Club History

TPG is the second oldest chartered club in the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) dedicated solely to RC soaring. Formed from a collection of enthusiasts in the late 1960s and chartered in 1970, the club started at the Torrey Pines Gliderport in La Jolla, CA. As members became interested in thermal soaring, the club expanded with two additional inland sites at Poway and Encinitas.

Pilots at the 2014 International Hand Launch Glider Festival at Poway California enjoying discus launch gliders, a type of contest format that has its roots with the TPG and is now an international event known as FAI F3K.

Our members have excelled at national and international competition, invented new control systems and aircraft designs, and helped promote the advancement of RC soaring through newsletters, magazines, and books. The club helped pioneer interest in hand launched soaring through the annual International Hand Launch Glider Festival (IHLGF) in Poway. Some of our members have even made RC aircraft for the movie industry or demonstrated the use of RC aircraft for prototyping of larger human-piloted designs.

Some of the earliest documented model sailplane flights with radio control from the cliffs at Torrey Pines were made in the 1950s and 1960s. For instance, Dr. Bob Chase set an FAI World Record for R/C glider endurance record in 1956 with a soaring flight of 8.5 hours in duration. That aircraft made use of rudder control only. Several members of the Ryan Aeronautical factory in San Diego also became interested in R/C gliders and used the cliffs at Torrey Pines in the 1960s. Members of the Harbor Slope Soaring Society (the oldest chartered R/C soaring club in the U.S.) infrequently used the cliffs at Torrey for R/C gliders in the 1960s as well. During that same period, the Torrey Pines Gliderport was heavily used by the Associated Glider Clubs of Southern California (AGCSC), the oldest continually operating glider club in the United States.

With increasing pressure from the various users of the site to form their own club and have an organized presence at Torrey Pines, a few young R/C pilots formed the Torrey Pines Gulls Radio Control Soaring Society, Inc. (TPG), AMA chartered club #129. Members of the AGCSC were concerned about possible air traffic problems with the R/C gliders and several TPG members, led by the first TPG President Kelly Pike, convinced the AGCSC that the TPG pilots were competent and could share the air space in a safe and consistent manner. TPG pilots made many R/C sailplane demonstrations at the very popular Torrey Pines Mid-Winter Soaring Championships held annually by the AGCSC. These demonstrations included both an aerotowing and winching demonstration followed by a spot landing contest. A friendship between the two organizations developed. By 1974, the TPG had grown from an initial group of 10 members to a total of 67.

With the year 'round excellent soaring conditions typical of the San Diego area, many "Gulls" quickly acquired a high skill level and began a tradition of winning contests as well as a tradition of training any and all newcomers who were interested in the hobby. The father and son team of Mark and Rod Smith (both members of Harbor Slope Soaring Society and TPG) won various national championships with their Windward and Windfree sailplanes. At the 1973 LSF Tournament, TPG member Andre "Buck" Faure took first place and TPG was awarded the best team trophy.

Mark Smith designed and flew the radio controlled soaring seagulls for the motion picture Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The R/C gulls were used in the filming at several locations including Torrey Pines, Carmel and Hawaii. Mark also set endurance and distance records for R/C sailplanes while in Hawaii in 1973 while soaring his Windfree sailplane for 286 miles in 13 hours over a closed course. In the early 70s, Torrey Pines became widely regarded as an ideal testing facility for many unique R/C gliders including Mark's Models more popular kits such as the Wanderer, Windward, and Windfree and several more aerobatic models. Kelly Pike attempted to break the world R/C glider speed record at Torrey Pines in 1973, but his average of 106 mph was not enough to break the existing record of 113.24 held by the Soviet Union.

TPG member Mark Smith holding his radio-controlled model seagull used in the filming of the movie Jonathan Livingston Seagull in the early 1970s at the Torrey Pines Gliderport and other locations.

In the mid-70's, several pilots led by TPG member Frank Cox began a tradition of "combat" with R/C gliders. Virtually any glider was used and colored paper streamers were taped onto the tail of each sailplane. The victor would remove a streamer from another plane and land successfully. Frank Cox flew his rainbow colored hobie hawk in these contests and "re-kitted" many over the years. Another TPG tradition, the Redman Rules contest was developed by the Redman brothers in the 1970s. These consisted of events such as limbo and beer can bowling.

Club sponsored "one-design" contests began in the 1970s where each pilot would fly the same type of plane as a real test of pilot skill rather than aircraft superiority. Slope races were held with everyone flying a P-51 Mustang or similar U-control plane that was converted for radio control. Another popular plane was known as the Canyon Products "Foamy", a 1/7 not-so-scale all foam model of a Schweizer 1-26 sailplane. The Kraft "Brick" receiver and servo system fit nicely in the Foamy 1-26 and was protected by the foam of the airframe in the event of a mid-air collision during a slope contest. By geographic proximity, the Torrey Pines Gulls, Mark's Models, and Kraft radio formed a unique relationship that led to the training of a large number of R/C glider pilots.

Without question, a major emphasis of the TPG has been thermal flying with R/C sailplanes at a variety of locations in San Diego County apart from the Torrey Pines Gliderport. A group of dedicated thermal flyers could be found in the 1970s and 1980s at Hourglass Field every weekend morning near Miramar College. Over time these operations moved to our Poway and Encinitas locations. Over the years, the TPG hosted several League of Silent Flight (LSF) contests and many local SC-squared contests. Buck Faure, Mark Smith, Kelly Pike, Alex Mladineo, Don Edberg, Steve Neu, Ed Hoppe, Randy Warner, Ken Banks, Irv Stafford, Al Doig, Bob Anderson and others won many contests for the TPG. Monthly club thermal contests helped to sharpen everyone's skills...in a very short time, the Gulls became well known for their winning ways. In 1977, the AMA Nationals came to Riverside, California and many of the Gulls were in attendance and took home several trophies.

Members of the TPG at Hourglass Field near Mira Mesa in the 1980s enjoying thermal soaring.

One-fifth and one-quarter scale model sailplanes were flown by members of the TPG since the mid-1970s. Torrey Pines became famous for a series of scale sailplane meets over the years since then, continuing with the annual Torrey Pines Scale Soaring Classic held in the spring. Several TPG members have held glider licenses for full scale aircraft. One of our more famous members, Carl Gwartney, even flew gliders in combat missions during World War II.

In the 1980's, the Gulls continued to expand and by the late 1980's, membership was over 100 pilots. Steve Neu and Don Edberg went on to represent the USA in several World R/C contests. Emphasis on the 2-meter class and on R/C hand launch gliders increased. TPG member Bob Torres took home the first place prize in the first large-scale 2-meter contest and the International Hand Launch Glider Festival brought top R/C pilots from all across the U.S. to the TPG Poway Flight Center for the annual contest. The North County Clouds joined forces with the Torrey Pines Gulls and provided increased membership and enthusiasm.

Today the TPG celebrates over 55 years of success as an RC soaring club and includes a mix of laypersons simply interested in the joy of flight to professionals from the local aerospace industry. Membership typically includes a cross-section of all ages from students to retirees. Given the history and importance of the Torrey Pines Gliderport to the history of RC soaring in the United States, the AMA honored the Gliderport as its first National Model Aviation Heritage Landmark in 2003 and in 2020 the TPG was honored as AMA’s Club of the Month.

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A cover from Radio Controlled Modeler magazine in 1972 showing the beauty of RC slope soaring at Torrey Pines.