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### Early Barnstormers Model Flying Club History
#### By Gavin Lundie
In 1970, my dad, John Lundie, and I first witnessed radio-controlled model aircraft flying at the old Pretoria Radio Flyers club site near the famous Flying Saucer Roadhouse in Pretoria. This sparked our interest, and we soon visited Redley’s hobby shop in Eloff Street, Johannesburg. There, Hal Snow and Dave Norman recommended a Carl Goldberg Snr. Falcon as our training model, along with an Enya .60 engine and a Futaba radio. We also met Jack Immelman, the owner of Redley’s, marking the beginning of our journey.
A few weeks later, we rolled out the model and attempted to taxi it around our front lawn in Kempton Park, hitting numerous objects in the process. It was clearly more challenging than we had anticipated!
We then headed to Grand Central Airport in Halfway House, where the Redley’s hobby shop flying club was located. The site was near the current Gautrain station, west of the existing FAGC airport. John was about to take off with the new model when Jack Immelman arrived and stopped him, advising that he needed instruction. Jack performed the maiden flight flawlessly, and lesson one began. Jack suggested that I, Gavin, should learn to fly first, as John struggled to control the model. John never did learn to fly.
I remember several people flying at the Grand Central venue, including Dave Norman, Bill (from Redley’s), Hal Snow, Jack Immelman, and Luigi De Polo.
In September 1970, after 12 weekends of instruction, mainly from Dave Norman, I soloed. John decided that driving to Grand Central was too far, so he scouted for a suitable venue and found an open field in Birchleigh, where the current Birchleigh North shopping centre is located. He and our gardener, Piet, cut two runways at right angles to each other.
I conducted the first flights at the new venue. Soon, we were joined by Eddie, a flight engineer at SAA, and Colin Jones, among others. A chap named Peter joined us and remarked that I flew like a barnstormer! The name stuck, and soon everyone called the venue the home of The Barnstormers. Dave Lambrechts joined the club shortly after, and I taught him to fly. He had two little kids, one of whom was Davon, now an accomplished RC jet pilot and a retired SAA captain.
The club grew rapidly. My brother, Mike Lundie, designed a club logo featuring a side view of a WW1 SE5 biplane. Membership cards were printed, and The Barnstormers became affiliated with the old SAARF. The Barnstormers was born.
From 1970 to around September 1971, we were crowded out by developments in the Birchleigh area as the suburb grew. John was on the hunt again for a flying site. He went from farm to farm asking for land use, and eventually, a Mr. Erasmus obliged. The field was next to the R21, north of Kempton Park.
In a short time, Keith Nichols, John Mee, Mel Barber, “Chick” Henderson, and many SAA technical staff and pilots joined the club. That venue was in use for many years until a local farmer started objecting to pattern ships flying over his farmhouse, producing photographs as proof.
The club then moved to the venue opposite the ERWAT facility, and finally moved to the club's current location.
In later years, the committee of The Barnstormers officially granted John Lundie (posthumously) and Gavin Lundie Honorary Life Membership.