The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award has recognized the notable achievements in the field of aviation safety, to include civil or military, in method, design, invention, study or other improvement. The Award originates from 1956 by Dr. Clifford E, Barbour and his son Cliff through a collaboration of the Flight Safety Foundations Jerome Lederer and Gloria Heath.
The award was established in memory of the late Laura Taber Barbour (wife of Dr. Clifford E, Barbour and mother of his son Cliff) who was killed aboard a Pennsylvania Central Airline DC-3 crash in 1945 near Morgantown, West Virginia. She was among 17 passengers and a crew of three who crashed into the Cheat Mountain during a turbulent electrical storm.
Although uncertain, the grandson of the founder of the medal (Philip Barbour) surmises the original concept of the medallion was designed by one or both artists, Betty Patton Barbour (his grandfather’s second wife) and Mildred Fessenden Taber Keally (his grandmother’s sister).
1956 Dugald O. Black, Gerard J. Pesman, I. Irving Pinkel and G. Merritt Preston, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Lewis Flight Propulsion Center
1957 Harry F. Guggenheim
1958 James Martin, OBE, United Kingdom
1959 Allen L. Morse, U.S. Federal Aviation Agency
1960 Melvin N. Gough, U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Langley Research Center
1961 E.S. Calvert and J.W. Sparke, U.K. Royal Aircraft Establishment
1962 Otto E. Kirchner Sr., The Boeing Co.
1963 David D. Thomas, U.S. Federal Aviation Agency
1964 Philip Donely, U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Langley Research Center; Jerome Lederer, Flight Safety Foundation (honorary)
1965 Arthur E. Jenks, U.S. Federal Aviation Agency; Gloria W. Heath, Flight Safety Foundation (honorary)
1966 Francis McCourt, U.S. Army Aviation Materiel Laboratories
1967 W.O. Breuhaus and William F. Milliken Jr., Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory; W.M. Kauffman, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Ames Research Center
1968 Walter Tye, U.K. Air Registration Board
1969 Theodore G. Linnert, Air Line Pilots Association, International
1970 Joseph J. O'Connell Jr. and staff, Bureau of Aviation Safety, U.S. National Transportation Safety Board
1971 Malcolm Kuhring, National Research Council, Canada
1972 Dr. John A. Swearingen, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration Civil Aeromedical Research Institute
1973 Capt. Homer Mouden, Braniff Airlines and Air Line Pilots Association, International
1974 Dr. Ross McFarland, Guggenheim Center, Harvard University
1975 Fred Earnest Weick (retired), Piper Aircraft Corp.
1976 George Wansbeek, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
1977 James E. Dougherty, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
1978 Capt. B. Victor Hewes, Air Line Pilots Association, International
1979 Capt. Paul A. Soderlind, Northwest Airlines
1980 Delfina R. Mott, Association of Flight Attendants
1981 Charles E. Billings, U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ames Research Center
1982 John T. Richards, Aviation Safety Bureau, Transport Canada
1983 Brian Hamliton Heeps, Repco Corp., Australia
1984 Walter B. Horne (retired), U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Langley Research Center
1985 Gary S. Livack, General Aviation Manufacturers Association
1986 Warren A. Stauffer (retired), Lockheed Corp.
1987 Hortencio G. Morsch, Varig Brazilian Airlines
1988 Capt. J. L. DeCelles (retired), Trans World Airlines
1989 Capt. Heino Caesar, Lufthansa German Airlines
1990 Capt. John X. Stefanki (retired), United Airlines
1991 Robert E. Doll, United Airlines
1992 Dr. William Reynard, U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ames Research Center
1993 Hidemaro Nagano, Japan Air Lines; John H. Enders, Flight Safety Foundation (honorary)
1994 Capt. H. Ray Lahr (retired), United Airlines
1995 C.O. Miller, System Safety
1996 Capt. Robert G. Buley, Northwest Airlines
1997 William G. Laynor (retired), U.S. National Transportation Safety Board
1998 Vice Admiral Brent M. Bennitt, U.S. Navy (retired)
1999 Meritt M. Birky, Ph.D., U.S. National Transportation Safety Board
2000 Capt. Richard Slatter, C Eng, FRAeS, Consultant, International Civil Aviation Organization
2001 Joseph Andrew Wright Sr., ARFF Technical Services
2002 Capt. Edmond L. Soliday (retired), United Airlines
2003 Capt. Robert L. Sumwalt, US Airways and Air Line Pilots Association, International
2004 Kay Yong, Ph.D., Aviation Safety Council, Taiwan, China
2005 Capt. Ralph S. Johnson
2006 Don Bateman, Honeywell
2007 John R. Ackland, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
2008 Capt. Bertrand de Couville, Air France
2009 Nicholas A. Sabatini, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (retired)
2010 Dr. Harold O. Demuren, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority
2011 Capt. John Cox, Safety Operating Systems
2012 Robert Sheffield, Shell Aviation (retired)
2013 Key Dismukes, NASA Ames Research Center
2014 William E. Chiles, "Target Zero" - Bristow Group's Culture of Safety Team
2015 Nancy Graham, ICAO Air Navigation Bureau
2016 Ken Smart, U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch, British Airways
2017 Margaret (Peggy) Gilligan, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
2018 Tay Tiang Guan, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore; honorary awards to Paul Russell (Boeing) and Jay Pardee (FAA), U.S. Commercial Aviation Safety Team
2019 Cameron Ross, Flight Safety Foundation's Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS)
2020 John Goglia, U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (retired); honorary award to Sir Stuart Matthews, Flight Safety Foundation (retired)
2021 Henry Gourdji, International Civil Aviation Organization (retired)
2022 General Richard A. Cody, U.S. Army, Retired
2023 Tom, Kok, Director of AviAssist Foundation
2024 Susan E. Northrop, MD., MPH
This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.