Irwin H. Hertz

Foil: 17 Panel: 3 Column: 3 Line: 79

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. Eli Hertz

Irwin Hertz has been an aviation enthusiast since the days of tail draggers and NDB (only) approaches. His love for aviation started as a young child in the early 1940's and has not waned since. During World War II, he attempted to join the Navy to be a Naval Aviator, but was not permitted due to color blindness. Undaunted, Irwin served his country in the trenches throughout Europe as an infantryman, but watched the skies above and listened to the first sounds of jets overhead.
Irwin returned to the states and earned his pilot’s license, in the days of low and slow, and bought a Vagabond as his first airplane. He took his wife home to her parents across the state of PA after a crank start and watching the fuel level with a floating cork. He kept flying and his love of aviation throughout his adult life, instilling in his sons the passion of aviation , taking them to airshows and making a trip to the local airport to visit the family airplane a regular occurrence.
One of his most memorable flights was a flight in a Cherokee Six into Washington Dulles to drop one of his sons off to college. When clearing the active runway and holding short between the dual runway, the tower gave him a heads up of the Concorde on final approach. We all sat and watched this graceful bird land and roll-out in front of us, in awe of her lines and grace. This flight became one of the hallmark flights of his aviation career and one he would refer to many times.
It is a pleasure for him to visit Udvar-Hazy to see one of these sleek birds, and will be an honor to be remembered as an aviation enthusiast to visitors in the future.