The greatest day in Free Flight history took place on a golf course. It was August 6, 1939, and the location was the appropriately named Aviation Golf Course in Bendix, New Jersey. The event was the Wakefield International Cup contest: the world championship for FF model airplanes.

The US team included three champion modelers competing against 26 other of the world’s best. The weather was sweltering hot but windless until approximately noon, with thermals aplenty—perfect weather for Free Flight.

In those days modelers were made to fly one at a time, and that morning Richard Korda of Cleveland, Ohio, drew the first position in Round One. He wound his large, red cabin monoplane tightly to 1,200 turns and then released it from the requisite rise-off-ground takeoff board. From that moment, Korda’s place in modeling history—and the future of aeromodeling—would be changed forever.

Korda’s epic flight could best be described as a dreamlike dance of a seemingly possessed model. It powered up perfectly to several hundred feet and began gliding gracefully, gently bouncing from one thermal to another.

Willard Smitz (Phoenix AZ) holds his 35-year-old Nordic A-2 Towline Glider. From before WW II to roughly the early 1970s, Towline Gliders were mostly balsa and tissue and were towed straight off the line into thermals picked from the ground. “Classic” Towline Gliders are still flown under NFFS special-event rules.

Dave Wineland with his Satellite 1000 at a Denver CO contest. It was designed in 1957 and remains one of the all-time classic FF designs. 1957 marked the beginning of the modern era of gas-powered FF, with rapidly improving engines, airfoils, and flight-trimming refinements.

The author, on the left, and Jerry Murphy hold versions of another mid-1950s Gas FF design: Toshi Matsuda’s Zero.

The flight seemed routine up to that point. But as timed ticked past, spectators, timers, and (especially) fellow competitors began watching in increasing amazement. FF models are usually carried far enough downwind to fly out of the timers’ sight in a few minutes—roughly 10 at the most—in which case the timers’ watches stop and the official portion of the flights will end.

However, Korda’s model stayed close, drifting from one end of the field to the other and back again, several times, in plain view of everyone present. By the time the model finally landed just a short walk from the launch point, most people knew the contest was really already over.

The time on the watch was a world-record-setting 43:29. Korda’s other two flights that day were gravy. His three-flight average was high enough for him to win the Wakefield Cup by a threefold margin over his nearest competitor.

Aeromodeling has not been the same since that hot August day in 1939. Just as Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 transatlantic flight transformed ours into a nation in love with flight, Korda’s flight solidified model aviation as the most important hobby for America’s youth.

Jackson Ivey holds a pristine classic 1950s FF engine: a Johnson .19. Such originals are still used in Nostalgia FF contests.

A typical A-frame twin pusher design from 1924. This was the most common planform for rubber-powered FF models until the late 1920s. Twin propellers contrarotated, thus canceling out torque.

Terry Ellington holds his great-flying Ramrod: a Gas FF design from the mid-1950s. Thousands of Ramrod kits and plans have been sold throughout the years, making it one of the most popular FF designs of all time.

As did Lindbergh, Korda instantly became a heroic figure. Magazines and newspapers told the story of his historic flight, ensuring his icon status—although Korda admitted humbly, “I got lucky.” Kit manufacturers scrambled to get the rights to his Wakefield design, and the Megow and Burd companies sold tens of thousands of Korda kits to eager youngsters.

Even though World War II put a damper on large-scale contest activity during the period from 1942 to 1945, kids still built models hand over fist, emulating the iconic Korda. In the meantime, the hero reigned as world champion for nine years. The Wakefield Cup was not contested again until 1948, when Korda would finish 16th.