Officials with the Iowa Aviation Museum in Greenfield have announced the 2017 inductees to the Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame.  The inductees will be honored at a banquet at the Warren Cultural Center in Greenfield, on September 30th.  A reception will be held at 4:30 pm with dinner served at 5:15 and the program following at 6:00 p.m.  The event is open to the public with advance registration is required for the banquet.  Cost of the event is $20.00 for the banquet and dance.

The following persons are 2017 selections to the Hall of Fame:

Stephen Bales was born in Ottumwa Oct 7, 1942.  He was the Guidance Officer at Mission Control responsible for Apollo 11, the first Lunar Landing, where a series of problems could have led to a dangerous abort of the landing. Stephen and his “Back Room” team quickly and correctly processed these serious alerts. For Stephen’s role in the successful landing of Apollo II, he was chosen to accept the “NASA Group Achievement Award” from President Nixon on behalf of the Mission Control team.    

James McClain was born in Des Moines in 1923.   He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942. He attended navigator training; and upon graduation in July 1943, he was assigned to the 564th Squadron, 389th Bomb Group in Benghazi, Libya. He was navigator on a B-24B Liberator during Operation TIDAL WAVE, a daring low level attack on the Ploesti, Romania, oil refineries on August 1st, 1943. The Ploesti raid was the most highly decorated mission in the U.S. history, with five Medals of Honor awarded.

Ronald Narmi was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa on June 27, 1933.  He was a Navy pilot for 30 years (4,653 flight hours); Commanding officer of a P-3 squadron; Commander of a P-3 wing of five squadrons; Commander, Fleet Air Keflavik (Iceland) for 2 years with ASW (antisubmarine warfare) responsible for the North Atlantic (finding and tracking Soviet submarines); Commander, Iceland Defense Force for 2 years, responsible for the air defense of the North Atlantic, tracking Soviet Bear bombers. He was also responsible for defense of the Iceland commanding Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and NATO forces.

Following the completion of the program at 8:30, a dance will be held featuring Brick’ n Bob.  The dance is open to the public for $10.00 if not attending the banquet. The Iowa Aviation Museum is open weekdays and Saturday 10 am to 5pm and 1 to 5 pm on Sundays.  For questions or advance registration, please call the Iowa Aviation Museum at 641-343-7184.