32nd Annual Crystal Eagle Dinner honoring
Prof. Thomas E. Leonard

October 25, 2014

The Aero Club of Northern California invites you to the annual Crystal Eagle Award Dinner honoring Thomas E. Leonard, professor/chairman emeritus of the San Jost State Department of Aeronautics/Aviation.

The event will be at 6:15 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, at the Hiller Aviation Museum, 601 Skyway Road at San Carlos Airport. Dinner will be served at 7:30 p.m.

The Aero Club also will present National Aeronautic Association Certificate awards to two individuals for their significant contributions to aviation. Scholarships will be awarded to several students enrolled in Bay Area college and university aviation programs. Dinner ticket prices just cover the cost of the event, so we rely upon contributions and Silent Auction bids to fund the scholarships.

Leonard is being honored with the 32^nd prestigious Crystal Eagle for his more than four decades as a college aeronautics professor and department chairman who made the San Jose State program the flagship aviation program in California, sending thousands of graduates into the aviation industry. Now 92, Leonard retired in 1985 and is professor/chairman emeritus. He and his wife, Ann, reside in San Jose.

Leonard worked for Pan American World Airways in 1942-43 and served in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943-44. He earned his aeronautical engineering degree from Cal Poly State College at San Luis Obispo in 1946 and later that year joined the faculty at San Jose State College, where he earned his master’s degree in 1956. Under his guidance, San Jose State developed an aeronautics facility at San Jose’s then-municipal airport by the early 1960s where the program operated for 50 years. It now is housed in facilities at Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose.

In 2004, Leonard was one of seven people nationwide named an Elder Statesman of Aviation by the National Aeronautic Association for their contributions of significant value to aeronautics.

The Crystal Eagle Award was first presented by the Aero Club in 1983 to legendary aviator Gen. Jimmy Doolittle. Among past recipients are Gen. Chuck Yeager, Stanley Hiller Jr., Jim Nissen,  George Cooper, Jeana Yeager, James S. Ricklefs, Darryl Greenamyer, Paul Poberezny, Eileen Collins, Sean D. Tucker, Steve Fossett, Brian Shul, C.E. “Bud” Anderson, Julie Clark and Rod Machado.

Aero Club Membership is $40/year and dinner tickets, including museum admission, are $70 each. Reservations are due by October 17, after which a $10 per person late fee applies. Reservations are required; no tickets will be sold at the door. Come join us and help make it a night to remember!
Sincerely,

Max Trescott
President
Aero Club of Northern California

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