Thanks for hanging in there. You are so right. Even in the 60s, I can remember many times, going out to fly and coming home having never even gotten the darn engine to start. No electric starters back then, and it wore us out. Sometimes, we would just give up and go fishin.

I can't imagine how much patience it must have required with escapments and vacum tubes.
ORIGINAL: Rocketman_
ORIGINAL: 8D3
Or the "how the hell did you guys fly with that stuff" thread
LOL@that
It wasn't easy. It was like gambling. If you kept trying you might get lucky and win a successful flight.
Fortunately those few diehards stuck with it until modern radio control equipment was invented or there might not be an RC hobby today.