 WHS Trustee Marla Boone presents the Clayton Brukner Award to AOPA President Phil Boyer. |
 A line of Wacos at the Annual Waco Celebration and Reunion in Troy, Ohio, August 23. |
 AOPA President Phil Boyer with J.T. McCreery, who as a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilot) was part of the force that helped ferry military aircraft during World War II. She was also with the Waco tool design section just prior to the war. |
 The AOPA Sweepstakes Waco felt right at home at the Annual Waco Celebration. |
 This WACO UPF-7 (SN 5746) was built after the AOPA Centennial of Flight Sweepstakes Waco (SN 5379), although both are 1940 models. This Waco, owned by Dr. Don D. Delcamp of Troy, Ohio, has a Continental W670 engine. The AOPA Waco has been restored with a 275-hp Jacobs R755-B2, which technically makes the aircraft a ZPF-7. |
The Waco Historical Society (WHS) on Saturday presented AOPA with its Clayton Brukner Award, given to the person or group that demonstrates a longtime devotion to the causes, goals, and principles of the WHS. The Board of Trustees' decision to give the award to AOPA was based in general on the association's long history of promoting and defending general aviation, and in particular on the AOPA Centennial of Flight Sweepstakes Waco restoration project.
AOPA President Phil Boyer received the award on behalf of the association. "This airplane speaks to what flying is all about: the freedom, the joy, the excitement, the challenge," said Boyer. "It was the right plane for us to do as our sweepstakes prize on the 100th anniversary of powered flight.
"And it also reminds us of something else that is so important to our industry. This was a training aircraft, the first introduction to flight for many students. And students remain the lifeblood of our industry. It's only by continuing to nurture and encourage the desire to fly that we will keep general aviation strong and growing."
The Waco Historical Society was formed some 25 years ago in Troy, Ohio, home of the Weaver Aircraft Company (WACO) from the 1920s through the 1940s. The Clayton Brukner Award is named for one of the four founding members.
"The Waco Historical Society is different from the three Waco type clubs around the country," said Roy Redman, whose Rare Aircraft Company did the incredible restoration work on the AOPA sweepstakes aircraft, a 1940 Waco UPF-7 open-cockpit biplane. "The type clubs are mostly for Waco pilots and owners, but the historical society promotes Waco heritage among the general public, and especially the citizens of Troy, who are justifiably proud of their town's place in aviation history."
Anyone who joins or renews their membership in AOPA during the two-year sweepstakes period is automatically entered in the Centennial of Flight Sweepstakes. The grand prize will be awarded early in 2004. Click here for complete rules and eligibility requirements.
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