Back in 1965 Tony Pompa discovered his neighbour Bob Ballantyne had a new hobby interest; building model aircrafts.  Bob invited Tony into his basement where he was shown the scale model he had built.  Bill Norbert, another neighbour joined a little while later and a club was formed and became official. The Aero-Buffs name came into being during  a discussion and was thought in passing.  Tony became member #1, Bill #2 nd Bob #3.  they would meet in each other's house untill the number of members rose to 15, then they started to meet in other venues, which included the Officer's Club on University Ave.  Their models were occasionally judged by the owner of a hobby shop on Roncesvalles Ave in Toronto.

The club moved again, to a Catholic church at the corner of Leslie and Lawrence Avenue, in the father Cecil Oak Room where it remained for a number of years.  The church , was designed by Alson Fisher, a local architect and an Aero-Buffs member.

In the early 1970s, the Coupe de Mores trophy (named after Jim Mores an Aero-Buffs) was introduced for a club contest to emphasize the history of the model instead of the construction.  The contest occured twice a year, in April and October.  The present trophy was introduced at about 1980 and its presented only once a year, in April.  A second trophy, the Ballantyne Award was introduced in the mid 1980s to honour the memory of one of the founding members. 

Over time, the club met in various locations following the Father's Cecil church.  Other locations were the Wheels and Wings hobby shop, the North York Community Centre, Decca Aviation board rooms, Collectors Lane hobby shop, and the Canadian Air and Space Musuem at Downsview Park.

One member, John McEarchern, designed to logo which represents the airfoil shape fo a standard wing looking from the root to tip as seen from the cockpit, it forms a stylized "A".

In its lifetime the club has undertaken three major display projects such as: 

The first project: the Battle of Britain displayed at the Old University Threatre in 1968 for the motion picture of the same name.

The second project: the 100th Anniversary of the Powered Flight in  1903, from the Wright Brothers Flyer to the Space Shuttle, this was displayed at Collectors Lane hobby shop on Warden Avenue.

The third project: the 100th Anniversary of powered Flight in Canada in Feruary 2009, with 240 models from the Silver Dart to the FA18 at the Canadian Air and Space Museum.  The project was in honour of five of our late members.  Some of the smaller displayed were the five flown Arrows and the Mosquito production line, prepared for the canadian Air and Space Museum.

The members have one common hobby: research and contruct 1/72 scale historical model aircrafts.  The club constitution allows the building of 1/144 scale as well. The club dealing with emphasis on aircraft history makes it somewhat unique compared to other clubs which build anything in plastic.  Aero-Buffs members cover a range of ages and careers, the oldest member was 87, the youngest was in its early 30s.  Careers included: salesman, engineers, architects, TV Media, commercial pilots, physicians, commercial model builders, RCAF members, University lab technologists, small business owners, culinary arts teachers, and college professors.  The club still meets in person every fourth Wednesday of the month, and via Zoom every other two weeks. 

original transcript by JAM 03/12/2019

The club currently meets in person and Zoom every fourth Wednesday of the month, and again by Zoom every other fourth Wednesday in between.