50 Years of KC/RC

The KCRC Golden Jubilee is history! We did it! Fifty years in the making and a year in planning, KCRC hosted our best Fly-In ever! On September 10, 11

and 12, we sponsored the KCRC 50th Anniversary Birthday Party, and what a party it was.  We had about 70 registered pilots, including AMA District VI VP, Charlie Bauer. Plus, we had dozens of pilot helpers and certainly thousands of spectators throughout the long weekend. The festivities began on Friday at 8 a. m. as volunteers set up the field and pilots started turning avgas into noise.  The flying continued through till Sunday evening at 4 p.m. In between, we enjoyed hundreds of flights from everything from tiny electrics to a 200 MPH turbine jet! What a blast! And throughout it all, there was barely a crash to be found.  The highlights were the Heart of America AMA Show Team. Can these guys entertain or what? Aerobatics with smoke! A sky diving Elvis! Formation flying by the Blind Nuts! Warbirds strafing the runway! A FLYING LAWNMOWER! Incomprehensible helicopter demos! All topped off by Tom Cook streaking to the stratosphere with his JMP turbine powered Hustler! What a show! It was sooooo good that many of Saturday’s spectators returned Sunday to see it again.

And on Saturday evening, 140 people retreated to Paradise Park for a wonderful dinner and great reminiscences with old friends. The food was delicious, the accommodations were excellent and the dinner program was entertaining but not too long.  For three days, the weather was absolutely perfect. Every pilot received a nice door prize. The food concession booth had outstanding sales. Dozens of commemorative T-shirts were sold. The raffle plane generated huge revenues. And John Wyzard of KCRC won the raffle plane.  As things finally wound down Sunday evening, it became apparent what a grand success this event was. The planning and hard work had paid off.

For days following, I received many emails and phone calls of thanks and congratulations for a job very well done. But the thanks don’t belong to me. It belongs

to all of KCRC, from the first few members who started this great organization fifty years ago, to each and every member who helps out in any way.

I do want to thank everyone who contributed. You all made it a success. Also, I want to thank these individuals who accepted certain roles and completed

them flawlessly. Dennis Tschirhart as CD. John Carnal as flight line boss and T-shirt Man. Dan Olson as Raffle Man. Craig White as Brat Broiler.

Ralph Vaughn for Registration. Mike McFarland for radio impound. And most importantly, Anthony Sgaraglino and Ray Grauberger for organizing the dinner.

Also, thanks to the Heart of America Air Show Team for their performances and use of their PA. And of course to Tom Cook for flying his AWESOME jet.

So what do you say? Should we do it again? Why wait another 50 years!

Jimmy C