Members of the Recker R/C Club with their radio controlled planes at their home base off Fostoria Road. (Nicholas Huenefeld | Sentinel-Tribune)
By Nicholas Huenefeld
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
MILLBURY — The Recker R/C Club has built a name for itself since its creation in 1987, and local flying enthusiasts in the organization are hosting the Royal Flush Fly-Fest this Saturday, Sept. 28 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The event, which is open to the public, will be held at Grabenstetter Field at 22680 Fostoria Road, which is the home of the Recker R/C Club. Admission is free, although a landing fee of $25 will be charged if you’re interested in flying. That includes a free lunch.
“If you want to see the widest variety of RC aircraft, come on out,” Recker R/C Club member Bobby Carwile said. “It doesn’t cost you anything. You can come in, park for free and stay here all day.
“If you come out, you’ll have a good time, one way or another. You definitely won’t be hungry. You may get a little mustard on your shirt.”
There will be a lot of other fun events, including raffle giveaways of airplanes, drones and airbrush systems. A 50/50 drawing will also be held.
They will have instructors on site if you’re interested in learning how to fly, which includes taking you up in a buddy box.
The Recker R/C Club is a popular place for local flying enthusiasts because of its location, according to Guy Caputo.
“Our field is a premier field because we are fully unobstructed,” he said. “No big trees, nothing in our way. We also have a full, well-manicured, 650-foot grass runway, and we have a geotextile mat, which is a 300-foot, 100-yard mat, 30 feet wide, and it handles all the jets, the small planes, the big airliners.
“It handles all the planes with the small wheels and the retracts, some of the World War II stuff. It’s an awesome place. And we’re now improving on our shelter area. We’re having a brand new system put up. It’ll be up here in a few months.”
Club formation
The club, which was formed in 1987 from some members of another local club called Weak Signals, originally made its home on Recker Road, off of Pemberville, which is how the name was born.
In 1997, the lease was lost due to land development, and the gang eventually found their current home off Fostoria Road one year later. They recently renewed their lease for the next 10 years on the property.
“I know we could be doing other things with our day, but this is what we love,” Caputo said.
Recker R/C Club is also centrally located, which helps draw members, many of which are also members of Weak Signals and The Toledo Flying Tigers – the two other regional R/C groups.
Weak Signals, established in 1954, is located on Minx Road in Temperance.
“(Weak Signals has a) beautiful asphalt runway, but they’re surrounded by cornfields,” Caputo said. “So if you lose a plane in the cornfields, trying to find it might not be possible. We look at it as the combine’s gonna chew it up.”
Caputo, who is a member of all three clubs, said those groups serve Toledo and folks in Michigan mostly, and he noted that Recker R/C also draws members from the Fremont area. Carwile is a member of two of the groups.
“We’re not going up into Michigan and looking to bring members down from another club,” Caputo said. “We just like to share.”
Camaraderie, friendships
For people like Caputo and Carwile, the biggest attraction to the group for them is the camaraderie and friendships.
“It’s the people,” Carwile said. “I belong to two clubs. I come to this one. And actually, most of the guys belong to the other club I’m at. It’s just different. It’s always the people. It’s like working. You pick where you work because of the co-workers.
For Caputo, he gets withdrawals if he misses a week with his friends.
“I’ll call it withdrawals, if I’m not out flying that week,” he said. “The winter is coming up, and that doesn’t stop a few flyers. They put pontoons on their planes and fly on top of the snow. Or they put the snow skids on their planes and fly on the skids.”
They also fly over at the soccer dome by Bass Pro in Rossford.
“In the winter time, we fly these little foam airplanes just to keep our fingers nimble,” Caputo said.
Caputo said planes include high wing, cub types, which are called trainers, among many others. Some people will bring R/C motorcycles and cars every now and then, as well.
“We have low wings, we have racers, we have the helicopters that can do stunts,” he said. “We represent just about every facet of planes and people.”
When Caputo started, it was because of injuries after a motorcycle crash. He joked how he wishes he had instruction like what is available now.
“I had a friend put me on a buddy box, and it was like putting heroin right in my arm,” he said. “I just, I ruined my life. I went out and bought 15 to 20 planes. That year, I crashed 15 to 20 planes.
“I finally got an instructor. I finally got a simulator so I could practice. It’s not expensive at all really, but once you get into this hobby, it latches onto you.”
Carwile, who got into the hobby in 1984, recommends a trainer plane to begin with, likely an electric one as they’re easier to deal with as opposed to gasoline engines. He recommends a high-wing trainer.
“If someone told me they’re interested in getting into the hobby and that they saw a nice P-51 Fighter at Hobby Town, I think I’ll go get that, I would go, ‘No, don’t get that,” he said. ‘You can’t train on a P-51 Mustang. That’s what a Piper Cub is for.’ That’s the way I would start them off.”
For more information on Recker R/C Club, you can visit www.reckerrcclub.org.
