Glacier Girl, a rare Lockheed P-38F, was presented with the Rolls-Royce Aviation Heritage Trophy and the National Aviation Hall of Fame's People's Choice Award Trophy at the 2nd annual Eastern Region - National Aviation Heritage Invitational Award Ceremony held on Sunday, July 20th, at the 2003 Vectren Dayton Air Show presented by Kroger in Ohio.

The Lockheed P-38F was considered the most-authentic and historically-accurate aircraft. (The aircraft was named Glacier Girl after its recovery from inside 268 feet of glacier in Greenland in 1992. The recovery mission took more than 14 weeks to complete.)

It took more than ten years to restore Glacier Girl, which utilized nearly 80% of the original parts, to airworthy condition. Glacier Girl is unique, as the only P-38 recovered out of six P-38s, along with two B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, which still remain within the Greenland glacier. The aircraft is part of "The Lost Squadron" of 1942, which was forced to crash land on an ice cap during an Artic blizzard -- known as the largest forced landing in history.

 Former astronaut Neil Armstrong, representing the National Aviation Hall of Fame, joined Rolls-Royce North America Inc. President and CEO, James M. Guyette as the master of ceremonies to present the Rolls-Royce Aviation Heritage Trophy to J. Roy Shoffner of Middlesboro (KY), owner of Glacier Girl. He was also the recipient of the 2003 National Aviation Hall of Fame's People's Choice Award Trophy, which is awarded to the owner of the aircraft receiving the largest number of votes cast by event attendees.

Shoffner said: "I am very delighted that Glacier Girl won the Rolls-Royce Aviation Heritage Invitational Trophy. The National Aviation Heritage Invitational is a wonderful opportunity to showcase our nation's aviation treasures."

"Rolls-Royce is committed to the preservation of aviation history. It was our privilege to honor the high-caliber workmanship that went into the restoration of Glacier Girl," said Guyette. "We were especially privileged to have Neil Armstrong join us to make the trophy presentations on the day of the 34th anniversary of the first moon landing and as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of powered flight."

Other winners:

Announced earlier this year, separate trophies were also presented to aircraft owners competing in three new award categories -- antique (early aircraft - 1935), classic (post 1935) and warbird (all military). The Orville and Wilbur Wright Trophy for the antique category was awarded to Jack G. Tiffany, Vi Blowers and Dr. Herbert Ware of Spring Valley (OH), for their KR- 21 Challenger. The Paul E. Garber Trophy was presented to Kent and Sandy Blankenburg of Groveland (CA), by Don Lopez, Deputy Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, for winning the classic category with their Lockheed Electra 12A. Robert Arnold, the grandson of Hap Arnold, presented the Henry "Hap" Arnold Trophy for the warbird category to Mike VadeBonCoeur, the pilot of Cripes A'Mighty, a North American P-51D Mustang, on behalf of the owner - Ken Wagnon, Wichita (KS).

The 2002 recipient of both the Rolls-Royce Aviation Heritage Trophy and the People's Choice Award, Chuck Greenhill of Kenosha (WI), flew in his P-51D Mustang, affectionately named Geraldine, to attend the event, along with Steve Cowell, owner and pilot of a North American AT-6 Texan and 2001 People's Choice Award Winner.

FMI: www.heritagetrophy.org