Presented from 1964 to 1981, this award recognized individuals whose work constituted pioneering contributions to the field of aerospace. In the early 1980s, leadership decided that contemporary achievements were more appropriately described as "outstanding" rather than "pioneering," and the award was renamed.
| Year | Recipient | Affiliation | Citation / Achievement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Wendell Moore | Bell Aircraft | Development of the Small Rocket Lift Device (rocket belt) |
| 1965 | Waldemar O. Breuhaus | Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory | |
| 1966 | Kenneth Levin | Bell Aerosystems | Development of the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) |
| 1968 | Walter Kistler | Kistler Instrument Corporation | |
| 1969 | Desmond Earl | Bell | |
| 1970 | Martin Drexhage | Bell | |
| 1971 | Frank Pelton | Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory | |
| 1972 | William Smith | Bell | Career spanning X-1, X-2, X-22, and hovercraft programs |
| 1973 | Robert Wolf | Bell | |
| 1974 | George Rudinger | Bell | |
| 1975 | William J. Rae | Calspan | |
| 1976 | Roger C. Weatherston | Calspan | |
| 1977 | Ernest Metzger | Bell | Development of the Gravity Gradiometer for submarine navigation |
| 1978 | James Reddig | Eastman Kodak | Contributions to aerospace optics (classified Gambit-3 / KH-8 work recognized later) |
| 1979 | J. Gordon Hall | SUNY Buffalo | |
| 1981 | Frank M. Anthony | Bell |
Introduced in the early 1980s as a replacement for the Pioneer Award, this honor recognized notable achievements in the field of aeronautics and astronautics. The last known recipient was Henry Heubusch in 1995; the award was apparently discontinued shortly thereafter.
| Year | Recipient | Affiliation | Citation / Achievement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Michael G. Dunn | Calspan | |
| 1984 | John L. (Jack) Beilman | Calspan | Program manager of the X-22 ducted tilt-rotor; inventor of the LORAS low-airspeed sensor |
| 1985 | Lee Carey | Bell | |
| 1986 | Robert Harper | Calspan | Co-developer of the Cooper-Harper aircraft handling qualities rating scale |
| 1987 | Herbert Reismann | SUNY Buffalo | |
| 1988 | Charles Treanor | Calspan | |
| 1989 | H. Robert Leland | Calspan | |
| 1990 | Paul Marrone | Calspan | |
| 1991 | Charles Wittliff | Calspan | |
| 1994 | George Ord | Carleton Controls | "No American has breathed in space without a regulator designed by George Ord." |
| 1995 | Henry Ph. Heubusch | Bell | Innovative analysis and solution of the titanium-tank leakage problem of the Apollo Lunar Module Rocket Engine |
Established in 2024, this award recognizes outstanding young aerospace professionals within the section's geographic area (New York, Ontario, and Québec). See the Young Professional Award page for full details and photos.