Christmas cheer thanks to R/C aircraft

I had the genuine pleasure this past Saturday of participating in a terrific event at my club.

The Coachella Valley Radio Control Club near Palm Springs did a warbird fun fly to support Toys for Tots. The "landing fee" was a toy valued at $15 or less and a number of flyers from nearby Hemet swung by to share the fun.

I brought along a few recent RCGroups electric review subjects including the Microaces Focke-Wulf on the current Ezonemag.com home page. With me as well were the MyRCDesigns.com flat foam P-51 and P-40, the Yardbird RC Mini Su-30 pusher prop jet and the old E-flite P-47 I used as a test mule for a motor I reviewed for Nitroplanes. The only non-review model was a World Models P-51 electric in Bob Hoover racing trim, a rebuilt and upgraded model I blogged about a while back.

Nothing too elaborate and my Great Planes .25 Spitfire stayed at home with a bad battery in the field box.

However, I did very little flying and that was my intent.

I'd arranged to host some boys and staff from a nearby group home so that they could swing by to see the event. One of the staff is a friend of mine and she was more than happy to bring the kids over for a field trip. These terrific kids had never seen model aircraft of this caliber in operation, up to and including a turbine-powered Boomerang.

The looks on their faces, their inquisitive nature and the pure fun of the day made me stop and realize just how important R/C clubs can be. We all gave back to the community and we did so with joy. It was a day to remember and I'm looking into the possibility of having those kids back for their own event, including some buddy box training.