All-Time Top 100 Stars of Aerospace & Aviation Announced

Lycos - PR Newswire ^ | 06/18/2003 | Chris Meyer of Aviation Week

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

All-Time Top 100 Stars of Aerospace & Aviation Announced
18 Jun 2003, 3:00pm ET

- - - - -

Wright Brothers, Wernher von Braun Earn Top Ranking as Most Important and

Influential Ever in Aviation Week's 'Top 100 Stars of Aerospace' Poll

NEW YORK, June 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In the year commemorating the 100th anniversary of The Wright Brothers historic flight, Wilbur and Orville Wright, followed by Wernher von Braun, Robert Goddard, Leonardo da Vinci, Glenn Curtiss, Charles A. Lindbergh, William L. "Billy" Mitchell, Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, Neil A. Armstrong, Daniel Bernoulli were voted the top 10 luminaries in aviation and aerospace history in a poll of industry professionals unveiled today.

Aviation Week's Aviation Week's "Top 100 Stars of Aerospace" poll, a first-ever initiative to identify the most important, most interesting and most influential people in the global aerospace community -- past and present -- was revealed today at a gala event of industry professionals in Paris.

As voted by their peers, the most important aviation and aerospace personalities of all-time are as follows:

1       Wilbur and Orville Wright
     2       Wernher von Braun
     3       Robert Goddard
     4       Leonardo da Vinci
     5       Glenn Curtiss
     6       Charles A. Lindbergh
     7       William L. "Billy" Mitchell
     8       Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson
     9       Neil A. Armstrong
     10      Daniel Bernoulli
     11      Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager
     12      Otto Lilienthal
     13      Buzz Aldrin
     14      William Boeing
     15      Alan B. Shepard, Jr.
     16      Henry H. "Hap" Arnold
     17      Manfred von Richthofen
     18      Samuel P. Langley
     19      Igor I. Sikorsky
     20      Jules Verne
     21      John K. Northrop
     22      Herb Kelleher
     23      Edward V. "Eddie" Rickenbacker
     24      Jacques-Etienne and Joseph-Michel Montgolfier
     25 tie  Christopher Kraft
     25 tie  Antoine de Saint-Exupery
     26      Curtis LeMay
     27      Ernst Mach
     28      Juan Trippe
     29      Elbert "Burt" Rutan
     30      Theodore von Karman
     31      Alberto Santos-Dumont
     32      James Van Allen
     33      Alexander Graham Bell
     34      Ben Rich
     35      Alvin M. "Tex"  Johnston
     36      Richard Branson
     37      Yuri Gagarin
     38      Octave Chanute
     39      James "Jimmy" H. Doolittle
     40      Alexandre Gustave Eiffel
     41      Robert "Bob" Crandall
     42      Space Shuttle Challenger Crew
     43      Louis Bleriot
     44      Donald Douglas
     45      Claire L. Chenault
     46      Will Rogers
     47      James A. Lovell, Jr.
     48      Robert "Bob" Hoover
     49 tie  Thomas H. Kelly
     49 tie  Clement Ader
     50      Hugh Dryden
     51      Pierre-Georges Latecoere
     52 tie  Marcel Bloch (Dassault)
     52 tie  Roger Beteille
     53      Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom
     54      Ferdinand von Zeppelin
     55      Jacqueline Auriol
     56      Arthur C. Clarke
     57      Isoroku Yamamoto
     58      Daniel and Harry Guggenheim
     59      Anne Morrow Lindbergh
     60      Robert J. Collier
     61      Gregory "Pappy" Boyington
     62      Elmer Sperry
     63      James "Jimmy" Stewart
     64      Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan
     65      Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
     66 tie  Patricia "Patty" Wagstaff
     66 tie  Frank Whittle
     67 tie  Carl Sagan
     67 tie  Sergey Korolyov
     68      Albert Boyd
     69      Rene Leduc
     70      John W. Young
     71      Gene Roddenberry
     72      Valentina Tereshkova
     73      Thomas E. Braniff
     74      Walter C. "Walt"  Williams
     75      Jean Mermoz
     76      Henri and Maurice Farman
     77      Paul Poberezny
     78      Jean Bertin
     79      Sally K. Ride
     80      Roland Garros
     81      Osborne Reynolds
     82      Amelia Earhart
     83      Georges Guynemer
     84      H.G. Wells
     85      Jean-Pierre Haignere
     86 tie  James S. McDonnell, Jr.
     86 tie  Robert Esnault-Pelterie
     87 tie  Allan and Malcom Loughhead (Lockheed)
     87 tie  Marcel Bouilloux-Lafont
     88      Richard Bong
     89      John H. Glenn, Jr.
     90 tie  James E. Webb
     90 tie  Freddie Laker
     91      Lawrence Sperry
     92      Douglas Bader
     93      Howard Hughes
     94      Willy Messerschmitt
     95      Louis Breguet
     96      William A. Moffett
     97      William "Bull" Halsey
     98      George Mueller
     99      Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe
     100     Boris Petrov

