NAHF awarded Engen Trophy by Aero Club of Washington


Washington, D.C., November 14, 2012 – The Aero Club of Washington presented the National Aviation Hall of Fame with the 2012 Donald D. Engen Aero Club Trophy for Aviation Excellence.  The trophy is awarded to an individual, team or organization which through a record of lifetime achievement , a single event, or a series of acts reaffirms the Wright Brothers’ standards of excellence in aviation.  The Aero Club, founded in 1909, was founded to promote the Wright Brothers and their efforts.  Each year it has awarded the annual trophy for Aviation Excellence.

Engen Trophy awarded to NAHFNAHF Board Chairman Phil Roberts said, “It is a significant achievement and honor for the NAHF to be recognized in our 50th year of service to the aerospace community with the Engen Trophy.  The NAHF has faithfully recognized our nation’s air and space pioneers since 1962.”

When the U.S. Congress chartered the NAHF in 1964 to be the only U.S. organization responsible for recognizing those persons who have been responsible for the U.S. leadership in aviation and space, it thereby endorsed the first two enshrinees honored by the organization, the Wright-Brothers – Orville and Wilbur – who from their bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, designed, built, tested and flew their creation of the first powered airplane.

NAHF President Bill Harris added, “Therefore, it is fitting that the common beginnings of honoring the Wright Brothers shared by the Aero Club and the NAHF result in a common heritage and purpose to honor those who have paved the way for flight and all the business aspects associated with that invention”.