Tandy Clarence Walker

December 5, 1934 - January 23, 2026

MODELING AT ITS BEST

In the summer of 1943 after school was over, I went to my Grandmother Cunningham’s house in Cushing, Oklahoma, for my annual visit, which generally lasted somewhere between two and three weeks, depending on how things went. This summer, I was eight years old and she was aware of how much I was getting into model airplanes. She took me down to Malone’s Book Store and Office Supply there in Cushing that also carried a small line of model airplane kits and supplies. I picked out this “Joe Ott Speedy-Built” rubber powered kit of a neat American WW II fighter plane. This was to be our building project for the summer’s visit.

She helped me with the construction as best she could. The kit had hard wood strips and cardboard bulkheads and wing tips that gave us fits! Since the wing spar did not carry through the fuselage structure, the only way we could keep the wings from sagging was to add the four external braces that you see in the picture. It took us most of my summer’s visit, working on it part of each day, as neither one of us knew exactly what we were doing.

The finished model was absolutely terrible, but you know, my grandmother and I showed it off with great pride, bless her heart. She owned and operated a photographic studio in Cushing and had me pose with the model so she could take this picture. At the end of the summer, I went home on the bus, but could not take the model with me. She kept it a long time and I really never knew what ultimately happened to it. This picture froze the event in time forever and was the beginning of my life long love of model airplanes.

Tandy C. Walker, February 18, 2005

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