In Memoriam: A Role Model

The Fricktal Model Aircraft Club mourns the loss of one of its founding members. Fritz Lüthi was one of the founding members of our club in 1969. Sadly, he passed away on May 12, 2020, at the age of 82.

Throughout the decades, Fritz was an enthusiastic model builder who, even in his youth in the 1950s, was fascinated by flying and admired the great pioneers of the sport. Using balsa wood and plywood, adhesives, and covering materials such as silk and paper, he repeatedly amazed us with his models—built with great care over hundreds of hours of work.

From 1986 to 1988, he served as president of the MGF. In recent years, he devoted himself primarily to building glider models from the early days of radio-controlled model aviation. He enjoyed showing off his models—most of which were covered in silk—with pride at exhibitions and events such as the vintage aircraft fly-in in Arosa. He often spoke to us younger members with great admiration about the well-known pioneers of Swiss model aviation. In this way, we were able to learn a great deal about the history of our wonderful hobby. Many luminaries of Swiss model aviation were always his role models, whom he emulated with great

passion. Thanks to him, we were able to learn a great deal about the achievements of Arnold Degen, Werner Kölliker (known as “Kö”), Hans Diana, Bruno Giezendanner, Wolfgang Matt, and many others.

Fritz, we will always cherish fond memories of you and are forever grateful for your tremendous dedication to the club.

P.S.: I’d like to recommend that the younger members of the clubs take another look at the “Hall of Fame” on the SMV website. ■

Hanspeter Gehrig