This is our historical page. If you have any new historical facts or see any corrections we need to make to this page, please fill out the form at the bottom of the page or contact our Webmaster, Jimmy Gaona, at jimg1963@yahoo.com. Thank you for helping us keep history alive!
The club originally started as a group of RC flyers who flew at the car drag strip owned by Bobby Eggermyer in Wall Texas. The drag strip was originally an airstrip used by Goodfellow Airbase for training B-25 pilots during World War II. The group of flyers formed the Concho Valley Model Aircraft Club (CVMAC). Some of the first members were Johnny Kirby, Jack Mathews, Jim Mohling, Monty Pace, Greg Buchannan, Ken Hoffman and Dean Logen. As the Wall area developed, the group had to move and find a new location to fly.
Location of the old Eggermeyer dragstrip/ Goodfellow Airfield.
CVMAC Logo
CVMAC Shirt & Hat Patches
The old Goodfellow Airstrip used to land B-25 Bombers during World War II.
The club moved in 1980 to the area just south of the OC Fisher spillway, which was regulated by the Army Corps of Engineers. Ath the time the area was a public use area and also used by off road vehicles. The initial runway was a 300’x75′ piece of asphalt that was installed in 1960 as a practice road project done by a local road construction company. Temporary benches and worktables were made of wooden wire spools. At the time the whole area below the spillway was bare of vegitation. The first club officers were Johnny Kirby as President and Jack Mathews as Vice President. The first meetings were held at the Livestock Weekly office just up the road on Arden Street past Hwy 2288. In 1980 the club held its first Outdoor Fly-In with about 30 pilots. Participants learned about the event by word of mouth and came from all over the state.
1981 Photo of Arden Road. Photo taken from a camera mounted on a SIG Cadet Aircraft.
1982 Photo of the field before the awning and storage areas were installed.
CVMAC Member Plane Pictures
CVMAC Member Pictures
Below are CVMAC articles from the San Angelo Times. Click on each article to view the full PDF file (opens in a new window).
1983 CVMAC Fly-In Article
1981 San Angelo Times Article
1988 San Angelo Times Article
1983 San Angelo Times Article
In 1986 the club was renamed as Angelo RC Inc. The club’s new logo featured a P-47 Thunderbolt from a Byron’s Original model box top. An initial agreement with the Corps of Engineers leased the flying area for $1 per year. Per the agreement, we were not allowed to install any permanent structures.
In 1990 the club facilities were improved, when club member Leonard Dean (aka “LD”) spearheaded an effort to build the covered area. The metal awning and frame was built by members of the club, with TJ Sonneberg doing a lot of the welding. The sheet metal for the awning was donated by Harrison Roofing after a client decided it did not like the look of the sheet metal roof on their building. Additionally, benches, worktables and a sandbox for the children were also installed. The storage shed was also installed at the field. The shed was originally a Western Matress trailer.
Club member Eldon Wilson owned Wilson’s Hobby Shop located in the Village Shopping Center. In addition to building and flying airplanes, Eldon was an expert at fixing radio transmitters. Eldon also helped train new members to fly.
In 2006 the first TINY (Texas Indoor New Year’s) Fly-In was held at the San Angelo Coliseum. The first TINY Fly-In had about 40 pilots. Participants came from all over the state, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
In September 2016, the runway is given a long overdue facelift. Quality Striping was contracted to fill in the cracks, sealcoat and repaint the runway with a whole new striping job.
A replacement set of shade cloths were installed in 2017 by Jimmy Gaona, Tom Ungard, Jim Fogleman and Bubba Brotherton. The Angelo RC wording on the shade cloth was painted by Jimmy Gaona. Additionally, the benches, tables and workstations were repainted. In 2018 an additional two shade cloths were added to the covered area as well as an expanded bulletin board.
In May of 2019 a temporary, Armando Gallegos (pictured), who is a professional drone racer, set up our first drone racing course. After he left, he donated several gates and flags which Jimmy Gaona configured into a simpler race and obstacle course. Jimmy also created a covered pilot area over the unused helicopter pad. Additionally Jimmy created an FPV frequency assignment board.
The Angelo RC Inc mural was painted on the storage shed in 2020 by Jimmy Gaona. Jimmy also built the “Lost and Found” box and Wash Station stocked with soap, hand sanitizer and paper towels to help combat the Covid-19 epidemic. Bubba Brotherton and Jim Fogleman staked the workstations to the ground to prevent the wind from tipping them over. Charlie Campbell also installed a new weather station, including new electronics, a weather vane and anemometer, after the old weatherstation was knocked out during a severe thunderstorm.
Do you have a correction or additional information for our History page? Please fill out the form below and submit it so that we can update our page.
