On March 20th R/C modeling lost a true friend in the passing of Mr. Thomas (Tom) Ingram of Mt. Vernon, Il.

Tom was 70 years old and had been modeling since he was big enough to glue three balsa sticks together and cover them with tissue.

After serving four years in the U.S. Navy, Tom spent most of his adult life in the Chicago area. He served on and retired from the Chicago Police department after 23 years.

He was active in modeling in the Chicago area for several years and was well known by many of the big names in R/C that I will not attempt to name here, for fear of missing some.

In 1985 he and his wife Jo returned to his hometown of Mount Vernon, Ill., where he had attended school and grown up.

Being the perfectionist he was, a misaligned joint or dent had to be filled and sanded before covering was ever thought of. Then more often than not, sanded some more.

Early on he worked with Top Flite in the design and building of several planes and perfecting the popular MonoKote that is used today.

He won first place at Toledo two or three times. Was an early member of AMA as well as other modeling organizations.

He wrote the book on covering models called "Toms Techniques" published by, I think, Harry Higley.

Never too busy to drop what he was doing to help anyone who came by with a problem. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.