Club History

In the winter of 1966, John Moore sent out a letter to several friends who were aircraft modelers like himself in the Twin City area. John felt his enthusiasm for the hobby was shared by enough people to support an informal meeting on a regular basis. The response confirmed his thoughts and fifteen people showed up at John's home on Saturday, December 3, 1966. At least ten others could not attend that day, but expressed interest in John's concept.

That first meeting was a natural success, with most modelers bringing some of their work for a 'show and tell' session as well as the sharing of aircraft source data and modeling techniques. It was decided to meet on the first Saturday of each month at various locations and a name for the group was selected that has remained unchanged to this day. The Twin City Aero Historians was born. From 1967 to 1975 the club would meet at 8 different locations that they would call home, from the MN Air National Guard Base to the Anoka County Library. From 1975 to 2001, we would meet at 2 locations, the longest at the MN National Air Guard Museum from 1985 to 2001. The events of 9-11-01 would force us to move once again, due to the fact that the museum was located on an active military base. The club now meets at Fleming Field in South St. Paul on the second Saturday of the month.

Membership has also grown over the years from 21 members in 1967 to a high of 100 members in 1995. Our club is made up individuals with a wide range of aviation interests. We not only have modelers but writers, photographers, historians, artists and even a hobby shop! Member John Roll acquired Battle Hobbies in 1997 and changed the name to Roll Models. John's arrival with the latest goodies at our monthly meetings is always eagerly anticipated.

Our newsletter was also the envy of the nation in the mid 70's when for a time we put out a 24 page newsletter!

The club has hosted many local model shows at various museums and malls. Our first 'big' show was the Mini-Air Expo in 1972. This was a weekend show showcasing not only model building but R/C, Aviation History and much more. For four years we would host this show on Thanksgiving weekend with great success. In 1976 the show was renamed to the Metro Scale Model Show and this association would last until 1979. In 1975 the club would host it's first IPMS (of which we are a chapter) Regional Convention (R-5 Con). Incorporated into this regional convention was the first reunion of the 474th Fighter Group. They flew P-38's and the club arranged to have a P-38 fly in from California for the event. Since then the club has hosted IPMS Regionals in 1995, 1998 and 2003.

Our club continues to evolve. In recent years the club has joined the computer age and now has it's own web site, and makes the monthly newsletter available to all on-line. Many members are on a TCAH Groups e-mail service. This allows members to contact one or all members with important information instantly.

-- Tom Norrbohm, Club Historian, January 2003