Chapter 997

Archives - History

A Brief History

This page is highly anecdotal. Our club was chartered in the early 1990's. Five or seven members of the Durango Aero Modellers decided to seek a charter when they determined that they were all EAA members and there were no chapters around. They included Lee Bernhardt, Del Gregg, Doug Brady, Jim McCann and Larry Bartlett. Other early supporters included Dr. John Eichar, Ros Hawks, and probably some others about whom I need to find out for inclusion here.

Since Lee Bernhardt had some experience with association articles and bylaws, the others sentenced him to be the first President. He held the office for the next seven years. He resigned over the issue of pot-hole filling.

You might ask what pot-holes and presidency have to do with each other. As President, Lee was charged with the responsibility of getting everything together for events. One of them included the summer fly-in to the grass strip at Arboles, in the Navajo Lake State Park on the Colorado end. Where you have grass in Southwest Colorado, you will have prairie dogs. They dig holes to live in and make lookout mounds with the dirt. They are not a good idea on a runway, but only one aviator has figured out how to communicate that message to them.

Lee tried bribing members to help with the advance work, offering free hamburgers and beer. At this time the club was very small, and when no one else showed up one year, Lee resigned. I hear it took nearly a year for it to be accepted though.

The next President was Del Gregg, who held the office for the next three years. One of Del's major improvements was replacing the Fly-In and Pot-Hole Fixing Party with a summer Pig Roast at Hangar 3 at Animas Airpark. The Fly-Ins had been great fun, camping out under the wings, but the Pig Roast was a concept that everyone could sink their teeth into. The club membership took off as a result, reaching the numbers we have today.

Jim Thornton has been the President since January 2004. Jim has instigated Breakfast Flights to local and not- so- local places, which have been very popular. Of course, it helps when you have a 200+ mph RV. ;-^)

Another new program has been the Young Eagles. Our chapter and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of La Plata County get together and we take young people up. For many, this has been their first flight, and they love it. You can read about it, and other fun things we do or are planning, in the Newsletters. If you want to subscribe, CLICK HERE. There's no charge, and you won't have to fill any prairie dog holes.