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RSGunner (Russel Smith) 1945-2024

StormILM

StormILM

Charter Member
It is with deep sadness I report the loss (belatedly) of one of our members, RSGunner Russel Smith who passed away on March 5th of this year. I only learned of this news last night and checked here today to see if anyone had posted anything about this before posting this thread.

I knew Russ from the old Alphasim forum days dating way back 20 years and became good friends with him over the years. He was one of the true gentlemen of the Flight Sim Community who's generosity gave a great deal to us all with his repaint works and his enthusiasm for flight sim and aviation. Russ was a great guy who lived a wonderful life. May he Rest in Peace...

Obituaries in Tallahassee, FL | Tallahassee Democrat

RUSSEL RENNE SMITH passed away on March 5, 2024. He was born to Elisabeth Wright and Wayne Russel Smith, Lt., USN, in Kearney, Nebraska on March...
www.tallahassee.com
 
It seems that I remember RSGunner's name on the old Alphasim Forum also when we were all "Alphaholic's" all those years ago!

Fly high on angel's wings.

- Don
 
First thing I thought of when I saw his name is repaints. I had forgotten about Russ and the Alphasim Forum.


Forest
 
R.I.P. Russ.

Yeah, I remember him on those old forums. My current avatar reflects my affinity for that old forum and the AlphaSim aircraft product line. There seemed to be a new aircraft every month, or so it seemed. Those were good times, for sure.

Tommy

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Oh my. Just saw this post. I enjoyed messaging with Russell quite a few times. Great guy. Rest in piece, friend. Navy Chief
 
To share a bit more about the generosity and tremendous love of Aviation Russ had, in May of 2023 he contacted me and asked if I'd like to have some plastic model kits he had on hand. I of course said yes and he said they would come in two UPS shipments. I tried to pay for them and the shipping but he would have none of it. These photos are of what he sent which included a lot of great books. I was overwhelmed to say the least, now even more so. These are now treasures to me.


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My twin brother, Ron, who passed away in 2019 after Aortic valve surgery at Emory Medical Center in Atlanta, Georgia had closets and display cases full of finished and unfinished aircraft, armor and ship models.
His daughter asked me if I wanted any of them. I told her to give them out to kids that lived in their neighborhood or go to "model shows" and try to sell them.
He also had stacks of books and magazines like you have displayed above.

- Don
 
I hadn't seen this post before like Navy Chief above. I was going to email Russel about his VAQ-132 repaint for the A-3B conversion I just finished and am sharing with Phil Perrott's kind permission I am going to do it as a dedication to all the repaints and more that Russell gave us all joy with including the VAQ-132 I am sharing this coming week here. May God give his family solace. Another one of us is gone.
 
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