Leading Air and Space Historians To Present Symposium

Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington                  October 22, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-1979)

Lori Rachul
Glenn Research Center, Cleveland
(Phone: 216/433-8806)

RELEASE: 03-338

LEADING AIR AND SPACE HISTORIANS TO PRESENT SYMPOSIUM

     Daredevil pilots of the barnstorming era, bold 
entrepreneurs and military strategists of the 30s and 40s, and 
the visionaries and down-to-earth managers of the Space Age 
are a few of the aerospace leaders to be profiled at a day-
long public symposium, "Realizing the Dream of Flight."

On Nov. 5, 2003, some of the country's most distinguished 
aerospace historians will gather at the Great Lakes Science 
Center in Cleveland to honor the Wright Brothers' invention, 
along with the advancements of other scientists and engineers 
who made human flight one of the most important technical 
achievements of the twentieth century.

The symposium will be divided into three panel sessions that 
will profile "Dreamers and Doers," Barnstormers and 
Entrepreneurs," and "Aerospace Leaders and Managers." NASA's 
Glenn Research Center Director Dr. Julian M. Earls will 
welcome participants prior to the start of the first panel 
session. NASA Headquarters historians Steven J. Dick and 
Stephen J. Garber will offer concluding remarks.

Featured speakers and their topics follow.

Tom Crouch, senior curator for aeronautics at the 
Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in 
Washington, will focus on Willy Ley, a German rocket 
enthusiast featured in Crouch's recent book, "Aiming for 
the Stars: Dreamers and Doers of the Space Age." Crouch is 
the author of the prize-winning book "The Bishop's Boys: A 
Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright."

Alan Gropman, professor at the Industrial College of the 
Armed Forces, National Defense University, will provide a 
personal glimpse of the accomplishments of Benjamin O. 
Davis Jr. General Davis led the Tuskegee Airmen during 
World War II and played a major role in the integration of 
the U.S. Armed Forces.

Susan Ware of Harvard University will speak on Amelia 
Earhart. Ware is the author of "Still Missing: Amelia 
Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism."

Tami Davis Biddle, a professor at the U.S. Army War 
College, will discuss "Curtis E. LeMay and the Ascent of 
American Strategic Airpower."

Roger E. Bilstein, of the University of Houston, Clear 
Lake, and author of many books on aviation, including 
"Flight in America" and "The Enterprise of Flight: The 
American Aviation and Aerospace Industry," will speak on 
"Donald Douglas: From Aeronautics to Aerospace."

Other profiles include:

"The Astronaut's Godfather: Robert Gilruth and the Origins 
of Human Spaceflight," by Roger D. Launius, National Air 
and Space Museum;

"Bessie Coleman: The Irrepressible Dreams and Harsh 
Realities of Flight," by Amy Sue Bix, Iowa State 
University;

"The Political and Diplomatic Skills of Juan Trippe, 
Founder of Pan American Airways," by William M. Leary, 
University of Georgia;

"The Autogiro Files the Mail: Edward V. Rickenbacker, 
Eastern Air Lines, and the Experimental Use of Rotorcraft, 
1939-1940," by W. David Lewis, Auburn University;

"A Powerful Influence: NASA's Hugh L. Dryden," by Michael 
Gorn, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center;

"Wernher von Braun: A Visionary as Engineer and Manager," 
by Andrew J. Dunar, University of Alabama in Huntsville; 
and 

"Celebrating the Invention of Flight in a Hands-On Way: 
Replicating the 1902 Experimental Glider Flights of the 
Wright Brothers," by Edward J. Pershey, Western Reserve 
Historical Society.

The symposium is sponsored by NASA and the U.S. Centennial of 
Flight Commission. Local sponsors include NASA's Glenn 
Research Center, The Great Lakes Science Center, the history 
departments of Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland 
State University, The Northeast Chapter of the Tuskegee 
Airmen, Inc., and the International Women's Air and Space 
Museum.

The event, which is free and open to the public, begins at 
8:30 a.m. in the Reinberger Auditorium at The Great Lakes 
Science Center. Seating is limited, so early registration is 
encouraged. For a complete program and details on how to 
register, visit:

http://history.nasa.gov/rdfconf/index.html


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