History Photos

KMAS

KMAS Early Historical Photos
Some Photos scanned by Mark Betuzzi
Click any photo for a full screen Photo

These are early photos of the construction of the Tolko Field Flying Facility, home of the Kamloops Model Airplane Society.

The photos also include the early members and volunteers that made the facilities and the club, what it is today.
Click here for the Tolko Field web page

The first years were spent getting the sight
ready for R.C.

Runway preparation for the first paving.

First batch of asphalt for the runway.

The first attempt at a runway, was rolls of canvas
belt material donated by Tolko .

Aerial View, taken around 1994.

Power-line was eventually relocated closer to the farm.

Looking north over the flying field.

View of the runway - canvas belt material - 1995.

The public enjoying the fun fly activities.

Jacques Chaves (R.I.P.), Sean Barr, Fred Hindley, Gordon Holmes (R.I.P.), Gordon Goss (R.I.P.)

Fun Fly airplanes.

Flight time after a work party.

Gordon Goss (left) & John Edwards (right)

Jim Millar - Glow Powered J-3 Cub.

June 2004 - Wednesday evenings were traditionally Burger and Training nights.

Jim McKee (R.I.P.), Greg LeWarne

John Edwards, Ian Gargan(inside) (R.I.P.) Cody Goss.

Cyril Vidal (R.I.P.)

Gordon Holmes - Eagle Trainer.

John's Edward's Sig Astro Hog.

John Edwards, Peter Goss, Gordon Goss. John's Eagle.

Work in the clubhouse.

Gordon Goss, Peter Goss, Cyril Vidal, Gary Goertzen

Terry Faulkner on the P.A. System

Jacques Chaves and Ron Bentley. Their planes were designed to fly without a horizontal stabilizer and elevator.

Ian, Dave Gould (First KMAS President), Gordon Goss.

Ian Gargan and Holly Sweiger on cooking duties
at our Fun Fly.

Gemma Vidal looking after the transmitter impound.

Ian Gargan - Pitts Special.

Ian Gargan

Cyrille Vidal

Cyrille Vidal at a Float Fly events.

Cody Goss, John Edwards, Terry Faulkner

Terry Faulkner, Leon Myers, Norm Bryson

Left to right Cyril Vidal, Gordon Goss, Peter Goss, Mark Betuzzi, Murray Ross, John Edwards, Terry Faulkner.

Gemma Vadel

Cyrille Vadel

Norm Bryson

Gordon Goss. Carl Goldberg Tiger Airplane.

OOPS

Don Lurkins and his glow powered Glider.

Don Lurkins

Group photo of early members and planes.

Andy Prodaniuk left and Randy Battison right cutting the cake celebrating the 19th KMAS Fun Fly.

Some of the KMAS members flying after the 2024 Remembrance Day ceremonies at Tolko Field. From left to right Andy Prodaniuk, John Edwards, Fred Hindley, Ben Overmars, Norm Bryson, Serge Dumont & Roy Williamson.

Kamloops Model Airplane Society Mall show at
the Aberdeen Mall
Kamloops

Photo taken from the second floor.

John Edwards, Peter Goss and Daryl Buddeke. Daryl was one of the first KMAS members to switch over to Electric powered aircraft.

Aberdeen mall - KMAS Mall show. Raffle Prize.

Ian Gargan with his Yak airplane.

John Edwards at the Mall show.

Cyrille & Gemma Vidal

Ted Carlson selling the raffle tickets at the Mall Show.

Dave Gould at the Mall Show

Terry Faulkner showing a couple of youngsters the Flight Simulator on the Computer.

2024 - KMAS Members voted to replace the old Clubhouse attached to the side of the existing trailer.
Photos by Eric Spence
A very well done slideshow, showing the construction, from start to finish, by Serge Dumont, can be found here.

Day one. Serge Dumont, Michael Prime and Gerry Gerow hard at work. taking down the old structure.

Floor bricks coming up.

Day three. Demo complete.

Day two, Randy Battison, Serge Dumont, Michael Prime and Gerry Gerow hard at work.

Support beams for the floor & building installed

Ben Overmars left and Gerry Gerow right, solving the world problem.

Gerry Gerow running the excavator preparing the pad area. Also Serge Dumont doing carpentry.

Poly vapor barrier installed and the floor framing started. Gerry Gerow on the left, Serge Dumont center and Roy Williamson looking on.

Gerry Gerow and Serge Dumont have the floor insulated and plywood covering installed.

Thanks to Norm Bryson, Serge Dumont and
Gerry Gerow, the walls are up on the
new Club House. Looking East.

Looking west. A big thank you to Tolko
for the donation of all the needed plywood.
A big savings for the Club.

Looking West inside.

Looking East inside.

Thanks to Serge Dumont, Gerry Gerow
and Norm Bryson the rafters for the roof
are up. Also the ceiling joists. Looking East.

Looking West

Between the addition and the existing trailer.

Looking West

Gerry on the ground looking up. Norm Bryson and Serge on the roof, Norm to the left, Serge to the right.

Wrap on, Plywood and tar paper on the roof.

Windows and doors installed.

Gerry helping Serge install a door.

New Metal roof is on, thanks to Gerry, Serge and Ben Overmars

Serge & Gerry have the Skirting, window/door
trim and Soffits installed.

Eric Spence painted two coats of paint on the skirting.

Soffits North side

Soffits South side

Gerry left & Serge right, installing the siding
on the west end.

Gerry left & Serge right on the west end.

East end almost completed.

Serge on the ladder and Gerry with a visitor,
are just about finished the siding on the North wall

Exterior is complete with siding, skirting, trim and gutters.

Serge on the ladder, Gerry ready to cut siding.

