Published: December 18, 2008 11:40 pm         

Collins to be inducted into National Aviation Hall of Fame

Staff and wire reports



Eileen Collins, one of the first women to graduate from pilot training at Vance Air Force Base and a pioneer in the space shuttle program, will be inducted next summer into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

Officials at the hall in Dayton, Ohio, said Thursday others to be inducted in July will be Jimmy Stewart, the late Hollywood actor and bomber pilot during World War II; the late Edward White, an astronaut in the Gemini and Apollo programs; and Russell Meyer Jr., former head of Cessna Aircraft Co.

After being one of the first two women to successfully complete pilot training at Vance in 1979, Collins was chosen as a First Assignment Instructor Pilot in the T-38. In all, she served at Vance from 1978 to 1982.

In the early 1990s, Collins was accepted into the astronaut program and, in 1995, she piloted space shuttle Discovery into orbit. She also piloted Atlantis and was commander of missions aboard Columbia and Discovery.

She returned to Enid in 1990 with 22 other astronauts for ejection seat and parachute training, then returned almost annually during the 1990s to use Vance’s simulators for emergency procedure training.

Collins, a married mother of two, retired from the Air Force in 2005 as a full colonel and retired from NASA in 2006. Today, she does public speaking, talking about the opportunities the military offers young people, and is a member of NASA’s advisory council.

Last June, Collins was in Enid for the dedication of the “Pioneers Past, Present and Future,” statue on the downtown Square. The monument features three one-half life-sized figures — a “Boomer” who participated in the Cherokee Strip Land Run of 1893, a World War II aviator and an astronaut. The figures represent different phases of Enid’s history. Collins was the model for the astronaut figure, while the World War II aviator was modeled after Lt. Col. Leon R. Vance Jr., the Medal of Honor winner for whom Vance is named.

The hall also will present its annual Spirit of Flight Award to the Apollo astronaut crews for their role in enabling man to walk on the moon and return safely to Earth.

The hall was founded in 1962 in Dayton, hometown of the Wright brothers, and was later chartered by Congress. Wilbur and Orville Wright were the first inductees.