The Collier Trophy is an annual aviation Many cultures have built devices that travel through the air, from the earliest projectiles such as stones and spears., the boomerang in Australia, the hot air Kongming lantern, and kites. There are early legends of human flight such as the story of Icarus, and Jamshid in Persian myth , and later, somewhat more credible claims of short-distance award administered by the U.S. National Aeronautics Association The National Aeronautic Association of the United States is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and a member of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the international standard setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics. NAA is the official record-keeper for United States aviation. It is "dedicated to the (NAA), presented to those who have made "the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year."
Robert J. Collier, publisher of Collier's Weekly magazine, was an air sports The sports listed above are governed internationally by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale and at the national level by aero clubs such as the National Aeronautics Association and the Royal Aero Club. The FAI web site contains lists of these national organizations. In some of the categories listed above are lightweight classes which can be pioneer and president of the Aero Club of America. He commissioned the 525 pound (240 kg) trophy in 1911, originally named the Aero Club of America Trophy. Collier also was the owner of a Wright Model B biplane which he purchased in 1911. After presenting it several times, Collier died in 1918 after the end of World War I World War I was a military conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918 and involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. More than 15 million people were.
It was renamed in his honor in 1922 when the Aero Club dissolved, and the award was taken over by the NAA. The name became official in 1944, and the award presented once a year by the NAA president, with the trophy on permanent display at the U.S. National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world. It was established in 1946. Located in Washington, D.C., United States, it is a center for research into the history, and science of aviation and spaceflight, as well as planetary science and terrestrial. As such, the trophy was in the custody of its 1969 co-recipient, Michael Collins Michael Collins is a former American astronaut and test pilot. Selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts in 1963, he flew in space twice. His first spaceflight was Gemini 10, in which he and command pilot John Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft and Collins undertook two EVAs. His second spaceflight was as the during his directorship of the museum.
Selected Recipients
- (1911) Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aviation pioneer and founder of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, now part of Curtiss-Wright Corporation, for successful development of the hydro-aeroplane. The first award.
- 1912 - Glenn H Curtiss, for the invention of the single-pontoon seaplane and development of the flying boat.
- 1913 - Orville Wright, for development of his automatic stabilizer.
- (1929) Fred Weick, for design of the NACA cowling The NACA cowling is a type of aerodynamic fairing used to streamline radial engines for use on airplanes. Developed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1927, it was a major advancement in drag reduction, and paid for its development and installation costs many times over due to the gains in fuel efficiency that it enabled which revolutionized civil air transport by making aircraft faster and more profitable. It also found application on the bombers and fighters of World War II Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland ·.
- (1932) Glenn L. Martin for the design of the Martin B-10 (XB-907) bomber.
- (1933) Frank W. Caldwell of Hamilton Standard for the hydraulically-controllable propeller.
- (1936) Pan American Airways for establishment of a transpacific airline and the successful execution of extended overwater navigation in regular operations.
- (1937) Army Air Corps for the design and development of the Lockheed XC-35.
- (1945) Luis W. Alvarez for the Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) which allowed radar operators to talk a pilot down.
- (1947) Chuck Yeager Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager is a retired major general in the United States Air Force and noted test pilot. He is the first pilot to travel faster than sound (1947). Originally retiring as a brigadier general, Yeager was promoted to major general on the Air Force's retired list 20 years later for his military achievements for piloting the Bell X-1 The Bell X-1, originally designated XS-1, was a joint NACA-U.S. Army Air Forces/US Air Force supersonic research project and the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound in controlled, level flight. This resulted in the first of the so-called X-planes, an American series of experimental aircraft designated for testing of new technologies and, the first aircraft to break the sound barrier In aerodynamics, the sound barrier usually refers to the point at which an aircraft moves from transonic to supersonic speed. The term came into use during World War II when a number of aircraft started to encounter the effects of compressibility, a collection of several unrelated aerodynamic effects. By the 1950s, aircraft started to routinely &. According to his biography, Yeager used the trophy in his garage to store nuts and bolts.
- (1954) Richard T. Whitcomb for his discovery of the area rule The Whitcomb area rule, also called the transonic area rule, is a design technique used to reduce an aircraft's drag at transonic and supersonic speeds, particularly between Mach 0.8 and 1.2. This is the operating speed range of the majority of commercial and military fixed-wing aircraft today, a design method for supersonic aircraft.
