Welcome to Torrey Pines GullsLenny Brzezinski – Modeler of the Year – 2003
With an interest in aviation, Lenny Brzezinski bought his first RC glider in roughly 1973. He built it but could not afford a radio at the time. So the glider ended up being given to a friend and it’s not clear what became of it. With a new job at Rohr Industries, he moved from Encinitas to Chula Vista in 1979 to be closer to work.
For those not familiar with Rohr, the company was founded by Fred Rohr who was famous for having made the fuel tanks for Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis. Reuben Fleet helped Rohr found Rohr Aircraft Corporation in 1940 and by the 1960s they had expanded considerably. Rohr Industries produced the original subway cars for the BART system in the bay area as well as the Metro in Washington, D.C. among other products. Rohr remains a San Diego institution, now operated by the Collins Aerospace division of Raytheon.
Now armed with a solid job at Rohr, Lenny went out to a hobby store and purchased a kit for a Goldberg Sophisticated Lady. He built the glider and began flying it on his own from a hill near Proctor Valley Road. However, the first flight didn’t go well and the glider crashed, requiring repairs. Fortunately, another RCer from a club in Chula Vista was in the area the next time and he checked the aircraft and noticed that the angle of incidence was off – with down elevator baked in on the Sophisticated Lady’s t-tail configuration. Once this was fixed, the aircraft flew great and gave many hours of enjoyment.
For Christmas in about 1980 or 1981 Lenny received a Gentle Lady kit from a friend in Imperial Beach. He enjoyed flying the Gentle Lady and Sophisticated Lady on his own in the south bay. However his interest in RC was off and on, and after being let go from Rohr he moved to Utah and started working with a landscaper. It was the right move because the landscaper was also into RC gliders! Lenny bought a Sig Ninja sloper and flew that and other aircraft like a Sig Riser 100 from the famous Point of the Mountain soaring site south of Salt Lake City into the early 1990s. He also bought a hi-start and started thermalling with the Riser 100.
In 1997, Lenny moved back to Chula Vista once again to work at Rohr, this time bringing his RC gliders with him. Somehow, he became aware of the Torrey Pines Gulls and decided to check out a club meeting at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. He was hooked and signed up right away as this really put his RC glider career in full motion. He bought a 3m thermal ship from Ron Scharck and a Sapphire from Patrick Dionisio and really had fun exploring thermal duration competition with the TPG at monthly contests at Poway. Arthur Markiewicz sold Lenny a Sharon Pro and, well, one wasn’t good enough so Lenny bought another as a Christmas present to himself. In the late 1990s Lenny also became interested in aerotowing, flying for a time with the International Scale Soaring Association at meets in Apple Valley using a larger plane he purchased from George Joy. Lenny’s skills at thermal duration improved and he began to work his way from novice to intermediate to expert class at the monthlies and also dabbled in hand launch gliding for a time.
In about 2001, Lenny volunteered to serve as the manager of the raffle at the club meetings. He took this job very seriously and worked closely with Discount Hobby Warehouse to bring some amazing stuff to each meeting: transmitters, kits, servos, receivers, monokote, you name it, it was at the raffle. Lenny successfully ran the raffle for several years and attendance at the meetings definitely increased.
In the early 2000s Lenny was also at Torrey one day when the full-scale sailplanes were operating. He took a ride in a Blanik and then took another. These were short hops but he was hooked. He joined the Associated Glider Clubs of Southern California, becoming their webmaster and also winch driver for many years. He even autotowed gliders at Jacumba using his truck. He never did get a glider license but enjoyed flying with friends and the beauty of soaring from the inside of the plane rather than the outside. I had the pleasure of interviewing Lenny for this article. He wished to convey to the club that “If you have any thoughts of flying at all, RC gliders or full-scale gliders, pursue it! It is so much fun. Pursue what you want to do.”
Lenny retired from Rohr in 2010 and still lives in Chula Vista. He was flying RC regularly from about 2010-2015 but hasn’t flown in a while due to other diversions. Perhaps we can coax him back to Encinitas or Poway sometime soon!
