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Hard at play
RC pilot Stanley Johnson of Tennessee makes a week-long pilgrimage to South Carolina each May for the chance to fly his model airplane at Triple Tree Aerodrome during Joe Nall Week. “This is heaven for RC pilots,” he says of the private airfield near Woodruff.
Photo by Carroll Foster
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Ready for takeoff
Triple Tree Aerodrome features a 7,000-foot grass runway and plenty of room on the taxiways for every size and style of model aircraft.
Photo by Carroll Foster
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Triple Tree Fly-In
The airfield also hosts general-aviation fly-ins for full-sized planes, including Tinker Belle, a restored 1944 Curtiss C-46F transport. This flying museum is dedicated to the men and machines that flew “The Hump,” a treacherous World War II supply route over the Himalaya mountains. Rescued from the scrap yard at Tinker Air Force Base, the plane is the only C-46 still flying in the lower 48 states.
Photo by Keith Phillips
Alan Galle is making his preflight checks when a fellow RC pilot passing by nods in admiration of the red-white-and-blue Super Decathlon parked alongside the grass runway of Triple Tree Aerodrome.
"Have a nice flight,” the man says with a friendly wave.
“Thanks!” Galle answers, but his eyes never leave his pride and joy—a 47-percent-scale replica of the venerable civilian airplane. With spotter George Carmen standing by, Galle manipulates the twin joysticks on his transmitter and watches the plane’s ailerons, rudder and elevators waggle in response.
After priming the engine, he spins the propeller counterclockwise. Once. Twice. A third time. On the fourth try, the 170 cc, two-cylinder engine sparks to life, and the men take positions on opposite sides of the fuselage, holding the aircraft stationary as Galle performs the final check by revving the engine to full power.
With the plane ready for flight, Carmen raises a signal pole to announce their takeoff to other pilots and spotters. Making sure the runway is clear, Galle nudges the throttle, smiling as he watches the Decathlon roll forward, execute a sharp, 90-degree turn and begin a smooth takeoff roll. Within seconds, the tail is up and the plane leaps skyward, climbing at full power to find its place in a squadron of RC planes orbiting the skies over the 400-acre airfield near Woodruff.
Build it, and they will come
Welcome to Joe Nall Week, one of the world’s biggest fly-ins for RC pilots. Organized and hosted by the volunteers of Triple Tree Aerodrome, the annual event draws more than 13,000 people from around the world for a family-friendly celebration of aviation, says Rob Traynham, the airfield’s volunteer spokesman.
“In the RC modeling world, this is the premier event, he says. “Our guests are always just so happy to be at Triple Tree.”
Throughout the week, an incredible array of model aircraft, covering every era and style of flight, crowds the taxiways and fills the skies at Triple Tree. From sunrise to sunset, the whoosh of miniature jet engines rises above the roar of propeller-driven craft and the electric whine of the latest in quadcopter drones. At the main viewing gazebo, where Galle is piloting his giant-scale Decathlon, a visitor may see biplanes, World War II bombers, modern fighter jets—even an executive business jet—all sharing the skies in a freestyle aerobatic ballet.
The airfield itself, served by Laurens Electric Cooperative, is a thing of beauty. Owned and operated by a nonprofit educational foundation, it boasts one of the world’s longest grass runways—7,000 feet long by 400 feet wide; big enough to land full-sized airplanes, even some jets. The control tower, used during general-aviation fly-ins, is a tangible piece of South Carolina aviation history. It previously stood over Donaldson Air Force Base in Greenville, where countless B-25 pilots trained during World War II.
Everything else on site—including campgrounds with RV hookups, bathroom and shower facilities, a beautiful wooden pavilion and a 52-acre lake for RC floatplanes—has been custom-built since 1998, thanks to the vision and generosity of Triple Tree founder Pat Hartness and the tireless work of a tight group of volunteers and supporters.
The Hartness family has a long connection with aviation in South Carolina, and young Pat grew up building and flying RC model planes before eventually learning to fly the full-size ones. After a long career in the bottling business, Hartness decided to give something back to the aviation community. He purchased a former cotton farm on the banks of the Enoree River, built the ultimate airfield and then deeded it to the 501(c)3 educational nonprofit.
