University of Virginia Library

Fly One For Edith M.

The immortal Edith M. Snark
will be honored this Saturday when
the first Edith M. Snark Paper
Airplane And Balsa Glider Contest
will be held in the Virginia Field
House, also affectionately known as
"The Cage."

Recognizing the vitally
important part that paper airplanes
and balsa gliders played in the
development of our nation's
aeronautical and aerospace
programs, the AIAA (American
Institute of Aeronautics) and the
ASME (American Society of
Mechanical Engineers) student
chapters at the University are
sponsoring the event in the hopes
of revitalizing this lost art.

The purpose of the contest is to
take the paper airplane out of the
back of the classroom and give it
the credit its long and colorful
history deserves. Equally
important, the contest organizers
stress the fact that a well-organized
paper airplane contest is an awful
lot of fun.

The contest is open to everyone
who cares to enter. There will be
two divisions; Junior division for
those 14 years old and under, and
Senior division for all those over
14.

Four Events

The contest will consist of four
events: Flight Duration, Total
Distance, Acrobatics, and Design
and Construction. Contestants may
enter both paper airplanes and balsa
gliders in any or all of the four
events. The paper airplanes and
balsa gliders will compete
separately.

Prizes will be given to all first,
second and third place finishers.
There will be Grand Prizes awarded
to the airplane and the glider which
have the best overall performance
in the three flying events. In the
Senior division the Grand Prize will
be a flight with the Charlottesville
Glider Club, while Grand Prize for
the Juniors will be a trip around
Charlottesville in a Cherokee 180.

Copies of the official rules,
entry blanks, and instruction sheets
are available at The Assistant
Dean's Office in Thornton Hall,
Downtown Athletics, or stop by
Contest Headquarters at 1705 JPA.

Surrogate Mother

And for those who care, Edith
M. Snark was the Wright boys
landlady while the labored among
the dunes at Kitty Hawk, N.C. In
the words of Wilbur, she was "just
like a mother to us."