Extensive new electrical was installed by Al Cline, his Grandson Owen, Bruce Cline and his Stepson Dave. Material was donated by Aspen Electric Ltd. of Kamloops, which was a big savings for the club.

With help from Gerry, Eric Spence dug a trench from the gutter down spout to the Junipers and installed a 4" drain pipe, to keep the rain water away from the club house foundation.

The finished project, covering the pipe.

Serge left and Gerry right have been busy installing insulation, vapor barrier and drywall on the East end.

Gerry and Serge have the Batten and trim installed on the West end. Serge in the photo. Eric Spence brought lunch for everyone and did the drywall mud on the walls.

Once the East end is finished, the job of moving all the cabinets and other items over so they can do the West end.

Serge left, Gerry right as they plan their next steps.

A lot of stuff to move to get the Batten done
on the East end. Will be ready for paint soon.

Serge has the last Batten and trim done. Ben Overmars left and Randy Battison right, have been working hard doing all the calking, mud on the ceiling and are starting the painting

Looking East

The new floors are in. Looking East

New floor looking West

Gerry Gerow, George Kozevnikov, Randy Battison
and Ben Overmars have 30-40 yards of crush spread in front of the Clubhouse to fill in the dip. A big Thanks to Gerry Gerow for arranging the donation of the Crushed gravel

Looking West

Nice easy entrance to the Clubhouse.

Ben Overmars looking for more crush
(or maybe beer?)

Serge has both hand rails installed on the stairs.

Fridge and Microwave are moved from the trailer
and cupboards installed. Heater on the right
hanging from the ceiling thanks to Al Cline.

Gerry and Serge (on ladder) are installing
snow guards on the roof.

On May 24, 2025, KMAS Held a Clubhouse Grand Opening for Members, Family and Invitees. Serge (left) and Gerry (right) are doing the Ribbon cutting.

Cake for everyone after Hamburgers, chips and drinks.

Notice the pavers from inside the old hangar creating a new walkway. Randy and Gerry pitched in to create it with help from many others.

Randy in the red shirt waving, busy cooking hamburgers that he donated for the event. Yummy! Thanks Randy.

Very good turnout for the Grand Opening and just showing half the prep area.

From left, Michael, Norm, Gabriel, Mark, Khal & Emily. The flight Instructors congratulating Gabriel and Emily at passing their flight tests, obtaining their "Wings" and Certificates!

We have been having a problem with Marmots digging holes under the new Clubhouse and creating living dens. It was decided to have a work party and install wire mesh around the Clubhouse to put a stop to it.

A plan was created by Serge Dumont and Roy Williamson to dig down about 4", put a bend in the mesh, fasted it to the Clubhouse and cover with gravel.

A call was put out and the turnout was amazing. In attendance were Roy Williamson, Greg Schneider, Michael Prime, Andy Prodaniuk, Ben Overmars, Al Allman, Michael Allman, Scott Norsworthy (soon to be a KMAS member) Randy Battison and his bother in-law Don Lakusta.

In 2024, Eric Spence, at that time, a member of the KMAS Executive and KMAS Webmaster, wanted to pay tribute to the members who have passed on. He came up with the idea of building a Memorial Wall in the Clubhouse. Going back to the start of the club, Eric with the help of many others, created a list of the departed past members. He then built a 5' x 4' platform to hang on the wall. The platform contained for each person, 27 at that time, a single flower vase with a single flower, a plaque with the members name and a QR Code that people could scan to access information on each person. This information was contained in a web page that Eric built for each person. Scanning the QR code took them to that persons web page. The master page with each person listed, can be found at http://kmasrc.ca/In%20memory.html Thanks to Serge and Gerry for mounting on the wall.

Inks Lake

For years, Inks Lake was our lake for float flying our planes. With the changes to the Controlled and Uncontrolled air space, we lost Inks Lake as an option.
Click here for the Inks Lake web page
Videos of members flying at Inks Lake can be found here or here

Goose Lake

Eric Spence spent a considerable amount of time and gas looking for a replacement for Inks Lake, within 25km of Kamloops.
Goose Lake was the only option that was in Uncontrolled airspace and wasn't protected by one organization or another.
Our thanks to the lease holder, Dr. Jason McGillivray, for allowing us access to the lake.
Click here for the Goose Lake web page

A crew of KMAS Members showed up to install a gate, steps and a platform on the new Float Fly location at Goose Lake.

Gerry Gerow

Gerry Gerow returned to modify the gate and allow for a large section of the fence to be dropped for a wider access. Eric Spence applied a wood preservative.

Grass area leading up to the steps going down to the area. Will be used as a setup and spectators area.

Alan Allman, Michael Allman, Randy Battison, Ben Overmars and George Kozevnikov installing steps down to the platform.

Alan Allman, Michael Allman, Randy Battison, Ben Overmars, Gerry Gerow and George Kozevnikov.

Alan Allman, Michael Allman, Randy Battison and George Kozevnikov.

Floating platform for launching planes.

Gerry Gerow's Grandson Ben's boat trying out the lake.

Ben trying out the platform while running his boat.

Michael Allman getting his plane ready for the lakes first flight. George Kozevnikov and Alan Allman looking on.

Platform screwed to the posts and the left post shortened to allow better access to the water.

Randy Battison (holding plane) getting his plane ready while talking to Ben Overmars (right)

Michael Allman (left) and Randy Battison (right)
trying the lake out.

Randy Battison's Turbo Timber

West end of the lake.

East end.

The Geese have become a problem with

droppings on the platform.

Eric Spence applied a wood sealer
to the platform.

Eric built a screen to go over the
platform to keep the Geese off

Eric installed a windmill to keep
the geese away from the platform area.