Today, a cadre of 100 dedicated volunteers maintains the facility, working to fulfill the foundation’s mission “to ignite and expand the passion for aviation.” That includes maintaining a hangar filled with an impressive collection of vintage aircraft and running what Traynham calls “the heart of the operation,” a brand-new educational center with classrooms and flight simulators designed to teach visiting school groups, Boy Scout troops and civic clubs about the wonders of flight.
“Triple Tree is intended to give them an aviator’s field of dreams,” he says. “It’s designed to be the ultimate environment where kids, and I say kids of all ages, can get plugged into aviation in all its forms.”
Big-boy toys
Plugging into RC aviation is what Joe Nall Week is all about. The airfield is large enough that organizers can give each segment of the hobby a dedicated space to play.
Near the control tower, there’s a field for control-line planes, beginner-friendly, string-controlled aircraft that can inexpensively launch a young pilot’s interest in RC modeling. At the lower end of the runway, the pilots of largescale, 3D aerobatic airplanes have all the space they need to perform low-altitude twists, loops, dives, rolls, spins, stalls—even vertical tail stands in which the planes hover like helicopters just inches off the ground. Moving up the runway, there’s a dedicated section for battery-powered planes, and over on the lake, RC floatplanes skim across the water on takeoffs and landings.
At the center of the airfield, in front of the main viewing gazebo, you’ll find pilots flying everything from $200 off-the-shelf planes to custom, giant-scale aircraft costing $20,000 or more. Attendees also gather here to watch the world’s top pilots and RC-flying teams perform aerobatic demonstrations, often set to music. Near the entrance gate, visitors can explore the world of RC helicopters and the newest kid-friendly rage—first-person video quadcopters.
For visiting pilots like Jacob Helber of Richmond, Texas, meeting his fellow pilots and learning about other forms of RC flying is all part of the appeal.
“You get to talk to people from all over,” he says. “I think I have more fun walking around and watching other planes than I do flying.”
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Triple tree fly-in
Of the 12 general-aviation and RC events held at the airfield each year, the Triple Tree Fly-In may rival Joe Nall Week for sheer spectacle and fun. For five days each fall, the grass strip becomes one of the busiest airfields in South Carolina when more than 800 private pilots navigate their way to the aerodrome to show off their planes, talk shop, socialize and enjoy tent camping along the banks of the Enoree River.
The collection of aircraft on display runs the gamut from everyday civilian craft to World War II trainers, fighters and cargo planes, experimental ultralight planes and even helicopters. There’s also an occasional flying boat, like the Republic Seabee RC-3 flown in from North Carolina by Edgar “E.T.” Tello and his wife, Melissa.
Melissa Tello says the couple enjoys the relaxed environment of the close-knit aviation community.
“It’s so cool to come here,” she says. “The neat thing about pilots is that it takes a certain caliber of person. You know they are grounded. You don’t worry about theft or anything. You’ve got good people simply by the fact of their love of aviation and the diligence it takes to become a pilot.”
Tom Smith of Sarasota, Florida, made his first visit to Triple Tree in a restored 1942 Vultee BT-15 Valiant, a two-seat trainer built for the U.S. military during World War II.
Smith says he enjoyed camping out on the airfield with hundreds of his fellow pilots and getting to meet Triple Tree founder Pat Hartness.
“Quite a guy, quite a vision,” Smith says of the Triple Tree team. “They’re doing it right, and everybody loves to come here because of it.”
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Get More
For more information on Triple Tree Aerodrome, the educational mission and upcoming RC and general aviation events, visit tripletreeaerodrome.com.
For the safety and security of guests, access to all events is limited to members of aviation organizations and their guests. “It’s not that we’re trying to be private or exclusive,” says spokesman Rob Traynham. “It’s the fact that there are only about 100 volunteers. A large, public crowd would overwhelm us. In the pure interest of safety, we want our guests to be at least tuned into aviation a little bit. We want everyone that attends to have fun and be safe.”
The easiest way to be a part of the fun is to join the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) at modelaircraft.org. Adult memberships are $75 a year; youth memberships are free. Through AMA, prospective RC pilots can link up with one of 36 model-airplane clubs in South Carolina. Many even have introductory programs for new AMA members.