Photo by Samantha Davis Vince LaPorte (left) and Bob Cole pose with the Model Aviation magazine September 2020 issue, where Cole was recognized for flying 300 straight months. 

MARSHALL — The Marshall Radio Control Club hosted its annual model plane show at the YMCA on Saturday, which also brought the opportunity for Vince LaPorte and Bob Cole to reunite and reflect on memories they’ve built over the years.

LaPorte, who runs the RC Club alongside Stu Galstad and Eric Van Leeuwe, was a teacher to Cole in model aviation, and the two have spent decades together flying.

Cole is one of LaPorte’s longest-serving students, who first got into model planes in 1995. LaPorte first started in 1984.

“There was a couple guys that I knew, friends of mine, and I used to go watch them fly,” Cole said. “Jon Gullickson, he got me started, and Stu Galstad. These guys like Vince were very helpful and helped me get going. They were my teachers, and still are.”

From his first flight, LaPorte knew that RC flying would become a loved hobby of his.

“The first time I made an airplane, this was way back in 1984, I took it out and it flew. It was just like, ‘What a thrill,’ ” LaPorte said.

Cole quickly became very dedicated to model plane flying, becoming an all-season flyer that went on to log at least one flight for 300 consecutive months over the span of 25 years from 1995 to 2020, including the winter months.

The Marshall RC club honored Cole on the accomplishment, and he was featured in the Model Aviation magazine September 2020 issue.

“There’s a special award for any RC pilot that flies every month of the year, no matter how cold or how hot it was. He (Cole) is the only person in our club that ever did it,” LaPorte said. “So, he has a special award, and we got a plaque for him.”

Cole said he still has the plaque at home mounted on his wall, and he still continues to get out when he can to either fly or attend the club’s shows. He also mentioned he still has numerous of his planes he has kept over the years.

“I just got so excited about flying … When I couldn’t feel my fingers, I thought I better quit,” Cole said laughing about keeping his streak going during the winter. “That was a good way to live a life, flying a model airplane.”

The club showcased about 30 model airplanes that members put together and put on display. The planes were either built from kits, plans or completely by scratch, and had either gas or electric engines.

LaPorte himself had three models on display — A helicopter, a streaker airplane and a DIY drone, all made from kits.

LaPorte also had a digital flight simulator available, for attendees to get a real-life feeling for flying model airplanes.

“For our new people, doing something like this over and over and over, it allows them to fly one of those (actual planes) without breaking it right away,” LaPorte said. “If you make a mistake, it crashes, but then it wakes up. That’s the beauty of simulators.”

Cole took to the simulator for a while, seamlessly getting back into the art of model aviation.

“Teachers are supposed to have students that blossom,” LaPorte said. “That’s the great hope of a teacher.”

While LaPorte and Cole spent time on the simulator and took a look over the planes on display, the two reflected on some of the memories they made through the club, including a flight from Marshall to Tracy.

“This is probably in the 2000s or the ’90s maybe … I had an airplane that had a huge fuel tank on it … We took off, Larry DeBoer had a pickup truck that he brought, and he bolted a seat with chairs on it in the back,” LaPorte said. “Stu Galstad and I sat in the back, while he [Cole] sat in the front seat riding shotgun … We were flying alongside the truck … There was a deputy that pulled up behind us, and he said ‘Gosh that was pretty cool.'”

“They were impressed with what we did, but we thought we were going to get in trouble,” Cole said laughing.

The Marshall RC Club has a handful of events throughout the summer that are open to the public. There will be a free airshow on June 15 at the Canby airport, a pending flying demo class on July 12 at the Cottonwood golf course, a flying class at the Tyler airport on July 26 and the Marshall RC Fun Fly is on Sept. 6 at the RC Field.

LaPorte said the club is happy to welcome beginner flyers and offer training, and recommends getting a cheap model drone to start getting experience.

“We want you to go over here and build a model,” LaPorte said. “We want you to have the patience to learn skills, learn how to follow plans, how to repair things, how to get things straight and true, and then take it outside.”