Hal "Pappy" deBolt--a lifetime of modeling

Model Airplane News, Jan 2001 by Yarrish, Gerry

We have been privileged to have many distinguished modelers contribute to the pages of Model Airplane News. Many readers have grown up reading articles by Grant, Zaic, Thomas, etc. One modeler who cut his teeth on such articles is our own Hal "Pappy" deBolt, who has gone on to inspire an entire generation of modelers with his own model designs and contributions.

Pappy got his start in the 1920s when he built his first model out of scrap spruce and glue from his Uncle Clarence's homebuilt-- aircraft shop. Throughout his early years, Hal built, flew, crashed, redesigned-and flew again-free-flight models, always trying to improve his building and "trimming" skills. While in Geneva, NY, he won a local contest, and his prize was a trip to the 1933 Nationals. This was the opportunity for Hal to see the likes of Bassett and Kovel compete. Hal says the direction of his life was set after this experience.

Hal is perhaps most famous for his model airplane company of the 1950s and '60s, DeBolt Model Engineering Co. (Dmeco). He has produced free-flight, control-line and RC models; the list is impressively long. One example of Hal's designs is a control-line model called the "Bipe," some 50,000 kits of which have been sold.

It's wonderful to have Pappy with us today as a contributor to oui first issue of 2001. His Airfoiler replica is a nostalgic link to our modeling past and a testimony to his modeling longevity. Thanks, Pappy-- for everything.