A businessman by the name of Monty Whitt of Carson City opened a General Merchandise store here around 1976. For some reason, Monty included in his inventory some model airplane supplies. He stocked some kits, engines, radios and building materials including covering, glue and other model accessories. Monty’s action sparked an interest in some individuals to build and fly radio controlled aircraft and as a by product, form a club.

In 1978 John Hunter, a local high school teacher, started a search for site in order to develop a model flying field. Up to that time, the few active pilots had been flying in various “borrowed” locations like Kings Canyon, Parker Field or any other smooth surface that was relatively clear of sagebrush and rocks, which as you know, is hard to find in rural Nevada.

At this point in time, a club had been formed and regular meetings were held at the high school and also at Dynatech, where Bob Froland worked and finagled a meeting place. Bob Froland was the club’s first accomplished pilot, having been active in the sport before moving to Carson City. Monty Whitt, John Hunter and Bob Froland were really the founding fathers of The High Sierra Radio Control Club. Eventually five more individuals joined the club. They were Jim Stimson, Bill Rose, Dave Dahlke, Jim Reinhart and Warren Peterson.

In 1979 Warren Peterson was elected club President and John Hunter successfully negotiated with BLM for forty acres to be assigned to the club for a model flying field. This is the present site of our Pony Express Model Airpark. The BLM set the lease fee at $100 per year. Someone in the club had some friends in Carson City Public Works Department and through some form of persuasion that probably involved beer, managed to have the sagebrush removed and the field graded. The club members fenced the field area, which is about three acres, erected a storage shed, an out house and various other improvements.

Membership in the club grew to about thirty when a problem developed. The BLM had billed the club $100 the first year or two of the lease, but then they stopped billing. The club offered to pay but BLM kept telling us to wait for the bill. Well finally they sent the bill for the back eight years-$800! The club had about $200 in the treasury and no hope of paying such a bill! I believe that it was Bob Brogan’s idea, but someone pointed out that the BLM would donate land to a city at no cost if the land would be used for a park. We had a pretty nice facility at the time, we kept the weeds out and diligently rolled the runway, especially after a rain. So we had the foundation of what could be a nice asset to the City Park system. A presentation was made to the city and they accepted our “gift” acquired a new park and the club was off the hook for the $800 which BLM withdrew. The club continued to grow slowly with membership between thirty and forty. Although the members continued to spend a lot of time and effort on our facility, the runway would dry out badly during the summer and we found ourselves landing and taking off in about an inch of loose dirt. We needed a hard surface runway!

Two years in a row we applied to the city, since the$30,000 we had estimated for a runway was way beyond anything the club could afford. We applied by filling out the City’s standard request for funds form which put us in a category along with fifty other organizations requesting the same funds. It seemed hopeless. Finally Bob Brogan and Frank Chase got their heads together and decided to make a real, well thought out, persuasive presentation. Bob contacted the AMA, explained what we were trying to accomplish and they responded with all kinds of excellent information we could use in our presentation. We put together about fifty pages of material, presented it to the Carson City Board of Supervisors and convinced enough for a majority! They approved $30000 and when the time came, the construction was combined with some city street paving and resulted in a cost to the city of a mere $15000!

The club has grown rapidly since then to its present size of over seventy members. We continue to make improvements to the Pony Express Model Park working jointly with the City. Our new storage/toilet facility was recently completed with city funds and the member’s labor and club funds have constructed new assembly tables and the first of a planned three sunshades.