Gallery: A Retrospective On Aviation Week Network's Laureate Award Winners (1980s)

For forging the system that raised production rates for the A300 within a European labor system that prohibited layoffs to deal with short-term fluctuations in demand.

For flying the space shuttle orbiter Columbia into orbit to make the historic first airplane-type landing of a spacecraft.

For transforming the laser gyro from a laboratory curiosity into a reliable inertial navigation sensor for the new Boeing 767.

For tight management of the USAF/Rockwell International B-1B bomber development, keeping the highly visible procurement within budget and ahead of schedule.

For high performance testing of the low-altitude, high angle-of-attack, asymmetric thrust program for the U.S. Navy/Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighter.

For his key role in establishing France’s program for the CNES Spot Earth resources satellite and implementing a commercially oriented international distribution network.

Who died because elements of their support team grew complacent about the unforgiving realities of space flight. They remind us that progress can still extract a heavy toll.

For unwavering support of the Strategic Defense Initiative despite intense U.S. political and Soviet pressure to abandon the ballistic missile defense system.

For rapidly developing exotic aircraft with a small team of engineers, keeping corporate and Defense Department officials at arm’s length to turn new ideas into hardware. 

For transforming a nearly bankrupt government entity into a top-ranked, globally competitive private airline and posting record profits.