"Texas" TOM WILLIAMS - 1934 - 2000 Tom was born in Holdenville, Oklahoma. I met Tom in Houston in the early 70's. I started flying gliders with Dale Nutter in '72 and was contesting in '73. My first contest was at NASA in Houston, where I met a lot of guys for the first time, notably Jimmy Jones from Dallas, and Tom, who, at the time lived in Irving, TX. I felt Tom a kindred spirit, maybe even a relative as we both were obviously Irish, fair-skinned and redheaded. Tom once said that the greatest innovations in model aviation were sunscreen and C.A. (in that order)! Dale knew Tom from "way back" and since Dale's AMA number is 184 and Tom's was even lower, I'm talking WAY back! Both had been boyhood modelers and early R/C hobbyists. Tom, when I met him, was a traveling salesman (truck parts). He was in the Air Force during the mid-50's but had been selling, as long as I knew him. Dale and I used to hit a lot of contests. Texas, California, Louisiana, Illinois, Missouri,. Tom was always there. He drove everywhere. Look around and there was ole Tom! (kind of like an early Gordy) But modeling and flying R/C at contests was Tom's whole life, and his passion. I was a friend of Tom's and visited him every place he lived. Each and every place was totally used for the construction, storage, and manipulation of models and modeling paraphernalia. I mean, everywhere, including the bathroom. Tom had more modeling "stuff" than anyone I've ever known. Inside Tom's place, there was usually a thin layer of balsa dust, everywhere. Building boards (several) were located in the living and dining areas, and all the bedrooms were storage for the various ships he had. ( I counted 17 gliders in the guest bedroom one time in Irving) Tom drove a big van, and it too was stuffed with whatever he was currently flying. Tom almost always built what he flew and, most of the time, he designed, or at least modified a model to suit. For instance, he tried a flying V tail on the Grand Esprit, (a contemporary design at the same time of Cecil Haga's Legionnaire). Tom was always flying green-colored airplanes. He would use transparent blue Monokote on a surface's top and yellow below making it look green in the air. During the golden age of Polys, (1974 - 1979) Tom designed and built his ever-evolving "Superlight" design which featured flying tail, pod and boom and "Tom's special #9 airfoil." (Tom liked the TLAR approach) Tom was superb at hooking small thermals near the ground and specking out. He was one of the best soaring pilots I have ever seen. About the only way to beat Tom when he was on his game, was to land better. Sometimes you could, but a lot of times you couldn't; And he (I forgot to mention) had more first place trophies than anyone else I ever knew. He kept only first place ones and "recycled" all others. He won many 1st place trophies at the Soaring Nats and SAM Nats and was still kinking butt when the rest of us started flying Falcons with computer-radios. He tried Falcon's too, but went back to a (modified) 100" Spirit and many times, came out on top. He was a master of the light design school and knew every trick in the free flight book. Tom always shared information and even published his knowledge in "A Manual - How to Thermal Old Time Models" He was a also a very active SAM flyer (since the age of 9) and a master at 1/2A Texaco and 1/2A scale. Tom knew everyone, everywhere, but didn't always remember names. He called everyone "Elroy", like current Texans use "Bubba". "Hey, Elroy, you like that new radio OK?" Women were likewise called "Eloise". Tom, being a traveling salesman, also knew all the places to eat in just about every town you would go to. You could drive into a small town (like Vincennes, ID) and he'd know where the best place was and a lot of the time, knew the waitress's name! You would walk in with him and they'd say "Hi, Tom! Howr'ya doin?" How do you know her, Tom? Well,, (and then he would start telling stories. sometimes for hours) Tom had a million stories, and I never heard him tell the same one twice. No kidding, this guy could talk your ear off and get you laughing till it hurt. Often, I'd invite Tom to dinner when he was in town, and he always provided entertainment for the evening. He was a consummate practical joker. Once he grabbed my son Greg (about 10 at the time) and pulled out his tiny pocket knife and said "let's cut an ear off, OK?) Greg didn't know whether of not he was serious but remembers it to this day! One time Tom showed me a miniature .22 derringer pistol. "I carry this to defend myself against car thieves, he mockingly would say mimicking W.C Field's voice. Later in the evening, he would pull out another pistol which shot blanks and pop one off, scaring you silly! Always a joker and unpredictable. Tom gave a lot to the hobby and sport. Everyone who ever met him had an opinion about him, either good or bad. Tom did have a temper! But everyone who ever knew him will surely agree that he was always a guy who would frankly share his opinions, whether you agreed or not. He was unique, He was a teacher, and he was a terrific pilot. Whether in Heaven or Hell, I'll bet Tom's hooked up and specking out! D. O. Darnell September, 2000 RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
