A TRIBUTE TO DAVE REES
Second page of photos.
Dave's friends have contributed photos and remembrances.
This set of photos from David Franks.
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It was always a treat to see and talk with Earl Stahl.
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Dave's lightweight stick floating on the lake at Goldsboro.
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A note from Wally Farrell sent with these top two photos.
"Here are a couple of pics. Dave was a giant influence on me, and
I believe I may have built more of his planes than anyone else (but him
of course!). He had a great eye for picking out good subjects and
his influence on design has been immense. He was a good friend to
me, gave me great counsel and support for many years. I miss him
already....
Wally"
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At the lake next to Dave's home in Goldsboro the scene of many happy times.
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Apres-Kudzu Contest -- Marie and Dave enjoying the festivities.
Bill Sheppard at right.
Bill was a welcome visitor to the Kudzu Contests with fresh 'Honey' for all
and magnificent handcrafted machinist wooded tool chests for special prizes.
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Trophy awarded to Dave at a Kudzu contest.
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A note about Dave from Bob Schlosberg.
"One
of the years that the AMA Nats was held at Westover AFB in Mass. in the
early 80's is when I first met him . I was with Joe Fitzgibbon and we
of the FAC bunch were all gathered in one area of that huge field. Joe
introduced me to Dave and after a few minutes of pleasantries he asked
me to come with him to his vehicle. He then proceeded to open a box
very carefully to show me his model (regrettably now I forget
which one) . Even though I don't know now which one, it was of course,
a marvelous one like all of his models were. The point is I remember
this because he wanted to specifically show me the model. To this day I
don't know why he did that, but I have never forgotten that. He was
already an inspiration to me and it only grew more as the years passed.
I was disappointed he wasn't at Geneseo in 06 when I was voted into the
HOF because I really wanted to talk to him."
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Some additional notes about Dave from Pat Daily.
"I remember first meeting Dave Rees
in 1971 at a control line stunt contest at Anacostia NAS. He was
flying his own design stunter based on the jet the Canadian Red Arrows
flew and I still have a set of those plans.
Dave was quite a stunt pilot then. Later saw him at the first FAC
Nats in 1978 and at a SOTS contest at Johsville NAS.
I also remember the first time he came to a Maxecuter contest at
Andrews. He arrived with a gaggle of pre WWI Pnuts each of which
was covered with condenser paper--that must have been 1978 or so.
I still have some b&w photos of those planes--they were also in Max Fax.
I also remember going to about 16 plus Kudzu contests in North Carolina
and especially enjoyed the Water Fly events at the lake where Dave and
Marie had their house built. Dave was a real gentleman!
I even remember falling out of the canoe in the lake when I over reached for a downed airplane.
I also remember discussing his "sports car racing career"--he raced a
Singer (a British car similar to a MGTD) and apparently raced at some
of the events that Bert Philips raced in with his Porsche Speedster
(Bert also was a Maxecuter and attended many Kudzu contests)."
Another note from Bob Wetherell.
"I first met Dave at the FAC Nats in 1986. At
one point the stabilizer of my Avro Avian Monoplane was broken, and he
took the time to lend me his syringe of Ambroid and showed me a
technique to
"stitch" the torn tissue together for a quick field repair. He was
flying virtually every event, was extremely busy, and the fact that in
the middle of all the activity he took the time
to help an unknown, face in the crowd modeler has
always impressed me."
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An another from Ollie Benton
"thanks for the photos of Dave. Like all the others I treasured
my relationship with Dave. He started coming to our annual Mid-South
FAC contest in Tennessee in about 1994. We had been struggling to get
more contestants. With Dave coming, everyone wanted to come. He MADE
the contest."