GAMB – Molinazzo Bellinzona Model Aircraft Club

In 1946, the year the group was founded, the first president was Edgardo Rezzonico; it is worth noting that he was only 17 years old, but even then he was already active and demonstrated great initiative and courage.

As you can read in the official documents attached to the newsletter, the late engineer Utalo Marazza provided significant assistance.

In order for him to attend construction courses, they even had to provide him with a bicycle to make the trip between the Bellinzona train station and Arbedo easier. At the time, the group was called the Arbedo Model Aircraft Group. The Arbedo town hall had provided a space for the group to carry out its activities.

In the year the club was founded, we must not forget the help

provided to Rezzonico by two other founding members: Mario Moro and Luigi Filippini.

In 1947, at the first free-flight competition, Luigi Filippini took first place, followed by Adriano Jelmoni and Mario Moro. The first prize consisted of a 20-minute flight in an old Piper. A Piper aircraft cost 5,000 Swiss francs at the time.

After three years of activity, all traces of the group were lost. It was revived in 1955 by Diego Roncoroni, who unfortunately passed away prematurely. The committee chaired by Roncoroni remained in office until 1967, the year in which a profound crisis arose. On July 17, 1967, at an extraordinary meeting held at the Vallone Restaurant in

We reached an agreement with a partner regarding the group’s radios. The radios were “Varioprop” “Tip-Tip” models, and the record players were “Bellamatic” models. Following the loss of the radios and a fondue dinner attended by seven members, the club’s coffers were short by Fr. 250.-. They had spent a whopping Fr. 17.- on bread alone. During that stormy meeting, the committee chaired by Roncoroni submitted its resignation. Around midnight, we managed to form a new committee. Pacciorni was elected president, Stelio Colombo vice president,

and Trezzini as secretary-treasurer. This committee remained in office until December 18, 1969. During this period, we witnessed the rise of model aircraft and the advancement of radio-controlled flight...

Renato Ruckstuhl

This is just a small part of the eventful founding of GAMB that I’d like to share with you. The group is still very active today, but that’s another story.

P.S. The entire history, up to 1986, can be found at www.gamb.ch

Text: Renato Ruckstuhl,
GAMB
archive Photo: Wolfgang Völler –
Lodrino 2017