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What is the AMA History Project?

It is our on-going endeavor to save the history of model aviation by collecting the stories of model aviation enthusiasts, the histories of modeling companies, clubs, and other organizations, as well as other compilations of historical data about the hobby/sport that is model aviation.

What is in the collection?

We have over 1000 modeler biographies, 61 club histories, and 26 company histories completed and online, and our collection keeps growing. The following links will take you to our current collection of biographies, histories, as well as other model aviation-related historical information. Please contribute your story today!

• Biographies, last names A-C
• Biographies, last names D-G
• Biographies, last names H-L
• Biographies, last names M-P
• Biographies, last names R-S
• Biographies, last names T-V
• Biographies, last names W-Z
• Club histories
• Company histories
• Special Interest Group (SIG) histories

How do I get involved?

Want to add your story, a club's history, a company's history, or other types of modeling histories? Submit your story today! If you would like a little help writing, feel free to use our helpful writing guides and forms below:

• Biography Writing Guide
• Biography Information Fill-In Form
• Club/Organization History Writing Guide
• Company History Writing Guide

I just need to sign a consent form. Where do I find one?

Use the link below: (The consent form lets us publish your story online.)

• History Project Consent Form*

*The consent form lets us publish content on our website. When you submit content to the AMA History Project, you can choose to allow us to use the content for the AMA's purposes only or grand us the copyright of the content that allows us to use it for both the AMA's purposes and outside purposes (such as allowing other club newsletter editors to use it in their publications).

When a consent form is completed and returned to us by the rights-holders, we format content to our web specs and post it on our website. If a copyright holder prefers not to sign/submit a consent form, that is ok. We can still save the content in our History Project files (at our discretion), which are currently housed in the Museum. Our researchers can access this material in person or through certain research requests, depending on the material submitted.

I have questions about the History Project. Who do I contact?

Contact us through email at historyproject@modelaircraft.org or call (765) 287-1256 ext. 511.

The AMA History Project's physical files, including photographic prints, negatives, and papers, are housed in the National Model Aviation Museum.

Please Note: Historical materials are products of their time, and some of these materials might contain language or negative stereotypes that could be offensive to viewers. The AMA and the National Model Aviation Museum does not endorse any views expressed in these collections.

AMA and Aeromodeling History Hub

A portion of the National Model Aviation Museum's collections database is viewable online. Click on the orange button below to explore! Stay tuned, more is being added!

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We are also compiling links below to information about the AMA, the Nats, and other model aviation history from our Museum's Library, Archives, Object Collections, the AMA, and other sources. Keep checking back as we continue to build our library of links.

• AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame
• History of the AMA, National Model Aviation Museum, and Model Aviation magazine
• The History of the �鶹��Ƶ, including Part One and Part Two from the Beginning to the Year 1966, by Willis C. Brown and Dick Black - link to History Project pdf.
• - link to Model Aviation Digital Library website, Model Aviation magazine, June 1986 issue
• The First 75 Years, a supplement to Model Aviation, 2011
• History of AMA logos
• Current U.S. National Records
• FAI World Championship Results from the 1930s through the 1980s - These are scans, and not an all-inclusive compilations of results. Data for the FAI World Aeromodeling Championships comes from the records of the AMA, housed in the National Model Aviation Museum Archives. More about FAI Aeromodeling can be found on FAI's website at .
• Past issues of AMA-produced newsletters - link to hub for past AMA newsletters, including Nats News, AMA Today, AMA Flightline, Ground Control, Media Minute, and Rotor Report.
• - link to AMA Publications Dept. website.
•  - link to AMA Publications Dept. website. (Access restricted. AMA member log-in required for full view of back issues. Previews and some articles available to all.)
• The first issue of Model Aviation magazine - link to the June 1936 issue of Model Aviation.
• - link to Model Aviation magazine main page
• - link to Park Pilot magazine main page
• AMA Podcast website - link to the AMA Podcast main page (includes aeromodeler interviews)
• - link to the Museum's "Fly By" YouTube channel. Individual episodes about modeling history topics linked below:

• - link to Model Aviation magazine's brief video on the history of the Navy Nats.
• - link to the Museum's blog space, covering a variety of topics.
• Virtual Tour of the National Model Aviation Museum - link to the Museum's Virtual Tour webpage for a virtual look at the inside of the museum and an overview map of the Museum's gallery. Click on the areas of the map to discover more about the different sections of the gallery.
• Museum Archives
• Museum Collections
• Museum Education
• Museum Library
• Info about researching at the Museum
• Info about the National Aeromodeling Heritage Program's Historic Organizations and Sites
• AMA films about aeromodeling, produced by Jay Gerber, are linked on pages 3, 4, and 5 of Jay's biography or on the AMA Films page.
• History Moments - Below are links to the Museum's History Moments webpages, with many facts and stories written by Museum staff in 2011 during the AMA's 75th Anniversary. Topics are arranged by month/date posted:

