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Rickman will be presented the $20,000 cash prize on Tuesday,\nOctober 22nd, at the National Business Aviation Association\u2019s (NBAA\u2019s) 72nd\nannual Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (BACE) in Las Vegas,\nNevada. NAHF Trustees making the presentation will be joined by NAHF\nEnshrinees, NAHF Board of Trustees, NBAA Board Members and several other\naviation dignitaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WASPs Pilots, which are written for the young readers age 10\nan up, consists of two biographies, Nancy Love and Barbara \u201cBJ\u201d Erickson. Love\nfounded and commanded the Women\u2019s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), who were\n28 experienced women pilots who flew as part of the U.S. Army Air Forces beginning\nin fall 1942. The 28 grew in time to 303 women pilots who ferried 12,652\nmilitary aircraft, logging more than 60 million miles. Erickson commanded a\nsquadron of approximately 75 women ferry pilots, attached to the 6th Ferrying\nGroup, Long Beach, CA. She proved to be an exceptional leader and was one of\nLove\u2019s most versatile pilots, ferrying a wide range of Army aircraft, including\nthe four-engine B-17 bomber and all the WWII pursuit (fighter) aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sarah Byrn Rickman, who has a B.A. in English, Vanderbilt\nUniversity, and an M.A. in Creative Writing, Antioch University, is the author\nof nine books about the WASPs. Rickman has written nine nationally published\narticles about the WASP. Before becoming a full-time writer, Rickman worked as\na reporter and columnist for The Detroit News, and later, as editor of a\nsuburban newspaper. She has spoken on the WASP at the National WASP WWII Museum\nand the Ninety-Nines International Conference; and for numerous other libraries\nand organizations. Rickman is also a pilot who flies vintage tailwheel\naircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Combs Award, the original title, grew out of a donation\nto the NAHF by the late Harry Combs, a 1996 Enshrinee of the NAHF. As part of a\n$1.3 million gift to help fund the creation of a NAHF research center, Combs\nstipulated that the Combs Award be established to encourage and support\nrelevant aviation history research and preservation efforts. A panel of expert\njudges review each submission based upon criteria such as historical accuracy,\ncreativity, potential for long-term impact, and value to the NAHF\u2019s mission of\nhonoring America\u2019s outstanding air and space pioneers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Combs was instrumental to the growth and development of\nbusiness aviation. Consequently, the NAHF partnered with the NBAA to host the\naward presentation at its annual meeting and convention, the largest business\naviation event in the world. The inaugural award was presented at the Opening\nGeneral Session of the NBAA\u2019s 2003 convention, which was held in conjunction\nwith 100th anniversary of the first powered flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Gates and his sister, Diane G. Wallach, are co-trustees\nof the Gates Frontiers Fund, a foundation created by their late parents,\nCharles C. and June S. Gates. Mr. Gates, who passed away in 2005 at age 84, was\nformer Chairman and CEO of the Gates Corporation, an avid multi-engine and\nhelicopter pilot, and partner with Combs in several aviation businesses,\nincluding the Combs Gates FBO chain and Gates Learjet. This year marks the 17th\nyear for the award and its 14th year with the name changed to reflect a\nmulti-year commitment by the Gates Frontiers Fund to endow the award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The award pays homage to Gates\u2019 belief in the benefit of\nhistoric preservation to educate and inspire, and to Combs\u2019 own research\nefforts behind his acclaimed 1979 book, \u201cKill Devil Hill: Discovering the\nSecrets of the Wright Brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) has announced that Sarah Byrn Rickman\u2019s two-volume work, \u201cWASPs Pilots,\u201d has earned its author the 17th Annual Combs-Gates Award. Rickman will be presented the $20,000 cash prize on Tuesday, October 22nd, at the National Business Aviation Association\u2019s (NBAA\u2019s) 72nd annual Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (BACE) in Las […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13854,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13852\/revisions\/13854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}