- (1958 & 1963) Clarence "Kelly" Johnson was awarded this trophy twice for his leadership at Lockheed's Skunk Works Skunk Works is an official alias for Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs , formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. Skunk Works is responsible for a number of famous aircraft designs, including the U-2, the SR-71, the F-117, and the F-22. Its largest current project is the F-35 Lightning II, which will be used in the in the development of the F-104 Starfighter The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was an American single-engined, high-performance, supersonic interceptor aircraft that served with the United States Air Force from 1958 until 1967. One of the Century Series of aircraft, it continued in service with Air National Guard units until it was phased out in 1975. The National Aeronautics and Space (1958) and A-11, later the SR-71 Blackbird The Lockheed SR-71 is an advanced, long range, Mach 3 strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft by the Lockheed Skunk Works as a Black project. The SR-71 was unofficially named the Blackbird, and called the Habu by its crews, referring to an Okinawan species of pit viper. Clarence "Kelly" (1963).
- (1975) David S. Lewis, Jr. of General Dynamics Corporation, and the F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force. Designed as a lightweight, daytime fighter, it evolved into a successful multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since production was approved in 1976. Though no longer being Air Force Industry Team, for significant advancements in aviation technology leading to innovative fighter aircraft effectiveness.
- (1978) Sam B. Williams for development of the small, high-efficiency turbofan A turbofan is a type of aircraft gas turbine engine that provides thrust using a combination of a ducted fan and a jet exhaust nozzle. Part of the airstream from the ducted fan passes through the core, providing oxygen to burn fuel to create power. However, the rest of the air flow bypasses the engine core and mixes with the faster stream from the.
- (1985) Russell W Meyer and Cessna The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well-known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary of the U.S. conglomerate Textron Aircraft Co for the outstanding safety record of the worldwide fleet of Citation Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source . More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression (e.g. [Newell84]) embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose of acknowledging the relevance of the works of others aircraft
- (1986) Dick Rutan, Jeana Yeager Jeana Yeager is an aviatrix. She is most famous for co-piloting a non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world in the Rutan Voyager aircraft from 14 to 23 December 1986. The flight took 9 days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds and covered 24,986 miles (40,211 km), more than doubling the old distance record set by a Boeing B-52 bomber in 1962. In, Burt Rutan and the team of the non-stop unrefueled circumnavigation of the Rutan Voyager
- (1989) Ben Rich for leading Lockheed's Skunk Works Skunk Works is an official alias for Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs , formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. Skunk Works is responsible for a number of famous aircraft designs, including the U-2, the SR-71, the F-117, and the F-22. Its largest current project is the F-35 Lightning II, which will be used in the to develop the first stealth aircraft, the F-117 The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a stealth ground attack aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force. The F-117A's first flight was in 1981, and it achieved initial operating capability status in October 1983. The F-117A was "acknowledged" and revealed to the world in November 1988.
- (1992) Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps and conducts a broad program of scientific research and advanced development. NRL has existed since 1923, when it opened at the instigation of Thomas Edison. In a May 1915 editorial piece in the New York, US Air Force The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare, space warfare, and cyberwarfare branch of the U.S. armed forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. It is the most recent branch, Aerospace Corporation, Rockwell International Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate in the latter half of the 20th century, involved in aircraft, the space industry, both defense-oriented and commercial electronics, automotive and truck components, printing presses, valves and meters, and industrial automation. It was the ultimate incarnation of a series of, and IBM International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) is a multinational computer, technology and IT consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, North Castle, New York, United States. IBM is the world's fourth largest technology company and the second most valuable by global brand (after Coca-Cola). IBM is one of the few information technology companies Federal Systems Company for Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides reliable location and time information in all weather and at all times and anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. It is maintained by the United States government and is freely (GPS).
- (1994) McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at St. Louis's Lambert International Airport, in Berkeley, Missouri, near the city of St. Louis for developing the C-17 Globemaster III The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft. The C-17 was developed for the United States Air Force from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The aircraft carries on the name of two previous United States military cargo aircraft, the C-74 Globemaster and the C-124 Globemaster II. The C-17 is used for rapid.
