The Royal Aeronautical Society is proud to announce the 2021 winners of the global aerospace community’s most prestigious and long-standing awards honouring achievement and innovation.

The awards dinner and celebration, held in London yesterday evening [Monday 22 November 2021], saw leaders in aviation, aerospace and space recognised for their significant contributionsfrom space innovation to supporting humanitarian aid and addressing social barriers through flight.

Space sector awards

Several representatives of the space industry received awards, with Ms Gwynne Shotwell and MrJames Bridenstine receiving Honorary Fellowships, the world’s highest distinction for aerospaceachievements.

Ms Shotwell, President and Chief Operations Officer of SpaceX for her distinguished career in the Space sector.

Mr Bridenstine, former NASA Administrator, was commended for his contribution to advancing the US space programme including his introduction in the US Congress of the American Space Renaissance Act in 2016 and leadership of the US Artemis programme at NASA.

Mr Graham Turnock, lately Chief Executive Officer at UK Space Agency, received the Geoffrey Pardoe Space Award for his contributions to the UK space industry and programmes. 

Prof Johann-Dietrich Wörner is a German civil engineer, university professor and former President of Technische Universität Darmstadt, he then served as Chairman of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center DLR from 2007-2015. During that time he was Head of the German Delegation to the European Space Agency (ESA) and served as Chair of the ESA Council. On 1 July 2015, he succeeded Jean-Jacques Dordain as Director General of the European Space Agency; his mandate terminated in March 2021. Prof Wörner is awarded an honorary fellowship.

Silver Medals

Silver Medals were awarded to Dr Katherine Gill, Lead F-35 Software Liaison at the U.S. Department of Defence in modernising the digital transformation of F-35 Agile Development. Mr Tim Moore, Chief Airworthiness Engineer for Leonardo Helicopters who has contributed extensively to the airworthiness regulatory environment. 

Team Silver Medals were awarded to UK Lightning OT-1, a team from RAF Air and Space Warfare Centre of the UK Lightning Operational Test Phase 1, and to the Materials UTC at Birmingham Team, for their multi-organisational collaborative research between the Materials University Technology Centre (UTC) at the University of Birmingham and the Rolls-Royce Group.

Young Person’s Awards

Early-career professionals were also recognised for their work on creating a more diverse and inclusive environment but also for their wider achievements.

The Young Persons’ Achievement Award went to Miss Amy Petrie, Stress Analyst working on Future Air to Surface Guided Weapon (FASGW) test activities at Leonardo Helicopters.

Mr Romain Fonteyne, Rover Operations Engineer at the European Space Agency supporting the preparation of the ExoMars was a recipient of the Young Person’s Achievement Commendation.

Mr James Kirk received the Young Person’s Achievement Commendation and Alan Marsh Award. Mr Kirk was Chief Engineer of the AlbatrossONE Semi Aeroelastic Hinge scale flying demonstrator aircraft from its inception in 2017 to the closure of the project in 2020; the AlbatrossONE Teamfrom Airbus also received the RAeS 2021 Bronze Medal.

President’s Award

The President of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Howard Nye, conferred his President’s Award to Dr Johanna Jordaan, Chief of the Aviation Medicine Section at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and programme manager of CAPSCA (The Collaborative Arrangement for the Prevention and Management of Public Health Events in Civil Aviation). She was commended in particular, for the development of global guidance, tools and recommendations for Governments, aviation regulators and industry to implement public health measures to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in international aviation. This award recognises outstanding skill and professionalism in the field of aviation and aeronautics, especially in adverse circumstances.  

Sir Robert Hardingham Presidential Sword

The President has awarded the Sir Robert Hardingham Presidential Sword to Sir Brian Burridge FRAeS who served as Chief Executive of the Society from 2019-2021. Sir Brian announced his intention to step down earlier this year and handed over to the current Chief Executive, David Edwards FRAeS, in September. This distinguished award is in recognition of Sir Brian’s excellent stewardship of the Society through extremely challenging times.

Howard Nye FRAeS, President of the Royal Aeronautical Society said:

“This year’s list of award winners demonstrates the huge amount of innovation that is happeningright across the aerospace, aviation and space industries. We are standing on the precipice of a new era in flight with the huge growth and potential in space and the vital decarbonisation of the whole aerospace sector. Many of our award winners are shaping those futures as well as contributing to the mission of our Society.

“The leaders we celebrate today are a diverse cross-section from and represent every corner of our industries. Our winners work in manufacturing, engineering, materials, aerodynamics, defence, flight operations, spaceflight, government administration and more. We celebrate the outstanding contribution made by each of these award winners who have dedicated their working lives to this most vital industry and we congratulate them on their incredible achievements.”

