Walter J. Boyne

Walter J. Boyne (February 2, 1929 – January 9, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, Command Pilot, combat veteran, aviation historian, and author of more than 50 books and over 1,000 magazine articles. He was a director of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution and a Chairman of the National Aeronautic Association.

Walter Boyne was born in East Saint Louis, Illinois, and grew up the son of a poor family during the time of the Great Depression. He attended Holy Angels grade school where he first discovered an interest in writing. His love of flying was encouraged by dime novels of the day such as Robert J. Hogan's G-8 and His Battle Aces that depicted "America's World War I Flying Spy" engaged in air-to-air combat. He decided at this young age that he would become a pilot for the Air Force and focused his efforts to achieve that goal. Boyne earned a number of scholarships that enabled him to attend Washington University in St. Louis.

In May 1951, after two years at the university, Boyne entered the U.S. Air Force's Aviation Cadet program, where he learned a profound respect for the enlisted grades of the military. Boyne started flight school in November 1951 and became the first of his class to solo. On December 19, 1952, he was awarded his wings as an Air Force Pilot and a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

While stationed at Castle Air Force Base in central California, Boyne flew the B-50 Superfortress as a member of the 330th Bomb Squadron of the 93rd Bomb Wing. Although Boyne had relatively few hours in bombers, he received orders in May 1954 to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas, for training in the B-47 Stratojet, which he flew for several years. In 1957, he returned to college and graduated with honors from the University of California, Berkeley with a bachelor's degree in business administration. Boyne continued his education and later earned a master's degree in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh.

Boyne returned to active flying as a nuclear test pilot with the 4925th Nuclear Test Group at Kirtland Air Force Base near Albuquerque, New Mexico. While at Kirtland, he became an aircraft commander in both the B-47 and B-52 Stratofortress. Boyne served during the Vietnam War as commander of the 635th Services Squadron at U-Tapao Royal Thai Air Base where he flew 120 combat hours as a C-47 Skytrain instructor pilot. Colonel Boyne retired from the Air Force on June 1, 1974, with more than 5,000 hours in various military aircraft.

Boyne began his writing career in 1962 while still in the Air Force. Tired of the repetitive aviation articles of the time, he chose to write about lesser-known people and airplanes starting with an article on the Curtiss P-36. Boyne's article was accepted by a magazine in Britain which paid him $29 — a moment of special pride for the new author. The P-36 aircraft now resides in the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio. A very prolific writer, Boyne was the author of over fifty books and over one thousand magazine articles.

Works

Non-fiction

Fiction

In 1974, after retiring from the Air Force, Boyne joined the National Air and Space Museum as curator of air transport. Prior to the opening of the museum in 1976, he was assigned responsibility for introducing all aircraft into their exhibits. Boyne was also responsible for transforming the museum's dilapidated Silver Hill facility into the world's premier restoration facility. He also organized the effort to rename the facility in honor of Paul E. Garber, a curator of the National Air Museum—the predecessor to the National Air and Space Museum.

Boyne was named acting director of the museum in 1982, and director on February 10, 1983. Boyne performed a number of notable actions during his tenure as museum director including:

• Founded the best-selling aviation magazine Air & Space
• Orchestrated flights of an IMAX camera on the Space Shuttle
• Supervised the production of the IMAX movies The Dream is Alive and On the Wing
• Worked with the then-FAA Administrator, retired Vice Admiral Donald D. Engen, to provide the land upon which the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center was built
• Arranged for the Space Shuttle Enterprise to be flown and stored at the museum in 1985
• Pioneered the museum's video disc program and patented the "Digitizer" automated storage and retrieval system

He resigned as director of the museum in 1986.

In 1998, Boyne co-founded the cable television channel, Wingspan—the Air and Space Channel, that was purchased by the Discovery Channel a year later. Boyne lived in Ashburn, Virginia. His first wife, the former Jeanne Quigley, died in 2007. They have four children, Molly, Katie, Bill and Peggy, five grandchildren, J.D., Grace, Walter, Charlotte and Charles. Boyne remarried on January 10, 2008, to Terezia Takacs.

Boyne previously served as chairman of the board of the National Aeronautic Association, the oldest aviation organization in the United States, stepping down in 2014.

Boyne died on January 9, 2020, at 90 years of age. He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery in May 2021.

In 1984, Boyne was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Aerospace Sciences from Salem College, West Virginia. In 1987, the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) awarded him the Cliff Henderson Trophy for lifetime achievement in aviation. In 1998, the NAA named him a Distinguished Statesman of Aviation that honors outstanding living Americans that have made contributions of significant value to aeronautics. Also in 1998, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale honored Boyne with the Paul Tissandier Diploma awarded to those who have served the cause of Aviation in general and Sporting Aviation in particular. In 2005, the Aircraft Industries Association presented Boyne with the Lauren D. Lyman Award for outstanding achievement in aviation public relations. In 2007, he was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame. In 2016, the Aero Club of Washington, D.C. awarded Boyne the Donald D. Engen Trophy for Aviation Excellence.