There was a special memorial to Martyn Cowley last Saturday in Simi Valley. This event was attended by many from Martyn's modeling and professional life. Thanks to Ray Morgan and Matt Keenon for organizing the event.

Among the many speakers was Stephen Ptacek,the pilot of Aerovironments's Solar Challenger; Blaine Rawdon, one of the leading lights of the USA F3B program; Tony Naccarato of the Black Sheep Squadron, famous for their youth programs; Matt Keenon, micro R/C expert and Aerovironment colleague; Ray Morgan , Martyn's original boss at AV; Lee Hines who spoke on Martyn's F1A and H exploits; and F1B World Champ Alex Andriukov who spoke of Martyn's contributions to FAI Free Flight and his kindness and generosity when Alex and his family first moved to the USA .

In suitably exuberant Cowley style there was a mass launch of a Martyn design catapult glider that filled the air with a multitude of small airplanes. I'm sure a photo of this will appear in the next issue of Aeromodeller.

When one attends an event like this or reads an obituary, it is often surprising to learn new things about a person that you have known for so long and already know so much about. While we all knew that Martyn worked at Aerovironment and on many of the key programs, hearing his co-workers talk about this and how Martyn's efforts had made key contributions to the airplanes and programs that defined that company made us appreciate Martyn even more.

I think Ray Morgan summed it up for most of us when he said he always expected to see Martyn as a spry 80 year old out at Lost Hills with his gliders, enthusiastic as ever ...

For those of you you interested in the Solar Challenger history, you can see photos on the Donald Monroe web site http://donaldmonroe.com/gallery/solar-challenger, including a much younger Martyn Cowley, Ray Morgan and Steve Ptacek.