"These men and women are the dreamers and doers who have changed the way we live. Every aspect of modern life is affected because of their accomplishments, inspiration and vision of flight," said Aviation Week Group Executive Vice President/Publisher Kenneth E. Gazzola. "The list is truly global -- 20 from France alone -- which demonstrates that the desire to go higher and faster is shared by people all over the earth."

Additional information, including biographical sketches and the top three finishers in 15 different categories, is available at www.AviationNow.com .

The Top 100 program, part of Aviation Week's The Next Century of Flight (NCF) education and outreach initiative, is produced in partnership with the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS) and its U.S. affiliate, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

The voting website, designed and hosted by IBM, featured more than 760 candidates in 15 categories. To ensure the credibility and professional caliber of the Top 100 results, the ballot was only open to ICAS and AIAA affiliates and members, Aviation Week group subscribers and Next Century of Flight program partners.

About Aviation Week

With nearly 50 products and services and a core audience of some one million professionals and enthusiasts, Aviation Week, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, is the world's premier multimedia information and service provider to the aviation and aerospace market. The Next Century of Flight leverages all of the assets of the Aviation Week group to promote aviation education and aerospace careers around the world. The program is currently supported by these partners:

* Air Transport Association of America and participating ATA member
       airlines: Alaska Airlines, America West Airlines, Delta Air Lines,
       Midwest Express Airlines
     * American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Evolution of
       Flight
     * Be A Pilot
     * Bombardier Aerospace
     * Centurion Press, Ltd.
     * Civil Air Patrol
     * Federal Aviation Administration
     * GIFAS, the French Aerospace Industries Association
     * McGraw-Hill Education
     * National Business Aviation Association's AvKids program
     * Parker Hannifin
     * Society of British Aerospace Companies
     * U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission
     * Women in Aviation International
     * Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum Steven F.
       Udvar-Hazy Center
     * Plus the ongoing collaboration of NASA

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, BusinessWeek and McGraw-Hill Education. The Corporation has more than 320 offices in 34 countries. Sales in 2002 were $4.8 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com

About IBM

IBM (NYSE:IBM) is one of the largest providers worldwide in the field of information technology (hardware, software and services). The company employs approximately 310,000 people worldwide and is active in more than 160 countries. IBM and its partners provide their clients with a complete range of products in advanced information technology: from hardware and software through services and complex application solutions through to outsourcing projects and training facilities. Further information can be obtained about IBM on www.ibm.com .

SOURCE  Aviation Week
    -0-                             06/18/2003
    /CONTACT:  Chris Meyer of Aviation Week, +1-212-904-3255,

chris_meyer@AviationNow.com

/
    /Web site:

http://www.AviationNow.com

http://www.mcgraw-hill.com

http://www.ibm.com

/
    (MHP IBM)

CO: Aviation Week; McGraw-Hill Companies; IBM ST: New York, France IN: ARO AIR PUB MAC SU: SVY TDS

KJ -- NYW111 -- 0520 06/18/2003 15:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com

[Damagro]

The inventor of the bong , lol

[Damagro]

Dang , they had the MVP and still lost. Go figure

[Damagro]

He was shooting down bombers in 500 plane raids in daylight. Not exactly a dogfighter

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Ray Bradbury was a good sci-fi writer, but I don't remember him doing any groundbreaking aerospace work, either.

I don't find him on the list!

[TruthFactor]

I think Wiley Post deserves to be in the TOP 100. A true Pioneer.

From the Handbook on Texas, Online.

