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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. David Henninger

Allen Dutton Henninger was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 23,1921. Allen's interest in aviation evolved at an early age, as a teenager Al built many model airplanes and at fifteen won model airplane contests for rubber band and gas powered models. In early 1941, Al left Wilmington College to work for the Wright Aeronautical Company at Evendale, Ohio testing production R2600 engines. He became a licensed pilot in the company-flying club. In 1942, Al gave up his industrial draft deferment and enlisted in the Navy. After basic training, he was sent to Memphis Air Technical Training Center (aircraft machinist mate school) and then to Pan American flight engineers school at New York City, New York. Al was assigned to Naval Air Transport Squadrons in Oakland, California, Honolulu, Hawaii, Johnston and Tarawa Islands. After WWII, Al went to work for the Aeronca Aircraft Company and then went back to the Wright Aeronautical Company later bought by General Electric. In 1955, Al accepted a job as an engine test cell craftsman and later a supervisor of craftsman at the Arnold Engineering Development Center (A.E.D.C), Arnold Air Force Base, Tullahoma, Tennessee. In his twenty eight years of work at A.E.D.C. his teams tested most jet engines and rocket engines developed in the 1955 to 1982 time period. Al helped test the first rocket engines used to land on the moon and ascend from the moon to lunar orbit and developmental engines for many of the fighters in service today. Al retired in 1983 and has stayed active in aviation as a board member of the Staggerwing Museum Foundation and as a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association. He also helps friends rebuild antique and vintage airplanes at the Tullahoma Airport, which he visits almost every day. Al rebuilt his first airplane, a 1939 Dart GW NC20918 in the early 1950s. He still owns three aircraft, a 1933 Heath CNA40 NC13532, a 1939 Fairchild 24W9 NC22032, and a 1947 Aeronca 11AC N3814E.
In March 2006, Al and Betty Jane Stacey Henninger will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. They have two sons Allen Stacey Henninger and David Scott Henninger.