From that meeting in Toledo, a Board of Representatives was elected on an interim basis, as was the President, Newsletter Editor, and Secretary/Treasurer. The basics of the Constitution and by-laws were approved, and the acceptable aircraft and acceptable size definitions were finalized.

What was not finalized was the Name of the group. A whole list of possible names had been suggested from all over the world, but the name of the organization was, at the end of that discussion, left to the Board of Representatives. Initially, "Miniature Aircraft Society" was the name that the organization operated under. Then the Board of Representatives, in their collective wisdom opted not to make the selection of a name by themselves but rather since this was a major decision, and in keeping with the philosophy of membership involvement, that the final choice of a name properly is a right of the membership. The Board then sent out a list of several choices, narrowed down from an original list of 18 possible names, and requested that the membership make its selection. Interestingly, the vote was in three parts. First the membership voted on the name that they liked the best. Second they voted on whether they wished the word 'International' as a prefix and thirdly the membership chose the suffix (Society, Association, Group, etc.). In the end the membership, by an overwhelming majority, decided that the organization should and would hereafter be known as the International Miniature Aircraft Association.

As with so many other 'first' steps, when the Board of Representatives opted to use general membership involvement in the decisions on what road to follow, they cast the die and forever set the direction of how the IMAA elected Board would govern the group. The group, and in particular the first President, Don Godfrey, did an incredible amount of spade work prior to the 1980 Toledo meeting and following. The initial successes can be traced directly to the politicking that went on at the Toledo Show. Virtually every giant scale booth had a 'Join the Miniature Aircraft Society' poster prominently displayed, and it was difficult to turn around at the show without running into Society promotions of some kind. It was also almost impossible to look anywhere at the Show, without seeing something that was specifically geared to giant scale aircraft. The giants had definitely arrived!

The first Board of Representatives set down three important points that would define the IMAA. Those points are still adhered to today and were as follows:

• First-"We are a group interested in the NON-COMPETITIVE sport of building and flying large-sized model airplanes. Divisions may be formed within the group to cater to specialized interests, but the main group will maintain that philosophy.

• Second-"The group will be guided by a Board of Representatives that are elected from the membership at large, and as much as possible, that Board of Representatives will duplicate the geographical distribution of the membership.

• Third-The group will exist to promote the enjoyment of the hobby by the INDIVIDUAL MODELER, and the LOCAL GROUP ACTIVITIES as first priority. We will have national and regional meets that will be quite impressive, but the basic enjoyment of our activity is the individual satisfaction of each member. Most of our effort will be to increase that personal pleasure."

At the 1980 Toledo R/C Show a few new kits began to make an appearance, though the selection was still far from great and most had not really been engineered properly to withstand the strains that giant scale would put on them. With the exception of Byron Originals, landing gear were pretty much absent from the picture. Radios were sort of stagnant and waiting to get approval of the new FM. The good news at the show was the trend towards bigger and more powerful servos. The revolution was really beginning in earnest.

The ironic part of this new development in giant scale were the manufacturers themselves. They began to realize that there might actually be a viable market in giant scale and perhaps they should begin to pay attention. Like so many new organizations, the IMAA got attention by being somewhat abrasive in trying to get their message out to all who would listen. There was considerable opposition to the IMAA in its infancy by a variety of groups. Several members of the model magazine fraternity actively ignored that IMAA existed at all, refusing to realize that what IMAA was doing was beneficial to all modeling in the long run.

Today, there are a number of new manufacturers on the scene providing needed items to the giant scale community, and these manufacturers advertise, providing a new source of revenue to some of the same magazines that did not acknowledge the existence of IMAA at one time. Manufacturers now make it a point in their advertising that their products are 'IMAA Legal'. What a difference 20 years can make!

The organizing of the IMAA was a time of great excitement and great fear for its founders. They clearly understood that they were building a movement with far reaching consequences. It is an acknowledged fact that sport flyers are the largest group in Radio Control Flying, yet there had been little or no effort expended to supply this sport flyer with his type of activities. Further, by far and away the most dedicated modelers, that is, the ones who built models strictly for the pure love of doing so, asking no one's approval of their efforts and participating in virtually no formal modeling events, were being ignored and felt rejected by the rest of the modeling community. Instinctively, the founders of IMAA tapped into that emotion and catered specifically to those personally satisfying, sport-flying-only modelers who have enough competition in their daily lives, and want only to relax with their hobby. The response to that ridiculously simple idea was almost overwhelming to the founding Board of Representatives.

Today the International Miniature Aircraft Association is the single largest Special Interest Group within the Academy of Model Aeronautics, thereby providing a major input into the rules that will affect the future direction and growth of Giant Scale airplanes. The rest as they say is history and the IMAA has prospered, stumbled with growing pains here and there but always able to come back on course and maintain its heading and principles. The true strength of the organization is still as its founders created it - MEMBER PARTICIPATION! If you have any interest in Giant Scale aircraft, whether as an active modeler, flyer or as spectator, then you owe it to yourself to become a part of this movement. Make a copy of the application on the home page and send it in today. Welcome aboard!

A special salute of recognition to the founders of IMAA who understood what we could and would become:

Officers:

• President Don Godfrey
• Vice President Corky Heitman
• Sec/Treasurer William Clark
• Editor Lee Taylor

• Al Alman
• Tom Rausch
• Dario Brisighella
• Gary J. Rheault
• Ray Colleli
• Ron Shettler
• Joe Hollerbach
• Lee Taylor
• Bob Hutton
• Gary Tatashiore
• Claude Kieffer
• Dale Willoughby