Submitted by GLT (09/2002); Transcribed & Edited by SS (09/2002), Reformatted by JS (02/2010)

Career

1937-1940: Competed with rubber-powered models during high school
1939: Placed second at the El Paso, Texas, contest
Worked for Consolidated Aircraft Company in Roswell, New Mexico, as a tool and die maker for a little while
1943: Drafted and assigned to the Navy Construction Battalion
Worked around the world as a machinist; in 1961, was the foreman of a team building a siphon under the Colorado River in Mexico
1955: Placed third in Control Line at the AMA Nats
Built and successfully raced full-sized racecars
Competed in rodeo riding
Developed electronic timing devices that are widely used at rodeo events
1999: Won the Ohlsson and Rice (O&R) 23 event at the Society of Antique Modelers (SAM) Champs
2002: Won class A ignition LER at the SAM Champs
Known for reworking O&R engines

Honors

2002: SAM Hall of Fame

I recommend George Tallent as a candidate for the Society of Antique Modelers (SAM) Hall of Fame to be inducted in 2002. George was born January 21, 1923 in Los Angeles, California. He competed with rubber-powered models during his high school years from 1937 to 1940. He placed second in the El Paso, Texas, contest of 1939 flying a Guinn Aero Bunch-powered Miss America. After two years of college, he worked for Consolidated Aircraft Company in Roswell, New Mexico, as a tool and die maker.

Drafted in 1943, George was assigned to the Navy Construction Battalion (Sea Bees) once his machinist talents were discovered. He participated in the Alaskan Aleutian campaign of 1942/1943, rebuilding the Japanese runways on the island of At tu. Once this was completed and with time on his hands, he found some crated Reginald Denny radio plane drones. The radio equipment was missing, so George decided to fly the giant by Control Line. After being dragged about the island by a reluctant drone, he anchored the control handle to a steel pipe. After the war, George worked as a machinist all over the world, including Mexico, Greenland, Jamaica, Alaska, New Mexico, and Nevada. In 1961, he served as foreman of a team building a siphon under the Colorado River in Mexico.

During the 1955 AMA Nationals, his class C monoline was clocked at 157 mph, landing him a third place trophy flying against Bill Wisniewski and Jim Nightingale. During the next 12 years, he participated in the nuclear testing at Indian Springs, Nevada. Also around this time, he built full-sized racing cars and drove them to many track victories. George was well known for his ability to take a V-8 engine and make either a V-6 or V-4 out of them for racing. Rodeo riding was another of George’s pursuits. He rode until the years of bruises and broken bones finally resulted in Lucille, his wife of 60 years, telling him to “Get off.” This talented man is also a wizard with electronics. His electronic timing devices are widely used at rodeo events. He is currently experimenting with Lithium cells for Radio Control (RC) transmitters and receivers. George won the Ohlsson and Rice (O&R) 23 event at the 1999 SAM Champs at Muskogee, Oklahoma. At the 2002 SAM Champs in Las Vegas, Nevada, he was the winner of the A ignition LER event. Probably the accomplishment for which he is most noted is his uncanny ability to disassemble the welded-together O&R engines, replacing part and welding them back together like new. How many of our O&Rs have been salvaged from the junk boxes of modelers around the world will never be known, but there are countless! Currently he is making castings, chrome plating pistons and cylinders and refitting engines of several types. George is really a special guy – always willing to help anyone with his engine problems. I feel that George Tallent is certainly deserving of a place in the SAM Hall of Fame.

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