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“It’s the Oscars of aviation,” says David Vornholt, a Board of Nominations member for the past 10 years. “It’s a rare opportunity to meet living legends.”

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Community : The Price of Fame

In 46 years, the National Aviation Hall of Fame has grown from a star-studded awards ceremony to an exhibit-packed museum. But it’s been a bumpy ride.

By: Cristina Velocci
August/Sept 07 , Page 32

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During the 1960s, a veritable who’s-who of aviation and Hollywood would congregate in their black-tie best at the Biltmore Hotel in Dayton, Ohio. Screen siren Maureen O’Hara would mingle with actor and pilot Jimmy Stewart, while across the room, Eddie Rickenbacker and fearless aviatrix Jackie Cochran would socialize with Air Force general Jimmy Doolittle.

These elbow-rubbing luminaries gathered to honor America’s air-and-space pioneers at the annual enshrinement gala of the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Since its first induction — a ceremony honoring the Wright brothers on December 17, 1962 — the organization has annually ushered in a new class of four or five people who have significantly contributed to the history of manned (or womanned) flight.

Forty-six years later, the event, held on the third Saturday of July, continues to draw top-flight talent, such as Sally Ride, Steve Fossett and FedEx chairman Fred Smith — and those are just this year’s inductees. “It’s the Oscars of aviation,” says David Vornholt, a Board of Nominations member for the past 10 years. “It’s a rare opportunity to meet living legends.”

But the other 364 days of the year the NAHF is very much a work in progress, just as it has been for much of the past four decades. Part of the problem is that despite having been chartered by Congress in 1964, the NAHF is not Congressionally funded. Instead, it relies on membership dues, foundation grants and contributions. “Without such support we cannot survive,” notes NAHF executive director Ron Kaplan. Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, financial difficulties threatened to ground it.

Even today, its major asset, the 17,000-square-foot learning and research center — the product of a 1990s capital campaign that raised $6 million in member dues, private donations and local and state funding — remains a payload the institution is still struggling to figure out how to support.

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