Wendell Hostetler shares his lifelong hobby of model airplanes with Rotarians at the meeting held on Tuesday, November 1, 2022. Wendell Hostetler brought quite the display for his presentation to Orrville Rotary on his lifelong hobby of model airplanes! Wendell, who turned 94 years old in October, has a love for creating model airplane building plans, building the models airplanes, flying them, and making some sales here and there on his hard work. Just to bring in some fun facts, he reached out to the Academy of Model Aeronautics that does a multitude of things involving model airplanes. The Academy currently has about 170,000 members with an $11 million dollar budget. Their museum onsite houses about 11,000 pieces and they have over 2,400 flying sites across America!
Not only has this hobby changed Wendell's life, but also that of his family as he has made it a source of income, and fun for his kids. His son Ray began going to flying sites with him at age 3, and eventually began it as his own hobby as well at age 9. Later on in life, he decided he wanted to make flying airplanes his career. Now at 66 he is trained to fly a Falcon 2000 and has had the pleasure of transporting many celebrities. Wendell's wife has also played a part in this hobby by attending over 5 consecutive Toledo Shows, selling some model airplane products.
Wendell hopes to pass on his legacy to his son Ray, and/or The Academy of Model Aeronautics. But, for now, he will continue enjoying his hobby and creating that legacy for years to come!
