Model Aviation Adventures of Luther Hux

All photos are copyrighted property of either Model Aviation Magazine or Project Snapshot Photos.
Do not copy photos without permission.

Part I - Project Snapshot

Aerial photos taken from R/C model aircraft.

Cleared to fly at Dulles International Airport to photograph the aircraft and runways for Model Aviation magazine.  
This cover shot was published in June 1979.

Dawn graced the cover of Model Aviation in June of 1980 with Snapshot III.  
Project Snapshot spent many hours on the road in our motor home.

The June 1980 issue featured a two page spread of this aerial photo of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown CV-10.  
Snapshot succeeded in taking great photos of the carrier in spite of 40 knot winds.
Charleston SC can be seen in the background. 

Snapshot was authorized to take off from the deck of the Yorktown, but Luther decided to use 
and empty portion of the visitors parking lot.

The 1/3 scale tower at King's Dominion made an interesting addition to the Snapshot collection. 

Project Snapshot On The Road was featured in Model Aviation in May 1984.  A highlight of the photo adventure 
was getting permission to photograph the Space Shuttle Enterprise on board its 747 carrier plane.

Congressman Frank Wolf, representing the district in which Dulles Airport resides,  receives a copy of the 
Space Shuttle Enterprise aerial photo taken by Project Snapshot.
The photo carries a caption identifying the photo as being taken from a model airplane.

After photographing the National Geographic headquarters in Maryland, the society requested this photo to be printed as a postcard for its gift shop.  The postcard carried a photo credit to Luther Hux and mentions that the photo was taken from a model airplane.

This early morning shot of  the Goddard Space Flight Center museum in Maryland was taken before visitors arrived. 

Luther was the AMA coordinator for Dulles's Expo '82 air show.   
The AMA exhibit was set up under the shade of the C5A's right wing. 
Project Snapshot flew as part of the air show to capture these aerials.

Babies just have to touch things any way that they can........

The Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB has expanded its buildings to include all the aircraft once stored outside.  
Project Snapshot took off from an empty portion of the parking lot just right of this photo.

Project Snapshot took advantage of the extensive parking area to take-off and capture aerials of 
the Hampton Coliseum  in Hampton Virginia.

Xerox Training Center was another architectural structure that looked great from the air. 

Among the most unusual photos of the Snapshot series was taken of a 
R/C parachutist, jumping from a R/C model airplane, 
photographed by a R/C camera. 

Other Model Aviation Projects pursued by Luther Hux

Part II

Unique designs for air show presentation.

  Gathering great interest from kids is the Starship Enterprise Next Generation.  
In spite of its very unusual shape, it flies well.  
The Voyager's thin glider-like design was a challenging building project. 
Snapshot Twin is an upgraded Snapshot III.  
Nothing makes a sound like two engines in sync.  All of Luther's models are scratch built.

During the Air and Space Museum's summer events, model aviation was a featured guest in the Hall of Fame wing.  Luther's 9' Voyager can be seen among numerous R/C models on display.  Luther arranged with A&SM to put on six static shows during two summers.. 

The Virginia Air Show Team did static displays every summer at the Smithsonian's Garber facility in Silver Hill Maryland.
Numerous hangers of restored and soon to be restored full-scale aircraft were open to the public.  Luther was the CD.

AMA was invited to open a museum extension at Dulles International Airport.   Luther designed the display 
and with the help from members of the Virginia Air Show Team has maintained the exhibit for over 10 years. 

Luther and the show team try to renew the contents of the Dulles exhibit about once a year.  4mation is Luther's production of Ken Willard's Blue Bird.  The 9' Voyager is Luther's scratch-built model of the aircraft that flew around the world non-stop.

Luther coordinates AMA display at the annual Dulles Plane Pull for Special Olympics.
The Virginia Air Show Squadron represents R/C modeling  while the NVUC club represents U/Control modeling.
A highlight of the aviation event is the pulling of a FedEx 727 jet by competing teams.

Luther displays his own Space Shuttle model along side of NASA's space shuttle Enterprise 
and their test model shuttle aboard a 747.   NASA's test models were built by NASA engineers 
to test techniques for separating the Enterprise from the 747 during shuttle test flights.  

Two of Luther's space shuttle designs carried aloft on his Snapshot Twin.  The larger shuttle features actual 
space shuttle tile fragments and signatures by Hoot Gibson, NASA shuttle pilot.

The model Space Shuttle on approach.

Two of Luther's space shuttle designs were gliders that required a ride aboard another model to get to altitude. 
The largest of the space shuttles is powered and can take-off conventionally. 
The two smaller space shuttles were published in Model Aviation Magazine.

Dawn with astronaut and shuttle pilot "Hoot" Gibson holding Luther's space shuttle Enterprise 

Dick Rutan, pilot of the Voyager, inspects Luther's model of the Voyager 
at the Smithsonian's 1986 Collier Trophy award dinner.

Burt Rutan, designer of the Voyager, checks out Luther's Voyager model at the AMA luncheon in his honor.

Jeana Yeager, co-pilot of the Voyager, signs the wing of Luther's Voyager model at the Collier Trophy dinner.

The Voyager model in flight.

Luther taught model building to Smithsonian Resident Associate members featuring AMA Delta Darts. 
After the building class, students and parents flew their Darts on the Mall 
in front of the National Air and Space Museum.

Luther's niece, Michelle, poses with his trainer design published in Model Aviation June 87.
The foam wing design was quite durable and light weight. 

Dawn with Snapshot Twin.  This is a twin engine version of Snapshot III photo plane.

Part of the fun was creating models that were quite unusual 
such as ParaCraft a powered parafoil.  There is also an electric version. 

Summer Breeze hot air balloon and a blimp called, Me and My RC in honor of the cola.  

A flying Express Mail package really gets attention. Flies great,
 but the glide is a lot like a space shuttle.

Luther's 4mation, a variation on Ken WiIlard's Blue Birds, is one of his favorite show team models.

One of the many experimental scratch-built models that duplicate full-scale aircraft. 
This XV-1 Osprey is actually a twin auto gyro.  It flew very well but rotor blades frequently cracked 
making the model too time consuming to maintain.

I had the pleasure of meeting Maynard Hill and learning a lot about his famous flight 
across the Atlantic.  A flight of 1888 miles.  Congratulations Maynard. 

Three Model Aviation Hall of Fame winners, all members of NVRC.
L->R: Hurst Bowers, Dawn Hux, Luther Hux, and John Hunton.

The Adventure Continues . . . .