A Corsair takes the trophy again

Flight Journal, Feb 2001

September 2000, Reno, Nevada. The Second Annual Rolls-- Royce Aviation Heritage Invitational was held at the National Championship Air Races. Sponsors were Rolls-Royce North America, the National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF), the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) and the Reno Air Racing Association (RARA). The goal is to encourage the preservation of aviation history, so the competition is open to authentically restored, flyable aircraft that are at least 45 years old and not entered in the Air Races. Judging criteria were developed by NASM experts and include technical merit, quality of workmanship and accuracy of restoration.

Among the 23 aircraft displayed on the ramp were classics that included a pair of Mustangs and B-25Js, a 1928 Curtiss Robin, a Fairchild PT-26, a T-6G Texan, a Stinson Reliant, a North American NA-50 and a Grumman Tigercat.

Ray and Sherri Dieckman of Corona Del Mar, California, earned the four-foot, custom-carved Aviation Heritage trophy. Their 1944 FG-1D Corsair in WW II Marine Corps markings was also the choice of the thousands of spectators who voted to award it the NAHF's "People's Choice" award. The tricolor, matte-finish Corsair is the result of the Dieckmans' five-year "hobby." It had already won the WW II Reserve Grand Champion and Golden Wrench Award at July's EAA AirVenture.

With the Aviation Heritage trophy as a centerpiece and their stunning warbird as a backdrop, the Dieckmans accepted their two personal trophies in front of a packed Reno Air Race grandstand on Sunday, September 17. The trophies were presented by NAHF enshrinee, Gen. Paul Tibbets Jr., USAF (Ret.); Ron Kaplan, NAHF Deputy Director; Gen. Jack Dailey, USMC (Ret.), NASM Director; Ian Aitken, Rolls-Royce vice president; and other representatives of the sponsoring partners.

The Rolls-Royce Aviation Heritage Trophy will be displayed at the National Aviation Hall of Fame Learning and Research Center in Dayton, Ohio. When the NASM facility at Washington's Dulles International Airport is opened in 2003, the trophy will alternate annually between there and NAHF.

For more information, contact RARA at www.airrace.org or NAHF at www.nationalaviation.org.