- (1995) Boeing Commercial Airplanes Boeing Commercial Airplanes is a unit of The Boeing Company, based in Renton, Washington consisting of the Seattle-based former Boeing Airplane Company , as well as the Long Beach-based Douglas Aircraft division of the former McDonnell Douglas Corporation. In 2006, Boeing was the world’s largest civil aircraft company in terms of orders, and the Boeing 777 The Boeing 777 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet and is commonly referred to as the "Triple Seven". The aircraft has seating for over 300 passengers and has a range from 5,235 to 9,380 nautical miles depending on model. Its distinguishing airliner development team, winner for producing the advanced 777 widebody twinjet.
- (2002) Sikorsky Aircraft and the S-92 Team
- (2004) Burt Rutan and his SpaceShipOne SpaceShipOne was developed by Mojave Aerospace Ventures , without government funding. On June 21, 2004, it made the first privately funded human spaceflight. On October 4, it won the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE, by reaching 100 kilometers in altitude twice in a two-week period with the equivalent of three people on board and with no more than ten team for designing and launching the first commercial manned launch vehicle
- (2004) Gulfstream Aerospace Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is a producer of several models of jet aircraft. Gulfstream has been a unit of General Dynamics since 2001 for the development of the G550, the first civil aircraft to include an enhanced vision system as standard equipment.
- (2005) Eclipse Aviation Eclipse Aviation Corporation was the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based manufacturer of the Eclipse 500 very light jet and also at one time proposed developing the Eclipse 400 single engined jet was awarded as the result of Eclipse Aviation's "leadership, innovation, and the advancement of general aviation" in the production of very light jets, specifically, the Eclipse 500 The Eclipse Aviation 500 is a small six-seat business jet aircraft that was manufactured by Eclipse Aviation.
- (2006) The F-22 Raptor The Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is a single-seat, twin-engine fifth-generation fighter aircraft that uses stealth technology. It was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but has additional capabilities that include ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals intelligence roles. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is the prime Team, because the F-22 "established the unquestionable superiority of the Raptor, a culmination of years of visionary design, rigorous testing, and innovative manufacturing," according to NAA President David Ivey. The Raptor Team consists of the United States Air Force The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare, space warfare, and cyberwarfare branch of the U.S. armed forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. It is the most recent branch, Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is a United States aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Lockheed Martin employs 140,000 people worldwide. Robert J, BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in Farnborough, Hampshire, England, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is the world's largest defence contractor as of 2008. It was formed on 30 November 1999 by the £7.7 billion merger of two, Boeing The Boeing Company is a major aerospace and defense corporation, founded by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001. Boeing is made up of multiple business units, which are Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company was the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world as of 2010, and the largest builder of naval vessels. Northrop Grumman employs over 122,000 people worldwide. Its 2007 annual revenue is reported, Raytheon Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in defense systems and defense and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007. Raytheon is the world's largest producer of guided missiles, Pratt and Whitney, and 1,000 other suppliers located in 42 states.
- (2007) Various public and private organizations and companies for their innovative work on Automatic Dependent Surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast is a cooperative surveillance technique for air traffic control and related applications being developed as part of the Next Generation Air Transportation System. Australia is the first country with full, nationwide ADS-B coverage).
- (2008) The Commercial Aviation Safety Team
- other winners include Orville Wright Orville Wright , the younger of the Wright brothers, seen as one of the fathers of heavier-than-air flight (1913), Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American aviator, engineer, industrialist, film producer, film director, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people in the world. He gained prominence from the late 1920s as a maverick film producer, making big-budget and often controversial films like Hell's Angels, Scarface and The Outlaw. Hughes was one of (1938), Scott Crossfield (1961), and the crew of Apollo 11 The Apollo 11 space flight landed the first humans on Earth's Moon on July 20, 1969. The mission, carried out by the United States, is considered a major accomplishment in human exploration and represented a victory by the U.S. in the Cold War Space Race with the Soviet Union (1969).
The trophy is typically presented in the year following the one for which the trophy is given. For example, the 2005 winner, Eclipse Aviation, was not formally announced until February 16, 2006, and the formal trophy presentation was not made until May 15, 2006.
External links
- The Collier Trophy - contains a fairly up-to-date listing of the winners
- Collier Winners by decade - from NAA's website
- From Engineering Science to Big Science - The NACA and NASA Collier Trophy Research Project Winners, Edited by Pamela E. Mack
Categories: Aviation awards | Collier Trophy recipients
