Tribute to a Living AMA Legend
 

Jack Albrecht and his magnificent Giant Scale P-51.

    Jack Albrecht has been an active modeler for 79 years. He has also been a competitor and a leader in the model-hobby industry, with exceptional knowledge concerning RC technology. Jack has received many honors in his lifetime, yet he is a quiet, unassuming man who is quick to give credit to those he has worked with rather than promote himself.

     In the 1970s RC was a relatively young and struggling activity, governed by restrictive rules concerning what could be flown and by whom. AMA's Frequency Committee was a group of dedicated modelers with electronics expertise who were trying to change the government regulations to allow more hobbyists to participate.

     Five years of committee work resulted in RC model hobbyists receiving "a slice of the radio frequency spectrum you can have for your activity, if you can figure out how to use it to benefit the most people, with the least harm to other users of the spectrum."

     The new frequency assignment and distribution plan was given to Jack, who devised the RC frequency plan that we use now. His contribution was the focus of what the Federal Communications Commission approved 25 years ago, and it is still the core of what we enjoy today.

     Jack started modeling at age 9 in San Francisco, California, constructing solid and rubber-band-powered airplanes. He was an avid reader of the old Flying Aces model magazine and World War I pulp-fiction magazines such as G-8 and His Battle Aces.

    Jack's years in the hobby have included working for the Kraft and Airtronics companies. His many honors included the AMA Distinguished Service Award, the Howard McEntee Award, the Model Aviation Hall of Fame award, the Frank and John Zaic Memorial Award, and he was a member of the Vintage Radio Control Society Hall of Fame.

     To read Jack's detailed autobiography, go to www.modelaircraft.org/museumbiolist.asp  MA
 

—John Worth
District IV

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