NORTH HILLS : At 70, He’s Still True to 1st Love: Model Planes

A fascination for conquering the air by manned and unmanned aircraft has been a central part of Frank Zaic’s life for 70 years. Along the way, the North Hills man has seen the world, written a dozen books, owned two companies that specialized in model aviation products and information, and, from his account, had a lot of fun.

In 1922, at age 10, Zaic arrived in his new home, New York City, from Slovenia. He and his brother, John, discovered model aviation at public libraries and through magazines. When Zaic flew his first model airplane in the streets of New York City in the 1920s, Charles Lindbergh had not yet flown the Atlantic.

The excitement of boys playing with their toys gave way quickly to a serious interest in model aeronautics. In 1933, Zaic and his brother began JASCO, a company that manufactured model aviation supplies and kits for model builders. By 1934, Zaic began writing and compiling model aeronautic information in yearbooks. These books, which Zaic is reprinting, were published annually.

“It’s an ego trip,” Zaic said with a laugh of his self-published books. “At my age you have to have something to do.” The books contain detailed plans and scientific data along with first-hand accounts from model builders.

Zaic notes that in the 1930s technical information about general aviation was available, but the aerodynamics of models, flown by rubber power, was lacking. Technical information was obtained largely by trial and error. The whole science of why things flew, or did not fly, was just taking shape. It was the age in which a back-yard tinkerer could design and build a machine and, if it flew well enough, win major contests and prizes.

Although Zaic tried his hand at piloting gliders in competitions and controlling model aircraft, he found his niche as a writer and publisher. His yearbooks chronicled the major and minor players in the growing world of serious model aviation.

When Zaic and his wife, Carmen, moved to Northridge in 1962, he was known as one of the giants of model aviation not only in the States, but in Europe as well. He was no longer running JASCO, but was looking for work like thousands of others. His resume landed on the desk of a model builder and yearbook reader who was working for Walt Disney.

Zaic ended up engineering parts of the Pirates of the Caribbean Disneyland attraction. He then moved to Litton Industries, where he worked until his retirement at age 65.

Among the unusual stories in Zaic’s books is his account of meeting a young German on a bus trip in 1937. Zaic was on his way to Europe, but let the young man, Kurt Hammerstein, use his apartment in New York City.

While Zaic was in Germany, he dropped in to visit his new friend’s family. Hammerstein had understated his father’s position as an officer in the German army--his father was a general and chief of the general staff. Zaic had lost contact with Kurt but knew the elder Hammerstein had been killed for his involvement in the failed 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler.

In 1978, when Zaic printed the account of the bus trip and trip to Europe, he wondered what had happened to the young Hammerstein. A reader and model builder provided the answer: The young German had been involved with the plot and spent the rest of the war on the run; he was still alive and living in Germany. After some phone conversations and correspondence, Zaic and Kurt met again in 1985.