The James H. Doolittle Award is an honor presented annually by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. It is an award for "outstanding accomplishment in technical management or engineering achievement in aerospace technology". The award consists of a perpetual trophy on permanent display at SETP headquarters, and a smaller replica presented to the recipient. It is named after General James Doolittle, famous for the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo during World War II.
The Doolittle Trophy is a bronze form melding an aerodynamic shape, a stylized spacecraft, and a winged human figure. The aerodynamic shape stands for the scientists and engineers who provide technological breakthroughs. The spacecraft represents continued growth of the aerospace industry. The human figure represents the pilot who guides the test effort to reach its goals. A helmet and goggles rest on the base of the trophy symbolizing the tools of the early test pilot and Jimmy Doolittle himself. Plaques bearing the name of each honoree are mounted around the sides of the teak base.
Criteria The Society lists three criteria for nominations to this award: The recipient must be a living member of the Society A significant phase of the accomplishment must have occurred while a member of the Society The accomplishment must clearly be in the technical management or engineering aspects of aerospace technology
Recipients Recipients of the SETP J. H. Doolittle Award include: 1966 - James L. Pearce 1967 - Richard W. Taylor 1968 - William Paul Thayer 1969 - Guy M. Townsend, BGen., USAF (Ret) 1970 - William M. Magruder 1971 - C. H. Meyer 1972 - Donald K. Slayton, NASA/MSC 1973 - William S. Ross, McDonnell Aircraft Company 1974 - William R. Murray 1975 - Robert A. Rushworth, Major General, USAF 1976 - Frank Borman 1977 - Robert C. Little 1978 - William R. Laidlaw 1979 - Thomas P. Stafford, LGen., USAF 1980 - J. Lynn Helms 1981 - Thomas B. Hayward, Admiral, USN 1982 - Allen E. Paulson 1983 - Herbert Z. Hopkins 1984 - Donald D. Engen, VAdm, USN (Ret) 1985 - Olle Klinker 1986 - Hon. John E. Krings 1987 - Burt Rutan, Scaled Composites 1988 - Richard H. Truly, Rear Admiral, USN 1989 - Irving L. Burrows 1990 - Robert P. Harper 1991 - Gordon E. Fornell, LGen., USAF 1992 - William C. Bowes, Vadm., USN and Peter W. Odgers, MGen, USAF (Ret) 1993 - A. W. "Tony" LeVier 1994 - Per E. Pellebergs 1995 - Stephan A. Hanvey 1996 - Sean C. Roberts, National Test Pilot School 1997 - Frank D. Robinson 1998 - J. Kenneth Higgins 1999 - Pete Reynolds 2000 - Sir Charles Masefield 2001 - Joseph Wendell Dyer, Jr., Vice Admiral (USN) / NASA / iRobot 2002 - Phil Schultz 2003 – Rogers E. Smith, EADS 2004 – Burt Rutan 2005 - Robert C. Ettinger, Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems 2006 - Terry E. Tomeny, Eclipse Aviation 2007 - Robert L. Crippen 2008 - M. Lynn Hanks, Army Technical Test Center 2009 - Louis H. Knotts, Calspan Corporation 2010 - Dennis P. O'Donoghue, The Boeing Company 2011 - Joseph E. Sweeney, Lockheed Martin 2012 - Doug Shane, Scaled Composites 2013 - Charles T. Burbage, Lockheed Martin 2014 - George E. Cooper, Charter Member 2015 - Harold R. Gaston, Gulfstream Aerospace 2016 - Jeffrey A. Wieringa, The Boeing Company 2017 - William Gray, U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School 2018 - Mike Carriker, The Boeing Company 2019 - Douglas A. Benjamin, The Boeing Company (Ret) 2020 - Dr. Allen L. Peterson, National Test Pilot School 2021 - Bruce Remick, Federal Aviation Administration (Ret) 2022 - Robert D. Cabana, NASA 2023 - Kelly Latimer, Virgin Galactic 2024 - Michael Masucci, Virgin Galactic 2025 - Giorgio Clementi, ITPS Canada 2026 - Greg Morris, Scaled Composites
See also
List of aviation awards
References