The founder of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Paul Poberezny has died after a fight with cancer. He was 91.
One of the most highly-decorated pilots in tha US, Poberezny started the EAA in his garage and fostered it until it grew to 170,000 members world-wide, and gave the world its greatest fly-in: Oshkosh.
The first fly-in was held in 1953, the same year that he and a handful of enthusiasts from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, founded the EAA. Poberezny spent many hours flying around the USA to spread the word and represented the rights of amateur-built aircraft owners in Washington DC.
A veteran of both World War II and the Korean War, he flew nearly 500 different types over a 70-year career in the air, and designed 15 home-built kits including the Pober Pixie and the Acro Sport.
His awards include:
- Billy Mitchell Award for Aviation Achievement (1956)
- National Pilots Association Pilot of the Year (1966)
- FAA Award for Extraordinary Service (1972)
- Frank G Brewer Trophy (1979)
- Federation Aeronautique Internationale Gold Air Award (1983)
- NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (1983)
- Lindbergh Fund Eagle Award (1987)
- Charles A Lindbergh Award for Lifetime Achievement (1990)
- Inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame (1999)
- Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy (2002)
Poberenzy is often quoted as having said "I am a millionaire, because through aviation I have a million friends" and "I’ve learned more about people through my association with aviation than I ever did about airplanes."
He died at Evergreen Retirement Village in Wisconsin, only a stone's throw from the airfield at Oshkosh.