History & About the Award
The Granddaddy of Model Aviation - Has Joined the Great Pilot!
Walter H. Billett (Walt as he was known to most of you), passed away February 24, 1969 at the age of 88 years and 10 months at Ebenezer Home where he had lived for about the last three years.
Walt was one of the first two men to get Model Aviation and model meets started in the Minnesota area....way back in 1938...
The Honorees...
This award is given to those members who personify the purpose of TCRC: “To preserve, encourage and further develop the hobby of building and flying radio-controlled model airplanes.”
The award was initiated in 1958, and it has been given every year since for a total of 62 times. There have been 65 winners with two people sharing the award three different years.
| The TCRC Walt Billett Honorees | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 William Krawczak | 1959 Robert H. Hansing | 1960 Curt Dimberg | 1961 Lee Wells | 1962 Red St. Aubin | 1963 Dick Blazek | 1964 Red St. Aubin* | 1965 Bruce Anthony | 1966 Bruce Anhony* | 1967 James D. Miller |
| 1968 The Ye's | 1969 John B. Duncan | 1970 Ted Berman | 1971 Jess Farkas | 1972 Ray White | 1973 Lank Neuman | 1974 James Q. Taylor | 1975 John B. Duncan* | 1976 Hugo Lung | 1977 William Altenhofen |
| 1978 David P. Anderson | 1979 John Kerekelberg | 1980 Lee Lipert | 1981 Sherwood Heggen | 1982 Bruce E. Anthony** | 1983 Chris O'Connor | 1984 Jim Ronhovde | 1985 Ray Smieja | 1986 John Benson | 1987 Edward Meckola |
| 1988 Calden Stitt | 1989 Stan Erickson | 1990 James Cook | 1991 Larry Neutgens | 1992 David P. Anderson | 1993 Jerome Lawrence Vie | 1994 Brad Spencer | 1995 Scott Anderson | 1996 Lank Neuman | 1997 Dave Erickson |
| 1998 Jim Ronhovde* | 1999 Gerald Hesse | 2000 Don Olson | 2001 Rick Smith | 2002 David P. Anderson** | 2003 Jay Bickford | 2004 Conrad Naegele | 2005 Pat Dziuk | 2006 Bill Jennings | 2007 John & Kathy Dietz |
| 2008 Gerry Dunne | 2009 Steve Meyer | 2010 Mike Timmerman | 2011 Corey Kaderlik | 2012 Tim Len | 2013 Tim Wirtz | 2014 Bob Briesemeister | 2015 James Cook* | 2016 Larry Couture | 2017 Conrad Naegele |
| 2018 Dave Erickson | 2019 Morgan Larson | 2020 Jeff Tolzman | 2021 Brian Johnson | 2022 Thad Gorycki | 2023 Dave Erickson** | ||||
* Denotes Repeat Winner
** Denotes 3 Time Winner