Impressive Achievements by a Young Model Aircraft Club

The Wald Model Aircraft Club in the Zurich Oberland, founded two years ago with a membership consisting almost exclusively of juniors, has overcome its biggest initial challenges.

Unrestricted “fragmentation” among model flying clubs is certainly not desirable. On the other hand, it is becoming increasingly clear

Once again, it shows that young, newly formed model aircraft clubs can achieve quite a lot in a very short time with a lot of enthusiasm. This is especially true when the leadership of the new club comes from an established, experienced model aircraft club. These individuals bring with them from their original club the knowledge, experience, and many other essentials needed to build a club from the ground up.

It is always particularly gratifying to see that, in most cases, new clubs have many junior members—often even more juniors than seniors. Clubs with their own permanent flying field are forced to exercise a certain degree of restraint when accepting new members, as they would otherwise be overwhelmed. This admission “policy” has the major drawback of leading to an increasing

ageing of the clubs. New model aircraft groups often emerge from this situation. There are many positive examples of this natural “old-to-young” system worth mentioning.

Objectively speaking, the pioneering work of such young groups must be acknowledged. It is well known that these transitions do not always proceed without problems. Instead of encouragement for this major undertaking, the founders are met with many ifs and buts along their arduous path. People are very often skeptical of new groups and try to mask the more personally motivated reasons with so-called objective ones, speaking of excessive effort, irrationality,

, etc. Yet behind this skepticism very often lies a generational conflict—a “father problem.” A father who cannot pass on his knowledge and his goals to his son has failed as a father. Years ago, as chairman of the MG Pfäffikon, I encouraged and supported “my” members from Effretikon in founding a neighboring group and achieved a separation on friendly terms. Of course, this is only possible if the leadership of the group being founded meets the necessary requirements. However, I believe that such an experiment can only succeed if a clear separation of personnel and administration is later implemented between the clubs. If, afterward, a member ends up in two or three groups instead of just one—and is a guest here and there—then the situation becomes not only complicated and unmanageable for the region, but the groups also lack serious members who focus on one thing and feel a sense of responsibility. “You shouldn’t try to be in two places at once,” a departing member once wrote to me. He had decided to transfer to a group near his home.

The founding of the MG Wald must also be viewed in this light. Apprentices and students make up the majority of this group. As founding chairman, Willy Fahrni wants to develop the group to the point where a chairman emerges from within its own ranks, to whom the future of the association will eventually be entrusted. It’s hard to imagine more favorable conditions. W. Fahrni has a wealth of experience from over twenty years of active group work. He knows what matters. Nor could he conjure up a wonderful airfield with an 80-meter runway and a clubhouse for his group. Instead, the Wald members set about adapting the hilly topography of the upper Töss—

We took advantage of this and focused primarily on slope soaring. Soon, the enterprising group managed to rent several rooms on very favorable terms in a vacant property belonging to the Reformed parish of Wald and set up a modest but well-attended clubhouse there. To this day, I remain convinced that modest beginnings can indeed lead to great things. We may lack the funds for the most expensive RC systems, elaborate accessories, and sleek plastic gliders. But the joy of achieving something with modest means is all the greater for it.

Giez.