Summer Travels: Model-Airplane Royalty (For A Day)!
Nora Mulvihill Lersch (center), holding the trophy commissioned by Bernard H. Mulvihill Sr., is joined by her sisters, Marilyn Mulvihill (left) and Sally Mulvihill Morbeck. Photo: Robert Morbeck
Due to a serendipitous bit of pre-pandemic web browsing, on July 26, 2021, our family found itself three-and-a-half miles southeast of downtown Muncie, Indiana. The reason: an outdoor free-flight competition hosted by the Academy of Model Aeronautics.
My long-suffering wife Sally Mulvihill Morbeck (former Wallingford-Swarthmore School District treasurer) and her family had always known that their grandfather, Bernard H. Mulvihill Sr., had been a World War I aviator and a major player in the nascent aeronautical industry of the early 20th century. What they didn’t know was that, in 1923, B.H. (as his son, Bernard H. Mulvihill Jr. always called him) had not only donated $300 in prize money, but had also commissioned a gigantic metal trophy, featuring a statue of Icarus, to honor the winner of self-powered model airplane competitions, which have now been being held annually for almost a century.
The mere mention of “The Mulvihill” brings about a hushed silence among the scores of modelers who have competed in the self-powered (rubber-band-driven) outdoor event through the decades. The trophy resides in the exhibit area of the National Model Aviation Museum in Muncie. Sally and her two western Pennsylvanian sisters, Marilyn Mulvihill and Nora Mulvihill Lersch, also converged on Muncie in response to the generous invitation of David Lindley, the current president of the National Free Flight Society. We toured the museum, and Mr. Lindley was nice enough to bring us out to the flying fields to meet some of the contestants and learn more about their fascinating hobby. After the planes had soared like hawks on the last thermal updraft of the day, he even arranged for the three Mulvihill sisters to jointly award this year’s “Mulvihill” to model aviator Gerald Brown. At the joyous late-afternoon ceremony, Nora, speaking for the family, express their gratitude for this unique opportunity.
The Mulvihill sisters (and even their prince consorts) were treated like royalty: A few folks gushed that they’re thrilled to even meet a Mulvihill in the flesh. The kindness and comradery shown to us by our new friends made it an unforgettable experience. Chatting afterwards, we discovered that these folks came from all different walks of life, bound together by a love of their common hobby.
