Lone Star Flight Museum
President Ralph Royce was awarded the Lloyd P. Nolen Lifetime
Achievement in Aviation Award by the Executive Committee of Wings
Over Houston at the October event. Charles Hutchins, Tora Lead and
previous recipient of the award, made the presentation concluding
with “…. it gives me great pleasure to recognize your
life’s work on behalf of aviation and the air show and war
bird communities.”
“I share this with the entire air show and aviation
community,” said Royce. “I have been blessed with a
great three-dimensional situational awareness; but mostly I have
been afforded great opportunities by the aviation world. And,
though the pilots may find this hard to believe, I am
speechless.” Royce said.
A commercially rated pilot with an “unlimited” letter,
and a descendent of two generations of aviators, Royce has been
involved in some aspect of aviation his entire life. His
grandfather was a career Army Air Corps officer earning Military
Aviator License # 44. In 1917, he led the 1st Aero Squadron in
France and became commander of all U.S. Forces in the Middle East
during WWII. Ralph’s father was also a career Air Force
officer learning to fly in 1935 and he taught Ralph to fly gliders
and small aircraft when he was a teenager. Now, two generations
later, Ralph flies as a command pilot on a Boeing B-17 Flying
Fortress and many of the high performance fighters and aircraft of
WWII.
After selling his business, Ralph was named the Executive
Director of the Confederate Air Force in Harlingen, Texas in early
1983. During his tenure he oversaw a doubling in size of the CAF,
the restructuring of the CAF’s maintenance programs and a
total reorganization of the financial structure of the CAF. Opting
not to make the move to Midland, Ralph joined the Lone Star Flight
Museum where he has been President since 1993.
In 1995 Royce recognized the need for an “aviation”
Hall of Fame in Texas. He successfully petitioned to have the Lone
Star Flight Museum named as the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame and
helped raise the necessary funds to build a facility that is today
recognized as one of the finest Aviation Halls of Fame in the
US.
Royce is known through out the aviation and air show industries
as the premier Air Boss for his unique ability to design and
control complex or difficult air shows -- safely. He is the
principal instructor for “Air Show 101” which teaches
air show flying and ground operations basics to new air show
committees or staff members. He coordinates instructors for the Air
Show Advanced Course, the Air Boss seminar, serves on several
committees for aviation safety, and spends time teaching seminars
to the FAA and Military on the finer points of managing and
operating air shows in the waivered airspace environment.
“Too many times
lessons learned the hard way are not passed on – the
continuity is lost so the lesson is un-learned,” said Royce.
“We need to ensure the new folks benefit from our hard knocks
and mistakes. Keeping the mistakes and lessons learned a secret
doesn’t help anybody. Flying can be dangerous so we’ve
all got to learn from one another.” Aviation aficionados may
remember Royce for his step-by-step account of a forced landing in
a Douglas SBD Dauntless and the ten lessons learned he wrote three
years ago.
His passion is the safety aspects of the air show industry. He
has served as a member of the ICAS Safety Committee for ten years;
five of them as the Chairman. He has authored a number of air show
advisory pamphlets and safety rules and continues to serve on the
committee. During his tenure, air show related fatal accidents have
decreased eightfold. “I believe the expanded, hard hitting
education seminars and an industry wide focus on this issue have
had a direct impact on this statistic,” said Royce.
“These educational seminars along with our ACE program have
had a major impact on the safety of the air show
industry.”
The Lloyd P. Nolen Lifetime Achievement in Aviation award was
first presented in 1989 to its namesake. Nolen is generally
considered the person most responsible for the WWII aircraft
restoration and preservation movement in the United States. He was
the founder of the world renowned Confederate Air Force (now the
Commemorative Air Force). The Nolen award was created to honor
individuals, organizations or corporations dedicated to the
advancement of aviation. Lloyd spent his entire life in aviation
until his death in 1991.
Other recipients of the award are: Paul Poberezny; Tony LaVier;
Burt Rutan; Major General William Anders; R. A. “Bob”
Hoover; Major General Joe H. Engle; Brig General David L.
“Tex” Hill; Victor N. Agather; Charles Hutchins; and
last year’s winner Mr. Herb Kelleher, CEO of Southwest
Airlines.
“It is an honor to be on the same list with these
gentlemen” said Royce. “But, I’m not nearly as
old as most of them so I’m not done yet!” He finished
his remarks with his signature briefing sign off –
“Don’t do nothin’ dumb!”
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (11.28.25): Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS)
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