[xrp]

most of these are white guys! How racist! Historical facts are RACIST! /sarcasm

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

Carl Sagan? Gene Roddenberry?

[nhoward14]

For some reason, it was a lot more fun to read Maxim's Top 100 list.

[RoughDobermann]

It's ridiculous that Armstrong ranks before Yeager, IMO.

[Physicist]

Chief Designer Sergei Korolev doesn't make the list???

What a farce.

[Physicist]

Paul MacCready, another no-show.

[Ben Hecks]

Any "aviation top 100" list should contain the name of Glenn L. Martin.

[hole_n_one]

88 Richard Bong

Some kind of altitude record?

[yarddog]

The all time ace of aces, Erich Hartman is not on the list.

Incredible!

[scab4faa]

No Cpt Kirk or Mr. Spock?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

More information on each of those selected with information on their accomplishments:

THE RESULTS ARE IN!

[VOA]

My own (incomplete) amateur and unabashedly personal list:

1. Wilbur and Orville - for making it really happen

2. Chuck Yeager - for daring to go someplace that LOTS of experts thought meant death
And to do it with some banged-up ribs.

3. Lindbergh - For doing something that many failed at. And being crazy enough
to lift off when he hadn't even slept for a day and a half (IIRC).

4. Every RAF pilot or crew member during The Battle of Britain, no matter where
they came from: The British Isles, Canada, all the other Commonwealth countries,
the USA, Poland, France, and many other over-run countries.

5. The crew of the Enola Gay - for taking on a task that probably saved
a million or more lives...but for which millions would irrationally curse them.

6. The designers of the P-51 Mustang - for sheer genius in combining
beauty with lethality.

7. The Flying Tigers - for doing dirty deeds that needed to be done

8. Admiral Thomas Moorer (and a few other guys) - For getting aloft during the
Pearl Harbor attack.

9. The crews of three squadrons of TBD torpedo planes from carriers Hornet (CV-8),
Enterprise (CV-6) and Yorktown (CV-5) -- for sacrificing themselves
with no hits...but allowing dive bombers to end the Japanese Imperial Navy's
carrier force during the Battle of Midway.

10. Every person who's been a crew member in a space program or worked as
a test pilot -- for pushing the edge of the envelope, no matter the risks.

[Damagro]

Chuck Yeager #11 ? Should be top 5

[DPB101]

19. Igor I. Sikorsky

He deserves to be in the top five. In 1914 he built the world's first four engine bomber and flew it 1,600 miles. In the 1960s he watched his helicopters pluck Mercury astronauts from the sea. He was most proud of the search and rescue work his helicopters did.

"The work of the individual still remains the spark that moves mankind ahead"
Igor I. Sikorsky 1889 - 1972

[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.

[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.

[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?