Richard Bledsoe – Co-Modeler of the Year - 1990

Richard Bledsoe was a member of the TPG by the early 1980s, flying primarily in open class and 2-meter thermal duration, rarely if ever at Torrey. His plane of choice back then was an Airtronics, Sagitta 600 a classic TD plane designed by Lee Renaud in 1982. (Check out some nice photos of what appears to be a prototype Sagitta 600 on display at Torrey in the RCM article! https://pulling-gz.blogspot.com/2015/02/rcm-sagitta-600-article-and-plan.html).

Richard Bledsoe – 1990 Co-Modeler of the Year

A resident of La Mesa, he spent much of 1986 working his way up the contest circuit, attending each TPG monthly thermal contest. By the October 1986 contest Richard and Angelo Orona tied for first place in Open Class B and had to have a fly-off, which Richard won. That year Richard finished 10th overall in open class and 9th overall in 2 meter. He dropped slightly to 11th in open class and 10th overall in 2-meter in 1987. It seems he may have taken a break from RC in 1988 as there isn’t much of a record to go on in the newsletters about his activities, but he came back to fly in a few contests in 1989.

Early Sagitta 600 at Torrey from 1982 article by designer

In 1990 Richard stepped up to volunteer as club Treasurer. At the start of 1990, the club had 170 members. By December 1990 the club had 190 members! This growth was also due to great work by Joe Souza, the Membership Chairman, but Richard helped get the “books” in order. He decided to continue on as Treasurer in 1991. In February 1991, the club held its 1990 annual banquet. 40 people attended the banquet at the Seapoint Hotel on Feb 23 with Larry Jolly serving as the distinguished speaker to discuss his career and modeling experience. At the meeting, both Richard Bledsoe and Joe McBride were co-awarded the Modeler of the Year Award, each getting to keep it for 6 months at their homes. After this Richard seems to have left the club but we do appreciate his great effort at that time.