Best Tethered Model Airplane Park

On Sunday mornings from 1947 to 2002, you’d find retired Navy
aeronautics mechanic Bill Osborne messing with model airplanes out on a
field off of Doolittle Drive in Alameda, not far from the Oakland
Airport. Teaching people, especially young people, to make and fly
model aircraft was Osborne’s passion, and a vehicle for teaching the
worlds of physics, construction, mathematics, and coordination.
Osbourne died in 2003, but the airplane park that bears his name lives
on under the oversight of the Alameda Recreation and Parks Department.
On weekends, enthusiasts with proof of liability insurance can fly
control-lined (tethered) model planes for free. Osborne’s work
continues as well. The Aer-O-Nuts — a model plane enthusiast
organization — gives free control-line model airplane lessons to
East Bay youth every Saturday and Sunday mornings. If a kid stays
interested, he or she can also receive a free plane from the group. The
Aer-O-Nuts fly their own planes on Wednesdays and offer private lessons
by appointment.