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!”

FMI: www.wingsoverhouston.com, www.lsfm.org