The First Flight Society announced today that William P Lear has been named the 2025 Honoree to be inducted into the Dr. Paul E. Garber First Flight Shrine located in the Museum and Visitors Center at the Wright Brothers National Memorial, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, USA.
This honor is selected annually by a high-level panel appointed by the First Flight Society, from among numerous nominations submitted from around the world as well as compiled lists of qualified candidates. The induction ceremony will be held on Wright Brothers Day, December 17, 2025, with a celebration banquet scheduled on December 16, 2025, in Kitty Hawk. A portrait of Lear will be unveiled and presented at the ceremony on December 17th, 2025, celebrating the 122nd Anniversary of the Wright Brothers First Flight.
William Powell Lear (June 26, 1902 – May 14, 1978) was an American inventor and businessman. He is best known for founding Learjet, a manufacturer of business jets.
The shrine was established in 1966 to honor individuals and groups for achieving significant “firsts” in aviation development since 1903. Charles Lindbergh, Mary Feik, John Glenn, Katherine Johnson (Hidden Figures), Gail Halvorsen, Sally K. Ride, Walter and Olive Ann Beech, and most recently Charles McGee among others.
The nominee(s) may but does not have to be a “first” but rather “…a person, living or dead, who since December 17, 1903, either personally or with the assistance of others, have made such outstanding accomplishments in support of flight operations that they are generally recognized nationally and internationally for their achievements and contributions to aerospace activities.”
Honorees for the Paul E. Garber First Flight Shrine are selected annually by a National Advisory Committee from a list of nominees submitted to the First Flight Society and public that is passed to the Committee for consideration. For 2026 the committee accepted letters of nomination accompanied by supporting documentation and narrows down the finalists. The Board of the First Flight Society votes to select the final honoree. Nominations for 2026 closed on March 31st.
For more information about the Paul E Garber Shrine visit https://firstflight.org/first-flight-shrine/
