Verlin (Bud) Atkinson

Verlin (Bud) Atkinson of Blues Springs, MO, passed away on March 21, 2007, at St. Mary's Manor in Blue Springs.

Bud was born on July 11, 1925 in Kansas City, Missouri to Vere and Myrtle Atkinson. Bud's interest in aviation began when he was 12 years old and a Boy Scout. His father taught him how to build and fly model planes.

In his senior year of high school, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served from 1943 to 1946. He was a tail gunner and a co-pilot in B-24 Liberator bombers.

When he returned from the service, Bud resumed his interest in model aviation. He designed and competed with all types of model planes including hand launch gliders, indoor flyers, pattern planes and scale models. It was scale that became Bud's passion and his area of expertise.

In 1947, Bud met Alice Palmer and they were married in 1950. He was employed as a furniture finisher by Dupp and Repp, Emery Bird Thayer and Paynes Furniture until his retirement in 1981. He and Alice traveled the country attending numerous model airplane events and making hundreds of friends across the nation.

Bud designed numerous planes of which several were kitted by Sig Mfg., Midwest and Ace R/C. He won countless contests for which he was awarded over 250 trophies during his modeling career.  He won 1st in the Tucson Winter Nationals and Best of Scale in the Memphis Belle Contest. Bud's crowning achievement was winning First Place at the 1966 Nationals in Scale. He was featured on numerous model magazine covers, highlighted in multiple articles and wrote the Scale column, "Let's Talk About Scale", in Model Aviation Magazine for three years.

Bud was a founding member of Kansas City Radio Control Association in 1953 and a long time member of the IMAA 49th Jumbo Squadron. He was also a Product Rep for Ace for many years.

Bud's legacy is not only his designs and contest wins. He will be remembered for his generosity and friendliness to each and every person he met. He helped teach many newcomers how to fly and unselfishly shared his love of Scale aero-modeling with anyone who was willing to learn. He was a true ambassador for model aviation and for human kindness.

Bud is survived by Alice Atkinson, his wife of 56 years, and by many nieces and nephews.