POST, WILEY HARDEMAN (1898-1935). Wiley Hardeman Post, aviator, fourth son of William Francis and Mae (Quinlan) Post, was born near Grand Saline in Van Zandt County, Texas, on November 22, 1898. Before his death in a plane crash in 1935, Post became one of the best-known fliers in the world, mainly because of a flight around the world with navigator Harold Gatty in 1931 and a similar solo flight in 1933. In addition, he was known for his pioneer work in high altitude flight, particularly his role in developing an early pressure suit. His achievements in early aviation, more than two decades before the establishment of a United States space program, earned him a reputation as a pioneer in space flight. The airplane in which he made such contributions is today displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., along with his pressure suit.

[vetvetdoug]

Roscoe Turner is missing from the list. He was a collegue of Jimmy Doolittle and was the champion air racer from the early twenties and the way into the thirties. He graced the cover of Time Magazine and was instrumental in pioneer aviation. He also promoted the Indianapolis 500 and was a large part of that track's history. Folks that put together this list knew some of their history but are ignorant of much of aviation pioneering IMHO. When I was younger I even used to mow Chuck Yeager's lawn and grew up very aware of several on this list.

[strela]

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky at 65? An outrage - his pioneering work and theories in the field (the "Tsiolkovsky Formula" among others) made it possible for us to go to the moon. He deserves MUCH higher placement than "The Red Baron" (Manfred von Richthofen) of all people.

[appeal2]

Where's Chuck Yeager?

[strela]

Number 11.

[msdrby]

ping

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Oops, I was going on somebody else's reply. I should have verified the list.

[Prof Engineer]

Gene Roddenberry?

He along with the Apollo astronauts are directly responsible for my choice of career.

[azcap]

#33 Alexander Graham Bell???

Invented the telephone - that's nice - but maybe we should have Lawrence D. Bell - Bell Aviation - Built the first American jet fighter, the first commercial helicopter, and the X1.

[Willie Green]

Frank Whittle below "Wrong Way" Corrigan?

Only by a couple spots.
Amelia Earhart is waaaaaay below both of 'em.

Bwahahahahahahaha!

[Uncle Fud]

Heck, while I was scanning down the replies someone already beat me to Wiley Post, Larry Bell and Roscoe Turner, good choices all.

I would suggest that Geoffrey deHavilland and Frederick Rentschler (founder of P&W) did a lot more for aviation than a couple of the clinkers on this list. And if fiction writers make this list (there are a couple) where the heck is Saint-Exupery?

[Uncle Fud]

(A.G.) Bell was the one who funded nearly all of Curtiss' early experimental work. But if that counts, I guess we should count the guys in St. Louis who put up the money for Lindbergh too......

[Uncle Fud]

Oops - Saint Ex is there - in one of those "ties" Note that due to the way they count ties this is actually 110 names, and they still missed a lot of good ones!

[RoughDobermann]

I didn't say that he was a pure dogfighter, did I? And, IIRC, most of his kills were on the Eastern Front, where 500 plane bomber raids didn't exactly happen. Maybe I'm wrong though (it's been a while since I read about Hartmann).

[tanknetter]

Chuck Yeager #11 ? Should be top 5

Indeed ... and the fact that Jimmy Doolittle is ranked all the way down at #39 is pretty much criminal, imho. I've heard Yeager himself say that Doolittle was a better pilot and did more for aviation than he did. Considering that Doolittle had all sorts of transcontinental flight records, flew the first "instruments only" flight, flew the first outside loop, won a bunch of major air races, flew the GeeBee, showed the USAAC/USAAF that the B-26 Marauder was a great medium bomber, lead the first air raid on Tokyo (16 land-based, twin-engined USAAF B-25 bombers that launched from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in what was essentially a suicide mission) and commanded the Mighty 8th Air Force I think he definitely gets short shrift on this list.

[Archimedes2000]

Have you read Yeager's autobiography? There is a hilarious incident where Armstrong swore the dry lake bed was "dry" enough to land a test aircraft. Yeager told him he wouldn't be able to achieve even a "touch and go." Armstrong touched, didn't go, and the two of them sat there in the desert for around 10 minutes or so, total silence. Yeager wrote "I would have given a lot to see his face right then."