Written by GAC (01/1918); Transcribed by JS (10/2010)
George Bauer, Vice President of the Aero Science Club of America, Dies in the Service of Uncle Sam
While serving with the colors, George Bauer, VicePresident of the Aero Science Club of America, succumbed to pneumonia.
With his death, this country loses one of its most ardent workers in the cause of model aeronautics.
Perhaps no one other model devotee can claim to have accomplished more in this development of the model aeroplane than George Bauer. Since the year 1907, when aeronautics was a science, the practicability of which was yet to be recognized, New York possessed a handful of enthusiastic young men who were determined to master the science and do what could be done from their standpoint to realize the objective set forth by those who believed that the aeroplane was destined to become an important factor in the affairs of the world. Yes, George Bauer was one of those young men, and it is safe to say his enthusiasm was unparalleled.
The late George Bauer, a pioneer in the realms of model building, and who at the time of his death was giving his full energies to the work of Uncle Sam.
After long hours of work he, like his fellow workers, would come home only to find pleasure and interest in designing and building models, and having no other time but evenings and Sundays, would test his models
by the aid of an arc lamp in one of the nearby parks, a difficult task, and when Sunday came would travel quite a long distance to Van Cortlandt Park, the Mecca of the model flyer, and there contest with his fellow members. Sometimes he would be victorious and sometimes not, but all the time maintaining an air of sportsmanship and contentment, a trait which earned for him a multitude of friends. When not a contestant, his services as an official were always sought, for his decisions were fair and his knowledge for the model aeroplane supreme. Extreme heat or cold, rain or shine, he never failed to be there to contest or officiate.
Soon after the formation of the Aero Science Club of America, he was chosen to serve in the capacity of Vice-President, his fellow members recognizing his willingness to do his bit and his knowledge of aeronautics in general. In an effort to further co-operate with the model flyer, he engaged in the model aeroplane business and for quite some time conducted a business much to the advantage of model flyers.
George Bauer was not only a patriot from the standpoint of being instrumental in the education of our young men in this new science, but it was what we might refer to as a greater pressure of patriotism that lead him to enlist in the services of Uncle Sam. Because of his practical knowledge of the gasoline motor, he chose to serve in the quartermaster division as a mechanic and was put in the motorcycle squad and later transferred to the motor truck squad. It was while serving in this division that he took ill and died.
His death means a loss not alone to be shared by the Aero Science Club of America, but by the cause in general. The name George Bauer will be numbered among the pioneers who did much to develop the science and sport of model aeronautics, a cause that has helped and will help young men to positions of responsibility in the aeronautic world.
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