Foil: 53 Panel: 2 Column: 1 Line: 11

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Sponsor

Honored by:
Lynn E. Donovan

Robert H. "Bob" Munn was born in Kansas City, MO on September 14, 1926. Like many of his contemporaries, he was swept up in enthusiasm for all kinds of flying things during the "Golden Age" of aviation in the mid-1930's. After weeks of futile attempts, he finally got a Comet PHANTOM FLASH off the gym floor and into a few staggering circles. He was hooked and remained a devoted builder and flier of radio-controlled (RC) model aircraft ever after.

Bob progressed through a series of smaller Scientific Burd, Berkeley and Comet rubber kits and gliders, paying for many of them by selling Burpee seed packets to neighboring gardeners. His earliest prize of any note was a blue ribbon for handicrafts at the Kansas State Fair in 1940, for his rendition of a Cleveland CURTISS HAWK P6E. Without the resources for large kits or engines, Bob helped friends build and fly several free flight models such as the SAILPLANE, BUCCANEER and POWERHOUSE while in high school prior to World War II.

Bob was a veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Army from 1944 until he was honorably discharged in 1953. He was a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Southern California (1955; Phi Beta Kappa, Lambda Chapter, and Delta Phi Epsilon, Delta Chapter), and completed one year of postgraduate studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies before entering the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State in 1956. His diplomatic assignments abroad included Libya, Iraq, Jordan, Sudan, Turkey and South Africa, and wherever his career took him, he made friends and built bridges by sharing his love for RC airplane building and flying. After his retirement from the Foreign Service in 1977, he and his wife Ethel traveled extensively in Southern Africa, Turkey, Greece, and Australia, often participating with friends in model airplane design, building, flying and sometimes officiating at RC contests.

Bob was a life member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics (member #L-926), and active until shortly before his death with the Woodland/Davis (California) Aeromodelers, Society of Antique Modelers (SAM) Chapters 30 and 27, Sierra Flyers of Marysville/Yuba City and the Feather River R.C. Modelers. He was also an honorary member of SAM 600 of Australia, Radio Flyers of Pretoria and Cape Town, South Africa, and the Turkish Air Modelers Club. Bob was an avid photographer and documented many of his aircraft builds and RC meets around the world. Much of his collection has been donated to the National Model Aviation Museum in Muncie, IN. Bob passed away in Yuba City, California on September 15, 2002.