Steve O’Leary – Modeler of the Year - 1986

Steven O’Leary came to the TPG in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Early on, Steve was a prolific writer for the newsletter, and was well trained in aerodynamics. In the 1970s, it was primarily Ken Banks that kept the club moving forward in terms of aerodynamics knowledge. By the early 1980s, Steve O’Leary was filling those large shoes very capably (some issues had articles from both Steve and Ken – those were great!). For instance, his article in the May 1982 issue was on wing bending, to show the membership how it is possible to calculate the load at any portion of wing during a winch launch and therefore to know how strong it has to be to survive. (This in the era of folding balsa spar wings on increasingly powerful electric winches...) Pepper Kay was the newsletter editor at this time and definitely benefitted from O’Leary’s writing. Some of Steve’s other works included a paper on material properties (June 1982) and a two-part story on wing spar construction and strength (August and Sept 1982). The articles generated a lot of interest from the local competition crowd.

Steve O’Leary – 1986 Modeler of the Year

Steve also regularly attended the club monthly thermal duration contests, in both open and 2-meter classes which were popular in the early 1980s. Steve finished in 5th overall for 2-meter in 1982, helped arrange SC2 contests in 1983 as the club contest chairman. Steve also competed on the slope, enjoying races at Torrey in 1983, the Redman Rules contest in July 1983 (he finished in 4th place), and again in 1984. He also would partake in the annual “build and fly” contest at Torrey Pines where contestants started the day with a pile of balsa donated by Mark Smith and the first to soar and land successfully would end the contest.

In 1985, Steve O’Leary volunteered to serve as TPG President. At the January 1985 thermal duration contest he placed first in both open and 2-meter! He did really well that year, doing a lot for contests of all types, and the club in general. After a one-year term, in 1986 he became Contest Coordinator again and also Newsletter Editor, after a period where the editorship went through several editors quickly and sorely needed someone to come in and keep it going strong. Steve was just what the doctor ordered.

Steve O’Leary at the December 1986 TPG meeting holding a test section of a wing. He CD’ed the “wing structure contest” at that meeting with five entrants trying different rib/spar combinations to see which was strongest. The wings were load tested at the meeting until failure using a “wing crusher” device. Steve’s design used walnut sheeting over the spar for additional strength. It survived 58 pounds of force before breaking but that was sufficient only for third place in the contest.

Reg Moore’s test section fared better – surviving 73.4 lbs. of force\!

Another Modeler of the Year

In those years the year end banquet was actually held in the first quarter of the following year. So for instance, the 1986 awards banquet was held in March, to honor the accomplishments of those in 1985. As I mentioned last month, Reg Moore received the Modeler of the Year Award at that time but the voting was so close that it was nearly a three-way tie between Reg, Steve O’Leary, and Hap Merrifield. In 1986, Steve continued doing a stellar job as editor, while also finishing in 3rd place in both 2-meter and open TD for the year. Thus, perhaps rather not surprisingly for so much effort over a good 6-year span, Steve O’Leary was awarded Modeler of the Year at the annual awards banquet at Pea Soup Anderson’s (now TGI Fridays) in Carlsbad in February of 1987. Steve continued flying with the club into the 1990s.