By Di Freeze
The National Aviation Hall of Fame once again did a spectacular job in paying tribute to the organization’s newest enshrinees, the late Bessie Coleman, Tex Hill, Bob White and our dear friend Cliff Robertson. Those aviators were enshrined July 15 at the 45th Annual NAHF Enshrinement Dinner and Ceremony, held at the Dayton Convention Center. If you missed it, you can see our photo coverage of the event on pages 6-B and 7-B.
Tony Bill, the director of “Flyboys,” was a perfect pick to emcee the 45th Annual NAHF Enshrinement Dinner and Ceremony.
The weekend activities included the July 14 presentation of the 2006 Milton Caniff “Spirit of Flight” Award to the American Society of Aviation Artists. Retired RAF Air Vice Marshal Ron Dick presented the award to ASAA President Kristin Hill. In the past, we’ve covered many of the organization’s members, including Kristin. This month, be sure to read about the organization on page 10-B, and about organization cofounder and space artist Bob McCall, featured on page 12-B.
The event gave me the opportunity to meet in person Tony Bill, the director of “Flyboys,” which will be released in late September and will be featured in our September issue. Tony, an avid pilot, emceed the event and did a wonderful job getting across the many emotions evoked by aviation.
It was an honor to be able to meet Tex Hill as well as his lovely wife Mazie. We will be featuring Tex in the near future, as well as other attendees, including Robin Olds and Dick Rutan.
In this issue, in our “Wheels Up” section, you’ll also find a series of excerpts from some of the most popular biographies we’ve featured over the years. Due to space, we’re only able to print a small part of the history of the many aviators we’ve featured. You’ll find the articles in their entirety on [http://www.AirportJournals.com].