Called A Pioneer In The Illinois RC Aircraft Industry

Don Anderson, who founded two businesses dedicated to the model aircraft industry, was inducted recently into the Model Aviation Hall of Fame.

Anderson has been called a pioneer in model aircraft, particularly in Champaign County, Illinois, where his businesses were based. He founded both Great Planes Model Distributors and Great Planes Model Manufacturers in the 1970's and 1980's, when construction of a model airplane took 60 or more hours, on average. Now, the models are sold "ready to fly", or "almost ready to fly", and can be airborne in as little as three hours.

The Champaign News-Gazette reports that the letter nominating Anderson to the Hall of Fame stated "Prior to 1972, there were only three people employed in the model airplane business in Champaign-Urbana. Today, there are in excess of 1,000 employees."

Anderson began flying radio controlled aircraft as an engineering student at the University of Illinois, though he had built a few models prior to that time. The paper reports that his college friend Bruce Holecek formed a mail order business called Tower Hobbies, and he persuaded Anderson to leave General Motors and get into the direct distribution business.

Model Airplane File Photo

Hobby shops were leery of Anderson's Great Planes Distributors dealing directly with the hobbyist, the paper says, but he eventually merged Great Planes Model Distributors with Tower Hobby, which Holecek had sold, to form Hobbico.

That allowed Anderson to increase his manufacturing business, which he sold to Hobbico in 1991, and became the company's senior vice president the following year.

The Academy of Model Aeronautics, which includes the Model Aviation Hall of Fame, claims 150,000 members nationwide.

FMI: www.modelaircraft.org