Written by MA staff (12/2005); Formatted by JS (02/2008), Updated by JS (08/2009)
Bob Godfrey passed away at his home in Palmetto, Florida, in August 2005. For the many people who have known Bob and admired his creative artistry, it was a sad occasion.
For many years, Bob and his wife Pat ran a successful auto transmission business in Indianapolis. They retired and moved to Bradenton, Florida, in the early 1980s.
Former AMA president Don Lowe wrote, “I have known Bob for more than 40 years, and he was one of my very best friends. We worked together to develop Ulrey Lasers for the Tournament of Champions (TOC) competition. Out of this grew his model business that lasted for more than 20 years. “We first met in the 1960s on the Pattern competition trail. Bob also flew and excelled in Scale modeling. “Bob created beautiful, ready-built models and kits of most of the popular acrobatic designs flown by the world-class fliers and those who aspired to be. Probably his most famous models are the Ultimate bipe and the Extra configurations that were strong contenders in the top competitions. His last creation was the 42% Ultimate before declining health forced his retirement. Bob’s son Robert, who worked with Bob for several years in his business, Precision Aviation Design, plans to continue producing aircraft in the Godfrey tradition.
“Bob was not only a very skilled creator of models but was one of the nicest and most helpful people one could hope to call a friend. He was never secretive about his model-construction methods, and we see examples of his creative talent in many model products produced by others today.
“I’m so glad he was at the 2005 Joe Nall Fly-In where they honored him with the Joe Nall trophy. He was overjoyed to receive it.
“Bob will be greatly missed but I sincerely thank him for having been a wonderful friend and cohort. Goodbye, my friend.”
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