The club offers free fixed wing and helicopter training to new members and hosts a number of social flying events throughout the year.
The club strongly emphasizes safe flying with the aim getting the maximum enjoyment of the hobby. Club members actively contribute to the ongoing maintenance and growth of the club.
Club History
In the fall of 1956, six radio and model aircraft enthusiasts got
together with the idea of forming a club. The "Original Six" held three
preliminary meetings at the Bruce McDonald Motel in Bell's Corners. The six
included Lou McDonald, Don Prentice, Jim Zufelt, Don Dow, Ernie Brown and one
other unidentified person.
The preliminary meetings concluded with a resolution to officially form the Ottawa Remote Control Club. The first meetings of the new club were held at the Independent Coal and Lumber Company and its first president was Don Prentice. The first official event was a "Concours d'Elegance" held in October 1957, where the winners? prizes were withheld until their models had actually flown. In fact, early members were only "temporary members" and were not recognized as full members until their models had flown! Meetings continued at the Independent Coal and Lumber Company until the sixties when the club moved to the South Westboro Community Centre. Finally, the club moved to the McNabb Community Centre in late 1968 where it held its monthly meetings and auctions until the pandemic. The last club event held at McNabb Community Centre was the annual auction in early February of 2020.
The first operating field was at a farm off of county road #8 in
South Gloucester. This field was also a designated emergency field for RCAF
Uplands. This location was used for about three or four seasons when the club,
which by now consisted of a dozen or so members, received permission to fly
from the airport at Carp. This continued until a mishap when someone's plane
landed in the rudder of a full-sized, parked airplane. In those days, equipment
consisted of tubes, relays and escapements with one or two modelers venturing
into pulse rudder and later the infamous ?galloping ghost? system. The control
and reliability of those early radios was a far cry from the equipment we use
today!
Subsequently, the club found a field off Cedarview just north of Fallowfield where flying continued until 1974 when the Experimental Farm needed the land. The next site was a grass field south on Moodie Drive. The club also operated an east end field off Anderson Road from 1970 until 1984. In 1978, Nepean granted the club the use of a field at the landfill site on Trail Road, where the composting operation is located today. After the 1998 ice storm, the city needed the site to process broken tree branches and fallen trees. The club moved to another location on Trail Road and built an asphalt runway. When that site was needed for the Plasco incinerator in 2006, the club moved to Drummond Field on Cambrian Road. In 2010, the club also began flying at Greenway Field off French Settlement Road, south of Osgoode. Flying continued at Drummond through early 2020. The final event at Drummond was the Chili FunFly in late February, 2020, just before the first pandemic lockdowns. The club located their current flying field at 1600 Bankfield in spring of 2020 and had it operating and training new pilots by early summer.
While the club has always been primarily focused on aircraft, a number of members do fly helicopters. Over time, members have also been interested in RC boats, yachts, cars and drones. Eventually, these members formed separate clubs, many of which remain active across the region.
The ORCC has routinely sponsored contests and fun events. One of
the clubs achievements was the hosting of the world FAI Scale Championships at
Ottawa in 1980. At the same time, the club also hosted one of the first
international model yachting competitions. The ORCC continues today to provide
a centre of interest and a voice for radio control flyers.