VAHS Chairman’s Monthly Message – August 2026
Greetings Fellow VAHS Members,
I hope this message finds you well and in good spirits!
Our ops tempo slowed a bit in August due to vacations and other summertime activities, but the VAHS did accomplish some very important business primarily focused on planning and organizing the 2026 Hall of Fame (HoF) induction ceremony scheduled for Saturday November 7 at the Ford’s Colony Country Club in Williamsburg. See attached invitation. Please note that rsvp’s are due by October 7. The HoF event is the high spot of the year for the Society and is always a grand and enjoyable affair. Many thanks to VAHS Administrator Sue Baker for leading the effort and making the arrangements! Please attend to celebrate the 2026 inductees and support the VAHS.
Loan agreements were recently signed to display HoF portraits of Dr. Gladys West at the Dahlgren Heritage Museum and Karl Stoltzfus at Dynamic Aviation in Bridgewater, Virginia. Efforts are also ongoing to place two additional portraits at the Williamsburg Airport. A total of fifty portraits will be on display at regional airports and museums within the next few weeks. Negotiations for placement of additional HoF portraits are underway with the Cold War Museum, Virginia National Guard Museum, and Chesterfield, Hummel, and Lynchburg Airports.
I will be presenting my “Firsts in Flight Along the Potomac” overview briefing to the National Air and Space Museum Docent Enrichment Program on September 14. I am hopeful this initiative will lead to a mutually beneficial relationship between NASM and VAHS.
A private group tour of the Dynamic Aviation facility in Bridgewater, Virginia and the first aircraft officially designated as Air Force One we (President Eisenhower’s “Columbine II”) has been arranged for Saturday October 3. All VAHS members and one guest are invited to participate. Please rsvp directly to me at richardgenaille@gmail.com with your/guest’s name, address, email and telephone number by September 17.
We are in the initial planning stages of assembling a large traveling display of VAHS archives materials. The concept is to rotate the display through selected Virginia museums and Airports statewide. The display will be refreshed periodically with new materials so that a significant amount of VAHS archives materials will be displayed over time. The traveling archives could be stand alone displays or combined with aviation related events for educational and fundraising purposes. Hopefully, VAHS will be able to afford digitizing the archives TBD in the future. Until that time, the traveling show will be the next best/affordable way to make our archival treasures available to the public.
You will soon, if you have not already, receive a solicitation in the mail to participate in the VAHS 2026 fund raising drive. I know, here I go again, but the hard truth is that the VAHS exists only because of the generosity of our members and donors. Many thanks to our members who have graciously donated so far! Although our expenses are modest, we have been on the verge of insolvency for years. As it stands now, new initiatives such as digitizing VAHS archives and collecting/preserving additional historic artifacts are not possible. In addition to financial support, another way to support VAHS is to recruit new members. Our goal for 2026 is $50,000. Many thanks in advance for your support!
The VAHS desperately needs to fill several Board of Directors positions this year and next with volunteers who have the time, energy and dedication to set the VAHS up to be successful in the future. Please contact me directly at richardgenaille@gmail.com or cell 571-215-3668 if you are interested in volunteering of would like more information about serving on the Board of Directors. We are also in dire need of a tech savvy volunteer with website development expertise to modernize the VAHS website.
Best regards,
Richard (Dick) Genaille
Chairman of the Board
Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society
