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1972 - Tri County Radio Control Club
The following narrative was provided by long-time club member Nick DiNicola back in 2017, and it provides quite an interesting insight as to the beginnings of our club. We quote...
"I will try to make this as brief as possible: but it may not be... Hopefully it won't be too boring for you...Also I hope it will be fairly accurate: however I'm relying on some "old" notes and my recollection.
I started airplane modeling before I was a teenager, (I'm going to be 84 next month); I did rubber bands powering props; control line; and "Free" flight modeling...
It was 1971 when I built my first RC plane. It was called the "A"Ray...A high winger...I built the radio/transmitter myself...It was a "Heathkit"...Have you ever heard of it?? Anyways, I inquired around the area, looking for someone to help me put up my first RC flight...I heard there was a guy that owned a barber shop on South St., who was doing some flying. His name was Al Marcantonio. I got together with him and 4 or 5 other modelers...We soon formed the "First" RC club in the Tri-County, and decided to name it (yes) "The Tri-County RC Model Airplane Club"... AGAIN...the year is 1971...
The attached two photos have some of the early members...(a) in the photo with 5 members; I'm on the extreme left hand side...(b) I'm on the right hand side in the other photo with two other members...
During the early years, we were like "Nomads and/or Vagabonds"...We did not have a field to call "Our-Own" I'll name a few locations: We flew at Moreau Recreation; The open field across from Ginny Rays Restaurant; Near the Top-of-the-World Golf Course; Near the town of Moreau Fish Hatchery off of the Fortsville Road; in back of the Queensbury School Campus; the Argyle Airport; and finally we landed a Semi-permanent place off the "Town-Line" road located just "west" of our present field on County Rte. 43.
The club grew in leaps & bounds. Membership was somewhere between 30 & 40...one of our members was Gary West. (He owns "West" signs on Dix Ave. When he saw the membership grow, he opened a "Hobby Shop" for RC.I don't think he's in that business anymore. But the club came to a very "NASTY" ending somewhere around 1989 and 1990 (give or take)...
The Early Days... (cont'd)
The Early Days... (cont'd)
This needs some explanation...so please bear with me...our field on "Town Line" Road, bordered with a farm immediately "North" of us...The farmers name was John W. I'm leaving his name out for obvious reasons...John got interested in RC, and soon joined our club...after a few years he became a good pilot and was subsequently voted our President. One summer, we were doing a flying & static display show for a bus-load of visiting Seniors in the field near Gaslight Village. John had organized the static display the night before the show. (He did a great job) Unfortunately, one of our know-it-all members changed the display without John's knowledge a few minutes before the bus arrived...John was furious!!!...He quit the club on the spot...
Then he started a campaign to drive us out of our field...I lost count on the number of times he called the State Police to claim we were diving & striking his cows; hitting his barn & house, and claiming his cows were consuming broken airplane parts...He dragged us to town meetings and filled them with all kinds of horror stories...Finally...he hired a lawyer and filed a law suit against the club...
The trial was held in a court house in Downtown "Troy New York"...We decided that we had to hire a lawyer also...I was called as one of the witnesses to represent our club...After several hours, the two opposing lawyers & the judge met behind "closed" doors and agreed on a settlement...Which was: John would drop the lawsuit, and we were never to fly model airplanes in the town of Kingsbury again!
With no field, the club faltered and everyone just flew on their own...A co-worker of mine at General Electric, approached me one day, after hearing that we lost our field...His name was Eddy Young... Ed was a welder at G.E. Ed lived very close to where we now fly at the 'HUMP" (West River Rd, off of Rte.197). The state of New York buried the P.C.B.'s from G.E. in the "Hump". Eddy told me that they planted grass seed & that maybe we could use it for flying...Some of us started mowing the grass with hand mowers and found it to be pretty decent flying field...One day a N.Y. State rep. from the EPA was taking samples from venting stand pipes on the hill; and I got up enough courage to ask him if we could get "written' permission to fly there...He suggested that because of the PCB contamination, we should NOT formally inquire. He said...just fly and keep a low profile....
Next...as you stated, around 1998 we formed the Flying Tigers...At this point, I would like to give credit to three people...namely: Roland Geroux, Tom Mills, and Phil Camp for bringing some of the old members of the Tri County Club and some of the younger guys that were coming on scene in RC to form The North Country Flying Tigers...
In the beginning, Phil made arrangements to use the Fire House on the Corinth Rd. near West Mountain for one of our first meeting places...That is about it...I believe my recollection is accurate...(or fairly accurate)
--Yours truly...Nick DiNicola"
1973 - from the Glens Falls Post Star
Photos of Don Adelmann (our airfield's namesake)
Photos of Don Adelmann (our airfield's namesake)
Photos by Mike Murphy
About Don Adelmann (by Nick DiNicola)
About Don Adelmann (by Nick DiNicola)
I want to give you an idea how "Don Adelmann" [our airfield's namesake, edit] got involved with airplanes. Many, many winters ago, our club (Tri County) was asked to put on an air show at the Lake George Winter Carnival...That weekend I brought my "Glider"...Don and I are old friends and co-workers at G.E. Don happened to come by with his wife Jane, and as soon as he spotted me, he came out on the ice to see what I was doing...Don flew real planes; both in World War II and the Korean Conflict. I handed him my transmitter while the glider was airborne, and he was immediately "hooked." He became an excellent pilot and builder...He was kind of the "Grand Father" of our club...much like Frank Gifford...Don was willing to help anyone, from flying to building...He had an immense amount of flying knowledge, and willing to share it...
Talking about air shows, reminds me of the Balloon Festival event...About the "third" year it was at the airport, Walt Griskot, the Balloon event organizer, contacted our club to put on a show. The reason he gave, was that he noticed that after the morning balloons became airborne, the spectators didn't have much to see. He wanted to fill the "void' with our planes...We warned him ahead of time, that an area had to be selected, that was REMOTE from the spectators for "safety" reasons, AND he was to provide adequate security during the entire show. Well...it was a near disaster...We had trouble landing the planes because the security broke down, and the crowd moved onto the runway...Fortunately no one was injured...
There I go again...Long winded...Nick D."
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