The National Aviation Hall of Fame is taking its annual enshrinement ceremony on the road next year. The class of four will be inducted in late October in Fort Worth, Texas.A spokesman tells WVXU this is the first time the ceremony has been held outside of Dayton since the Hall of Fame was created in 1962.
It's scheduled to coincide with the Bell Helicopter Air Show at Alliance Airport.
2017 inductees include:
Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden, Jr., USMC (Ret) –34 year Marine Corps aviation career included 14 years as member of NASA Astronaut Corps. Vietnam War fighter pilot and four-time Shuttle veteran who went on to become NASA Administrator.
The late Cmdr. Malcolm Scott Carpenter, USN – Navy test pilot who as one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts became the second American to orbit the earth. Helped design the Apollo lunar module and developed underwater training for spacewalks.
Robert J. Gilliland –Air Force jet fighter and test pilot personally recruited by Kelly Johnson to lead Lockheed Skunk Works testing of its record-breaking SR-71 spy plane. Has logged more test-flight hours above Mach 3 than any other pilot.
The late Sir Frank Whittle – U.K.-based “Founder of the Jet Age,” who built the first practical turbojet engine in 1937. Sir Whittle’s subsequent engine technology led directly to development of the jet aircraft industry in the U.S., to which Sir Whittle immigrated in 1976.
The National Aviation Hall of Fame is housed within the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
