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Combs Gates Award
Submission Deadline for National Aviation Hall of Fame’s Annual Combs Gates Award is June 13, 2016
$20,000 juried prize to be presented at 2016 NBAA Convention in Orlando
Earlier this spring, the National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) publicly issued a nationwide “call for entries” for its 14th Annual Combs Gates Award. Submissions to be considered for the prestigious $20,000 cash award are due June 13, 2016. The Combs Gates Award is presented each year to an individual or group for a submitted project judged to be exemplary in the promotion and preservation of America’s air and space heritage. The subject of submitted projects ideally spotlights one or more of the 229 men and women aviation pioneers who have been inducted, to date, into the Congressionally chartered, nonprofit NAHF.
The 2016 award ceremony will take place during a special session of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) annual meeting and convention. The NBAA convention is the largest civil aviation event in the world, and this year takes place on Nov. 1-3 in Orlando, Fla. Officials from the NAHF and NBAA will present the award, joined by several previous enshrinees of the NAHF.
The Story of Aviation Pioneer James Herman Banning
By Louisa Jaggar and Pat Smith
Have you ever heard of James Herman Banning? If you have, you are unusual. Most people know Lindbergh and Earhart, but Banning, for the most part, has escaped the history books. Why? Because he was African American and in the 1920s the mainstream press didn’t write about African American aviators. He was the first African American to fly across the continental United States, and many believe he was the first to receive a United States issued pilot’s license.
Almost 70 years from the time of Banning’s death, Pat Smith was researching aviation heroes from Oklahoma for National Geographic’s Celebration of 100 Years of Flight. She found an aviation history file and pulled out a short news clip that mentioned Banning. She saved it because it peaked her interest and she wanted to know more about him. About two years later, she mentioned him to me. Together, we decided to write the story of his life for young adults.