Author David McCullough to receive Combs Gates award

McCullough will receive the award from National Aviation Hall of Fame representatives and several of the individuals who have been enshrined by the institution on Nov. 2 at the National Business Aviation Association’s sixty-ninth Annual Meeting and Convention in Orlando, Florida.

The book, published by Simon & Schuster in 2015, “presents the extraordinary story-behind-the-story of two brothers from Dayton, Ohio—Orville and Wilbur Wright—and how they succeeded at mastering powered, controlled flight where many others had failed,” said the Dayton, Ohio-based National Aviation Hall of Fame, announcing its fourteenth annual award.  “Since its release, The Wright Brothers has become a best-selling hardback and paperback edition, and was optioned as the source material for an upcoming mini-series about the brothers.”

McCullough is a two-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Truman and John Adams, and has twice received the National Book Award for The Path Between the Seas and Mornings on Horseback.

The Combs Gates Award, formerly the Combs Award, grew out of a donation to the National Aviation Hall of Fame by the late Harry Combs, who was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1996 and played a major role in the growth of business aviation. As part of a  $1.3 million gift to help fund the creation of a National Aviation Hall of Fame research center, Combs stipulated that the Combs Award be established to encourage and support relevant aviation history research and preservation efforts, the organization said.

John Gates and his sister, Diane G. Wallach, are co-trustees of the Gates Frontiers Fund. Gates was a partner with Combs in several aviation businesses, including the Combs Gates FBO chain and Gates Learjet. The 2016 award marks the eleventh year that the award’s name reflects a multi-year commitment by the Gates Frontiers Fund to endow the award.

To secure an application to submit a project for 2017 Combs Gates Award consideration, please contact the National Aviation Hall of Fame's Harry B. Combs Research Department at 937/256-0944, extension 19, or visit the organization's website.