My name is Duie Matenkosky, and I’ve been building and flying model airplanes since I was four or five years old (yes, before first grade).
In the beginning, it was all solid wood models. The early ones were just sticks glued together, but, to me, they were real airplanes.
Beginning with those first models, our interests moved quickly from building with Popcicle sticks to building from “store-bought” airplanes. First were the AJ ‘74’ gliders. Next came the Strombecker kits…and the Comet stick models. With our first Cox .049 Space Bug Junior, we got into 1/2A free-flight and U-Control. A McCoy .35 a little later really showed what flying a U-Control stunt routine was all about.
And then, in the summer of 1960, we bought a Babcock BCT-10 R/C Transmitter kit for $19.95, and thus the die was cast for what has turned out to be a life-long involvement with radio-controlled models of all kinds.
We moved from flying escapements into flying single-channel pulse-rudder early on, and then, on to Galloping Ghost. And in 1965, we got our first proportional radio.
All these early transmitters were of the “cradle-it-in-the-left-arm, and-fly-it-with-the-right-hand” variety…and…without even knowing it back then, we were flying SINGLE STICK.
I learned to fly with that set up, and so, to this very day, I still do.
And so, here, on this site, I’ve tried to showcase some of my Single Stick Stuff…along with some of my newer electric powered stuff.
I still feel that…“The Old Stuff Just Flies Better…”.