About

Starting in September 2011 (Kansas Aviation’s 100th Anniversary Month), the Kansas Aviation Centennial is a year-long, state-wide commemoration of the state’s most spectacular major industry. The Centennial Committee organizes, conducts, and supports activities and projects that spread the knowledge, appreciation, and understanding of Kansas aviation and its history. To commemorate this nearly-overlooked major milestone in Kansas progress, a group of Kansas historians and aviation experts from different parts of the state (chiefly in the Wichita area), joined together, on relatively short notice, to produce the Kansas Aviation Centennial. But we can’t do it alone. Your participation and support are needed to bring alive the past — and illuminate the future — of the high-tech industry that makes Kansas famous around the globe. Join the Centennial Boosters, participate in Centennial Events, and share the story of Kansas’s leading role in the world’s most dynamic industry. Opportunities for volunteers abound, and additional Centennial Committee members are being recruited. The Centennial depends upon community support. Please contribute to the cause.
The Kansas Aviation Centennial Committee 
* = also Member of the KACC Panel of Historians

Acting Chairman: 
Richard Harris * 

Consultant, 
  Richard Harris & Assoc. 
Kansas Aviation Historian, 
  Kansas Humanities Council 
Member/Journalist, 
  American Aviation Historical Society 
Certified Aeronautics Instructor 
Wichita

Jay Price, Ph.D. * 
Director of Public History 
  Wichita State University 
Member, Board of Directors, 
  Kansas Humanities Council 
Member, Nat’l Council on Public History 
Wichita

Brian Youngers, Pilot 
President, 
  Kansas Commission 
  on Aerospace Education 
General Manager, 
  Wells Aircraft Service 
Hutchinson

Walt House * 
Curator & Historian 
  Kansas Aviation Museum 
  (Smithsonian Institute affiliate) 
Wichita

Jim Bert, MA, History 
Director 
  Mid-America Aviation Museum 
Liberal

Frank J. Rowe * 
Aviation Design Executive 
Kansas Aviation Historian & Author 
Founding Member, 
  Kansas Historical Society 
Member, Experimental Aircraft Assn. 
Member, Antique Aircraft Assn. 
Wichita

Mark Vittorini 
Aerospace Structures/Systems Designer 
President 
  Air Capital IPMS Modelers 
Wichita

Steve Alexander, AMT 
Pilot & Aircraft Technician 
Member, 
  Professional Aviation Maintenance Assn. 
Oxford/Topeka

Carl Chance 
Editor & Webmaster 
WingsOverKansas.com 
Air Capital Report online 
Wichita


KACC non-member, 
on the KACC Panel of Historians: 
John Davis * 

Former Director, 
  AvData International 
Author, several aviation history books 
Wichita / United Kingdom