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Just Plane Fun
Pegasus R/C Flying Club Offers High-Flying Fun for Model Airplane Enthusiasts.
by Jane F. Schmidt + photos by Youngblood Studios
• • •
Driving through Smithsburg’s scenic countryside, folks may be surprised to hear the sound of whirring, buzzing engines — slightly out of place in an area accustomed to little more than the rumble of tractors and lowing of cows. But looking up, the sound is easily traced to the tiny, brightly colored aircraft zooming over the fields off Old Forge Road, the site of Pegasus Radio Control (R/C) Flying Club air field. “We have so much fun,” says Doug Harnish, three-time club president and member since 1997. “To get out here on the weekend is a great way to relax.”
Flying machines are plentiful at hobby stores and online, and models are available to suit all levels of hobbyists. Beginners might choose a “Ready To Fly” or “Almost Ready To Fly” planes, which come fully or partially assembled. Advanced modelers can progress from kits to ordering plans, crafting parts by hand and creating their planes from scratch. R/C planes often borrow construction techniques from vintage full-sized aircraft but are built using lightweight materials like balsa wood, thin plastic or foam. Whether they create their models to glide or draw power from fuel or batteries, model airplane enthusiasts must build their aircraft to tackle the same forces of physics faced by full-scale flyers.
(Test) Flights of Fancy
Pegasus R/C Flying Club was founded in the late 1930s by a group of Fairchild Aircraft employees, including Quality Control Director Phil Harr. Members would meet at Hagerstown City Park and Fairgrounds Park to test company design models. Fairchild Aircraft produced thousands of aircraft for commercial, military and general aviation including the C-119 Flying Boxcar, C-123 and the PT-19, which became synonymous with Hagerstown. Over the course of its history in Hagerstown, Fairchild employed more than 50,000 men and women. The winged horse of mythological lore was the Fairchild mascot and became the name and symbol for the model club.
Group members gathered in the fields of various farmers until establishing the Old Forge Road airfield in 1965. Today, the airfield is home base to more than 100 remote-controlled aircraft hobbyists who relish the thrills of flying gas or electric power and glider craft and sharing their hobby with fellow enthusiasts and interested spectators.
Aviation for All Ages
A love of flying has cemented solid friendships developed across generations within the club. Doug credits his neighbor, the late Phil Harr, with sparking his interest in the hobby. “I remember he had an entire wing of his house designated as a lab which housed all types of airplane stuff,” Doug recalls. “When Phil died, his wife gave me some of his models and equipment, which inspired me to build a basic trainer plane from a balsa kit. One of the guys from the club helped me get it running. ...Now, I’m showing my 11-year-old daughter, Lilly, how to fly R/C planes.”
Dan Bradshaw, president of the club’s demonstration team, attended a family picnic featuring an aerial show as a kid. “It was the neatest thing on the planet. I was hooked at that moment.” Dan spent countless hours in the local hobby shop, and says his parents bought him his first plane just to get him out. He then got a part-time job at the same shop to earn money for more planes and equipment.
His son, Tyler, 11, and daughter, Bailee, 7, enjoy it as much as he does. “ I like to spend some vacation time here,” says Bailee, who uses Tyler’s trainer plane. “It’s a nice family activity.” Tyler says, “I like flying because it’s challenging and you can learn new tricks. I’d eventually like to get into helicopters and learn to make it hover.” Tyler’s current model is an Ultra-Stick kit he and his dad built. “Building the plane is the hardest part.”
Pegasus Treasurer Henry Bergen of Ijamsville, Md., has flown R/C planes for 50 years — a love affair that began as a youngster through building rubber band powered creations. Henry flies a jet-propelled aircraft that uses a miniature turbine engine and computer-controlled starter process he installed and built. He also shares his passion for R/C flying with new pilots through the “Buddy System,” a method of teaching newcomers how to fly. The novice’s radio is linked with the instructor’s, allowing the instructor to determine who maneuvers the craft. “Flying is in my blood,” Henry says. “It is quite exhilarating to come to the field and help others enjoy it.”
For Bob Pease, building model plans is even more exhilarating than flying them. His traveling workshop displays snapshots of his models, including a B-57 Canberra now on display at the Glen Martin Museum in Baltimore and a P2V-5 Neptune — a replica of a plane he piloted while in the U.S. Air Force. “It’s much more pleasurable when you fly your own creation and scratch-build your own design.”
Through its diverse 70-year history, the Pegasus R/C Flying Club has played an important role in keeping interest in R/C aircraft soaring to new heights among hobbyists and enthusiasts. “It’s fun to fly with others. We have a great camaraderie in our club. Everyone knows each other and helps each other,” says 21-year club member Bill Block. Tyler agrees: “It’s a challenging and fun hobby. You can do cool stunts just like a real airplane.”
Need to Know ...
Pegasus R/C Flying Club is an Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) chartered club (#1034). The group welcomes spectators and would-be hobbyists at its airfield off Old Forge Road. The club hosts an AMA-sanctioned Annual R/C Fun Fly open to all current AMA members. For more information, contact Mike Frey at 301-573-6895 or flyboy@mfrey.com, or visit www.pegasusrc.com.
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