by Ted Connolly
KILBOURNE, IL - Al Baker is a man who can fly almost anything and fly it well. Al took his first instruction flight in 1964 and has logged over 18,000 hours. He started his ag-air business in 1974. Located in Kilbourne, Illinois, near his childhood home. Al also has an extensive background in electronics. This year marks his retirement from the ag-air business, as Al has sold his business to a fellow area crop duster, Chuck Holzwarth. However, Al does help out occasionally during extremely busy times.
Chuck Holzwarth, who now owns the business, is also a very accomplished pilot and businessman. Chuck has logged many hours during his long career and is widely respected in the business.
A small, local group of radio-controlled aviation builders and pilots in the Kilbourne area, some of who have been flying together for 30 years, have been flying their craft at Al's air strip. Several years ago, Al was kind enough to allow them to use a portion of his airstrip for an R/C flying site and they have been there ever since.
Because of Al's generosity over the years. the R/C group decided to do something for him as a gesture of their appreciation. Using photographs and drawings from Al's Air Tractor AT-401 owner's manual, a scale model of his AT-401 was built and presented to him. The 98-inch wingspan model is airworthy, although it was decided not to risk any "downdrafts", so the model has never flown.
It is an interesting fact that most R/C modelers have a very profound interest in aviation and aircraft. They are generally quite knowledgeable about their favorite aircraft and in some cases all types of aircraft. One person in the group actually works in research and development for the largest model airplane manufacturer/distributor in the world and states that a number of people with aircraft engineering degrees are working in that industry.
These models usually fly quite well and some are extremely accurate in the scale details. Another interesting fact is the number of high profile airshow pilots that are actually R/C pilots or supporters of those growing numbers of R/C enthusiasts. Pilots such as Matt Chapman, Bobby Younkin, Jim LeRoy, and Patty Wagstaff all have shown an interest in the hobby/sport R/C flying. Some pilots like Chapman and Younkin are even long time R/C pilots themselves and Bobby Younkin actually works out new aerobatic maneuvers with his model aircraft prior to working on it in his full-sized aerobatic plane.
R/C modelers truly enjoy being able to fly their aircraft at Al's facility, as there are a great number of opportunities to watch and listen to those great Air Tractors working. The sounds of that big radial chewing air on a take-off run in the early morning quiet is quite a thing to experience.
A member of the group stated that a simple thanks to Al and Chuck seems like such a small thing considering their kindness to allow us to use the air strip. Even though there are a great deal of differences in what the R/C modelers and crop dusters do, the mutual love of aviation and respect for those who do it on a daily basis definitely exists between them. Even though the R/C modelers only fly small remote-controlled airplanes, their interest and dedication to aviation is as large as anyone's.