The History Of Bay City Flyers

(As I Recall)

By Charlie Poulton, Past President, Bay City Flyers

Bay City Flyers is a remote control (R/C) aircraft club that welcomes pilots of R/C airplanes and helicopters of all types and sizes.  Bay City Flyers was incorporated around 1980 and had a nice little flying field at the corner of Waters Avenue and Sheldon Road in Tampa, FL. 

Our first flying site was lost in 1983 when a shopping center went in where we had our flying field.  We had no flying field for about 3 years, relying instead on other clubs during part of that time for a place to fly.  We continued to meet at Webb Junior High School on Hanley Road and at one point we were down to 12 dues-paying members.  In 1986, we got the “landfill” flying site on Linebaugh Ave. 

The landfill site remained our primary flying field until a merger between Bay City Flyers and the Suncoast R/C Club took place in late 1994.  Suncoast was losing their flying site and needed a place to fly.  This provided manpower and resources to develop a site we had on South Mobley Road.  With a lot of hard work from many good folks, this really nice facility opened up in July 1995.  It was a "state of the art" facility for west central Florida.  We had a large “hangar”, with rest room, water and electricity.  In early 1999, the county began to develop a soccer and baseball complex just west of our flying site, right in the middle of the downwind leg of our traffic pattern.  We were now boxed in, as we had a private golf course to the east.  The soccer fields would bring lots of kids, along with their parents, and it became clear to most of us that we couldn’t safely fly there once the park was open.  I began looking for a permanent solution to the problem that face most R/C flying clubs - we were losing flying fields on a regular basis.  I looked most of 1999, but couldn’t find a long term solution.  I contacted  Southwest Florida Water Management District - SWFWMD (as they never sell or develop property) and began a long negotiation with them.  It was clear it wasn’t going to be quick or easy. 

Ed Radice Park opened in 2001 and we ceased flying at the South Mobley site.  It was a great disappointment to leave such a great site, but it was the right thing to do.  We went back to the landfill site for a while.  We were constantly looking for a better site while continuing to negotiate with SWFWMD. 

In 2003, we were able to secure a lease on some property at the Pruitt Ranch on State Road 52, just east of Ehren Cutoff.  We developed it into a nice facility (again with lots of folks helping), but it had no power, water or permanent structures.  It was a wide open site with nothing to hit, except the ground.  It was our first field with two intersecting runways. 

In April 2006, after six years of negotiations, we signed a license agreement with SWFWMD for our current flying site, known affectionately as “AREA 52”.  As with the South Mobley field, a bunch of good folks worked very hard to turn the overgrown pasture into a truly magnificent flying site.  Our 2 intersecting runways, 75’ X 900’ each, provide ample room for all types of flying.  We have three shelters with water, electricity and ceiling fans.  We have kitchen facilities, an air-conditioned pilots lounge, and a full sprinkler system.  The closest any home can be built to our flying site is ½ mile.  If we don’t do something dumb (like violate the rules required by SWFWMD), our great grandkids could be flying here.

Hopefully our  odyssey for a permanent flying field ends here.