishment.
Acknowledgements: As someone who has participated in Contests sponsored by the Bong Eagles for over 10 years, I would like to thank all the members who have shown me hospitality, even before I joined the Club. I’d also like to thank those Eagles who took the trouble to get AMA Sanction and listing in Model Aviation for the contests. The Eagles would like to thank Ken Miller for his years of service, from before 2000 to 2014, running the website and taking photos at events, and to thank Mike K. for restarting it on WordPress. I am glad that website content management is getting ever easier, and that Mike and I can bring the site up to date again. Given the constraints of the 2020-2021 pandemic, with fewer normal contacts between members, the website is more important. We hope we can bring more folks into this wonderful hobby.