1. January 2011 topics - The AMA is Founded. History of AMA Scholarships. AMA Officially Recognizes Control Line Model Aircraft. Model Aviation Comics.
2. February 2011 topics - The Flying Eight-Ball Club. The First AMA Member. Beginnings of the National Model Aviation Museum. History of Supply and Service.
3. March 2011 topics - Dolly Bears. AMA Safety Committee. First AAMA Conference. AMA/FCC Discussions. A New Headquarters in Muncie.
4. April 2011 topics - Model Aviation Magazine, a Brief History. Ideal Aeroplane & Supply Company. Life �鶹��Ƶs Start. AMA Presidents list/1948 By-laws of the AMA, Article IX, Section 2.
5. May 2011 topics - Modeling Catalogs. AMA Headquarters Locations Timeline. Bill Brown Jr. Engine. Frank Zaic.
6. June 2011 topics - AMA's Reston, Virginia Headquarters. Control Line Aeromodeling. An Idea for a Model Aircraft Country Club. Opening AMA's �鶹��Ƶ Drive, June 23, 1937. Nats Mementos.
7. July 2011 topics - The Navy Nats. First Nats in Muncie, 1996. The 50,000th AMA member, Don Lockwood. No Nats during WWII.
8. August 2011 topics - Bill Good. 100,000th AMA member. First National Aeromodeling Championships. The Control Line Bell-Crank and Patent # 2292416.
9. September 2011 topics - AMA �鶹��Ƶ. International Aeromodeling Center (IAC) Grand Opening. Elections. Insurance. Sound.
10. October 2011 topics - District Division History. Park Flyers. AMA Delta Dart, Cub, Thermal Dart, and Dart-Too. AMA Incorporates and Separates from the NAA, 1966.
11. November 2011 topics - Early Research Models. The Attempt to Ban the Flying of Gas Models, 1937. Miss E.L. Todd and the First Model Aeroplane Club. The Three Celebrations of Eagles.
12. December 2011 topics - The New Reston Headquarters. Flight Over the Arctic Circle. Reginald Denny - Actor, Modeler, Designer. Planning for the Museum's Future. Review and Looking Ahead

• National championship (Nats) dates and locations, 1923 to 2018
• National championship (Nats) competitor scores, detailed, from 1998 to 2018, divided by event - link to AMA Competitions Dept. website.
• - Nats history article about the 2016 Nats from the November 2016 issue of Model Aviation.
• - Watch this video on YouTube of AMA Life Member Red Jensen's AMA Expo West (2018) presentation on the history and future of using sub-scale aircraft for research at NASA's model lab.
• - Model Aviation online-exclusive article about the history of Free Flight, by Lindsay Sprague.
• - Model Aviation August 2018 article about the evolution of U.S. Radio Control tech, by Bob Angel.
• - Model Aviation February 2012 article about the history and development of model aircraft engines in the United States, by Bill Mohrbacher.
• "History Preserved" - Since February 2010, the National Model Aviation Museum has had a monthly column in Model Aviation magazine called History Preserved. View our index of History Preserved articles from 2010-2023. Below are links to just a few of the articles that have appeared in that column.

1. "" - Museum's History Preserved article in the October 2018 issue of Model Aviation about the Nats posters held in the Museum Archives.
2. - Museum's History Preserved article in the October 2017 issue of Model Aviation about the what modeling was like in the early 1900s.
3. - Museum's History Preserved article in the August 2017 issue of Model Aviation about Zoe Stumbaugh's Spider Hex Rat, now in the collection of the National Model Aviation Museum.
4. - Museum's History Preserved article in the December 2017 issue of Model Aviation about the Nobler. See also our about the Nobler.

National Aeromodeling Championship (Nats) Top Scores - These spreadsheets are separated by decade, each sorted alphabetically by last name. Please let us know if you find any potential errors and we'll research those concerns. (Click here for very detailed scores from 1998 to 2018 on the AMA Competitions Department's website. For example, 1998's RC Thermal Soaring Unlimited event goes to 112th place.)

• 1920s Nats
• 1930s Nats
• 1940s Nats
• 1950s Nats
• 1960s Nats
• 1970s Nats
• 1980s Nats
• 1990s Nats
• 2000s Nats
• 2010s Nats

Links to videos about the National Model Aviation Museum and AMA from other sources:

• -YouTube link, published on September 4, 2015
• -YouTube link, published March 17, 2015

The AMA History Project physical files, including photographic prints, negatives, and papers, are maintained by the National Model Aviation Museum. Please contact us if you find any errors in the information presented on our webpages.

Looking to donate items or papers to the Museum? Check out our page on how to donate. Feel free to contact us via the info above. Visit our wish list page for some of the items we would like to collect.