Active RC Clubs in Livermore

On Sunday I visited with two great clubs in the Livermore area. The first one was the Livermore Flying Electrons. The LFE's are another forward thinking club that goes out of its way to build ties to their community through their community appreciation day.



The club has a lot of great modelers. This is Mario with his Big Boy. The Big Boy is Mario's own design. He built is over 50 years ago and has recently converted it to electric power.



I saw this beautiful p-51 last year when I visited their field, it was as beautiful then as it is now a real joy to see fly.



The LFE's President Lenny Farin is shown with the Golden Transmitter Award that is named in his honor. I'm not sure what it takes to earn it but the results of a rough landing adorn it so maybe it is a dubious honor.



Just down the road from LFE is the East Bay Radio Controllers. EBRC has been around since the beginning of radio controlled flight. Two former EBRC members are members in the AMA Hall of Fame. They are currently celebrating their 61st year of modeling. I feel a close kinship to EBRC, my Father was a member of the club prior to my birth.



Under Ken Busse's leadership EBRC has prospered. Like many clubs they need to be sensitive to their neighbors and local officials; in that regard they recently made a decision to convert to an all electric powered field. Members have converted their nitro models to electric and are enjoying themselves.



One of the biggest issues facing EBRC is a renewal of the conditional use permit for their field. EBRC's field sits on Bay Area Rapid Transit land, and on occasion they must receive approval from BART to continue in their current location. I'm sure that their sensitivity to their neighbors and their choice to go to silent flying will be large factors in their favor when the decision is made by BART.



This last photo is from their 60th Anniversary party at the Oakland Aviation Museum. It's not often you see a club that has made as big a mark on modeling as EBRC, I wish Ken and all of the EBRC members continued success.