National Aviation Hall of Fame picks 2018 astronaut, pilot enshrinees
Location for ceremony has yet to be determined.
Four former aviators will be inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2018, the organization has announced.
The enshrinees, chosen by 120 aviation industry representatives across the nation, are selected based on a lifelong commitment to aviation and aerospace, said NAHF Executive Director Amy Spowart.
They were announced Wednesday night at a National Aeronautic Association ceremony in Washington, D.C. The National Aviation Hall of Fame is inside the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
The four inductees are: ■ Former Apollo 7 astronaut Walter Cunningham, a retired Marine Corps colonel and Korean War veteran who also worked on the Skylab space program.
■ Former Deputy NASA Administrator John R. Dailey, a retired Marine Corps general and Vietnam veteran and director of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
■ The late William H. Dana, a NASA test pilot who flew the legendary X-15 rocket plane in the 1960s and was a pilot astronaut for the X-20 program.
■ Retired Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman, a Vietnam veteran and former Air Force chief of staff.
A location for the enshrinement ceremony has not yet been determined, according to NAHF. Dayton is in contention among “several” cities under consideration, Spowart said Thursday.
For decades since the Hall of Fame was created in 1962, the annual enshrinement was in the Dayton region until this year when it was relocated for one year to Fort Worth, Texas.