VAHS Chairman’s Monthly Message – September 2026
Fellow VAHS Members,
I hope you all had a great Labor Day holiday weekend, and that you are enjoying the onset of cooler fall weather.
September was another productive month for the VAHS.
On September 14, I presented my “Firsts in Flight Along the Potomac” briefing to a group of 50 National Air and Space Museum (NASM) docents as a guest speaker for the NASM Docent Enrichment Program. The presentation was well received and one docent signed up for VAHS membership.
The following day, Development and Marketing Committee Chairman Bud Oakey and I visited the Virginia National Guard Joint Headquarters building at the Defense Supply Center Richmond pursuant to a VAHS Hall of Fame (HoF) display initiative. The building is primarily office space, but there are literally hundreds of historic items decorating the walls in all the hallways. The curator was receptive to our proposal to display HoF portraits in the building. Many thanks to Buddy Oakey for arranging the meeting. More to follow on this promising initiative.
On October 24, I provided a VAHS introduction presentation and archives display to members of Aviation Explorer Scout Troop 1896 and parents at Stafford Airport. One scout signed up for VAHS membership and two others took membership forms, but wanted to discuss with their parents. The scouts and parents enjoyed the presentation and expressed interest in helping with any projects we may have.
The big news for September is VAHS launched a major project to overhaul/improve our website and online business processes. The goal is to make the website more useful and user friendly, and simplify the online membership renewal, donation and general administrative processes. Like all projects of this nature, funding will be critical. We are also looking for a VAHS volunteer with website development experience to help manage the project. We are in the early stages, so we do not have any cost estimates yet. We have deferred this project for too long. One thing is sure, it won’t be cheap. But we really don’t have a choice. We must get on with it. More to follow. In the meantime donations would be much appreciated to help us get started. See donation form attached. Our membership form is attached as well. Please use it to renew your membership if you have not done so, or recruit someone who may be interested in joining VAHS.
Looking forward to October, we have the Dynamic Aviation and First Air Force One tour this Saturday the 3rd. We will also be dedicating the Karl Stoltzfus HoF display. Fifty people signed up and the tour is now filled.
We will also be dedicating HoF displays at the Dahlgren Heritage Museum on October 7, and Hummel Field Airport in Topping, Virginia October 15.
Our annual HoF induction Ceremony is coming up on Saturday November 7. See invitation attached. Note that the last day to RSVP is October 7. It would be great to see you there!
Best regards,
Richard (Dick) Genaille
Chairman of the Board
Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society
