Bert Pond’s Hobby Ended Up in a Business

 Bert Pond’s Hobby Ended Up in a Business 

    WHILE Bert Pond was still a high-school boy in Chicago, he became interested in model airplanes and joined the Illinois Model Aero Club. This airplane research group, he believed, was far ahead of the rest of the world in the study of miniature flying craft of all kinds. While he attended Illinois U, he continued to make many midget planes and often paid his fraternity house bills with cash prizes he won at national exhibits. It was after Lindbergh’s flight, however, when the country became aviation conscious, that he began to cash in on his knowledge of model airplanes. He resigned his job with the Minneapolis-Honeywell Corporation and decided to build and help others build model airplanes. His first work was instructing classes in model airplane design at Y. M. C. A. meetings, Boy Scout camps, and at various schools all over Indiana. He next wrote a series of articles on model airplanes for Popular Aviation, Popular Science Monthly, and other publications of this type. It wasn’t long before the students in all these classes and the readers of his articles wanted materials to make their own models. So his next step was to make these materials which were so much in demand. In his model airplane shop, Peru, Indiana, he began to manufacture not only a midget motor and a 6½ ounce gasoline motor, but also the familiar rubber band twisters and other parts and accessories for fans who build their own models. He later supplied the featherweight wood called balsa, which is used for airplane models, Japanese silk tissue, special cements, and fresh rubber to power the planes. He also manufactured a low-priced scale used to weigh parts for the models down to 1/1000 of an ounce, and a miniature true pitch propeller. Thousands of these little propellers were turned out for other miniature aircraft companies. His shop also designed model kits and made ready-built planes for other concerns. In the last few years, the shop has sold many hundreds of thousands of planes in the five and-ten stores. Regular orders kept this shop busy the year round, but during certain rush periods the shop ran night and day. During the three or four major national contests held each year, there was a gratifying increase in orders. Bert Pond’s success with his hobby suggests the value of developing an interesting hobby which some day may provide your bread and butter— and perhaps a little jam. Another hobby which later became a real vocation was that of H. E. Boucher. As a little boy, Mr. Boucher frequently made little boats which were the envy of his playmates. His parents had planned his entire education to the end that he would some day become a naval architect. He did reach this goal but his hobby persisted in taking all his spare time and soon he found that he was making many miniature ships for his friends. The demand increased and presently his “real” work was being crowded out of his life by his hobby. It was then that he decided to stop fighting against his interest in this hobby and he organized the H. E. Boucher Manufacturing Company. The market for his products was provided by the hundreds of other hobbyists interested in miniature ships and ship parts. Eventually what started out as a hobby became one of the largest businesses of its kind.