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The 43th annual dinner will recognize three people connected to New Jersey and who have each uniquely contributed to the advancement of human flight, said Shea Oakley, Aviation Hall of Fame Executive Director.
The fundraising dinner is open to the public and will be held at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at the Fiesta Ballroom, Rt. 17 South in Wood-Ridge. .
Tickets are $110. Call 201-288-6344 for more information or email-njahof@verizon.net.
This year’s inductees are,
Aviation trailblazer Janine K. Iannarelli of Fair Lawn, class of 1979, is a 1983 Montclair State University business graduate who founded an international jet brokerage firm.
She launched Par Avion Ltd. in 1997 in Houston and also has an office in Ridgewood.
With over 30 years of experience, Iannarelli is considered a pioneer among women in business aviation. She is a highly-regarded “industry icon” and business aviation advocate. Her extensive experience selling Dassault jets has earned her the nickname “The Falcon Lady.”
Astronaut Robert J. Cenker of East Windsor was on the space shuttle Columbia for the launch/deployment of the Satcom Ku1 spacecraft on Space Shuttle Mission 61-C in 1986. During this flight, he traveled over 2 million miles in 96 orbits and spent 146 hours in space.
He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State and a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers.
He is now consulting with various firms in the areas of spacecraft design, assembly, flight operations, and micro-gravity research.
Aviation technology innovator William McE. Miller Jr. of Princeton was born in Iran to missionary parents. At 18 he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and became a Naval Aviator during the immediate post-war period. Miller flew Grumman F-4U Corsair fighters off the carrier U.S.S. Kearsarge and from the Naval Air Station in Willow Grove, Penn.
He lead Aereon, a startup aviation technology company, after earning a Masters at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Aereon was well-known in the late 1960s and early 1970s for its efforts to develop a commercially viable “Aerobody,” a cargo-carrying hybrid of the rigid airship and the airplane.
In 1973 a book by New Yorker magazine writer John McPhee, “The Deltoid Pumpkinseed,” popularized the company’s efforts to test small-scale models of the aerobody and put it into series production as the “DYNAIRSHIP.”
While under Miller’s multi-decade leadership, Aereon successfully pursued the construction and flight testing of a piloted prototype aerobody, the Aereon 26. The company also developed the WASP (Wide Aperture Surveillance Platform), and conducted DynASTOL contract research on a military version of the aerobody for the defense department.
Several large defense contractors announced aerobody projects of their own.
Founded in 1972, the Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum of New Jersey is dedicated to the preservation of the Garden State's distinguished, two-century aviation and space heritage. Men and women whose outstanding aeronautical achievements have brought worldwide recognition to the state are enshrined in the Hall of Fame. The Port Authority of NY & NJ generously supports the museum by providing various services.
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