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[[image - drawing of Octave Chanute, by Milton Caniff]]

AWARD

OCTAVE CHANUTE
1832-1910

A SUCCESSFUL CIVIL ENGINEER IN HIS SIXTIES, CHANUTE BECAME CAPTIVATED BY THE ATTEMPTS OF OTHERS TO GLIDE AND ACHIEVE POWERED FLIGHT. HE BECAME A DEVOTED STUDENT OF AERONAUTICAL HISTORY AND IN 1894 HIS CLASSIC BOOK "PROGRESS IN FLYING MACHINES" WAS PUBLISHED.

NOT SATISFIED JUST TO RECORD THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF OTHERS, CHANUTE BEGAN IN 1896 TO SEARCH FOR AUTOMATIC FLIGHT CONTROL BY DESIGNING AND BUILDING A SERIES OF GLIDERS WHICH WERE SUCCESSFULLY FLOWN BY AN ASSISTANT ALONG LAKE MICHIGAN'S SHORE. IN 1901 HE VISITED THE WRIGHT BROTHERS AND ENCOURAGED THEM IN THEIR GLIDING EXPERIMENTS, TYPIFYING HIS ROLE AS A COLLECTOR AND DISSEMINATIOR OF AERONAUTICAL INFORMATION AND DEMONSTRATING HIS FAITH IN THE ULTIMATE SUCCESS OF MAN TO ACHIEVE POWERED FLIGHT.

TO OCTAVE CHANUTE, FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS TO AVIATION THROUGH HIS COMPILATION OF THE AERONAUTICAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE PIONEERS OF FLIGHT, HIS DEMONSTRATION OF SUCCESSFUL MAN-CARRYING GLIDERS, AND HIS VALUABLE COUNSEL TO OTHERS ENGAGED IN FLIGHT RESEARCH, THIS AWARD IS MOST SOLEMNLY AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.

AWARDED DECEMBER 17, 1963 AT DAYTON, OHIO
THE NATIONAL AVIATION HALL OF FAME