Full list of 2021 honours, medals and awards

Honorary Fellowships mark the world’s highest distinction for aerospace achievement, awardedonly for the most outstanding contributions to the aerospace profession.

• Ms Gwynne Shotwell, President and Chief Operations Officer of Space X for her distinguished career in the Space sector. 
• Professor Dr Johann-Dietrich Wörner, lately Director General at the European Space Agency, and formerly Chairman of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace CenterDLR for his highly significant contributions to the Space domain.
• Dr John Tracy FRAeS, formerly of Boeing, for his leadership in advanced composites design and manufacturing technology for air and space vehicles. 
• Dr Paul Nielsen, for his distinguished 40-year career including leadership of the systems engineering and design of advanced national satellite programs.
• Dr Robert Winn FRAeS, A former Air Force pilot and engineer, Robert has made significant contributions to aviation safety, academia, the AIAA and the RAeS.
• Mr James Bridenstine, NASA Administrator, for his exceptional contribution to advancing the US space programme including the introduction of his space renaissance act in 2016 and leadership of the US Artemis programme.
• Dr Paul Kaminski, for his 20- year Air force career which includes leading the development of advanced low-observable systems and system-of-systems, including the F-117.

Individual Medals are awarded for contributions to the advancement of aerospace art, scienceand engineering.

Silver Medal

• Dr Katherine Gill CEng FRAeS, Lead F-35 Software Liaison for the Department of Defence in modernising the digital transformation of F-35 Agile Development. 
• Mr Tim Moore, Chief Airworthiness Engineer for Leonardo Helicopters who has contributed extensively to the airworthiness regulatory environment. 

Bronze Medal

• Mr Chris Lee, BAE Systems Product Technical Manager – Tempest Aerodynamics.
• Dr Richard Markiewicz, Principal Rotorcraft Engineer for DSTL.

Team Medals are awarded for significant contributions to the advancement of aerospace art,science and engineering

Silver Medal

• UK Lightning OT-1, team from RAF Air and Space Warfare Centre of the UK Lightning Operational Test Phase 1.
• Materials UTC at Birmingham, multi organisational collaborative research between the Materials University Technology Centre (UTC) at the University of Birmingham and the Rolls-Royce Group.

Bronze Medal

• AlbatrossONE, The Semi Aeroelastic Hinge scale flying demonstrator Team from Airbus.
• Wildcat Manned Unmanned Teaming, joint team from Leonardo Helicopters and Callen-Lenz who successfully demonstrated Manned Unmanned Teaming capabilities.

Society Specialist Awards are conferred on individuals or teams in well-established professional disciplines. These awards recognise advances, innovation, excellence and long service that hasmade a significant impact.

Roger Green Human Factors Medal

• Richard Loudon, Human Factors Instructor Evaluator for Alaska Airlines.

Flight Operations Medal 

• Terry Buckland, Retired Captain and Chair of the RAeS Flight Operations Specialist Group.

RP Alston Medal

• David Best, Chief Test Pilot for Nova Systems.

Geoffrey Pardoe Space Award

• Graham Turnock, former Chief Executive Officer at UK Space Agency. 

Turnbuckle Award 

• Jan Plevka, retired Chair of European Defence Agency Military Airworthiness Authority Forum.

Alan Marsh Award 

• Peter Amstutz, Experimental Test Pilot for Rotary Wing Test & Evaluation Squadron.

Individual Specialist Award

• Kanchana Gamage, Founder of the Aviatrix project which supports girls entering into STEM careers.
• Brian Caldwell, BAE Systems Senior Specialist – Tempest Aerodynamics.

Young Persons’ Awards recognise individual achievement and promise.

Young Person’s Achievement Award 

• Amy Petrie, Stress Analyst working on Future Air to Surface Guided Weapon (FASGW) test activities at Leonardo Helicopters. 

Young Person’s Achievement Commendation 

• Romain Fonteyne, Rover Operations Engineer at the European Space Agency supporting the preparation of the ExoMars Mission. 
• James Kirk, Chief Engineer of the Airbus AlbatrossONE project.

Alan Marsh Award 

• James Kirk, Chief Engineer of the Airbus AlbatrossONE project.

Civil Cadet Pilot Award 

• Alessandro Casalone, Second Officer for Ryanair

This year’s awards list demonstrates the momentous advancements being made in the aerospace sector. We hope for continued support of the RAeS awards program. 

How to apply

The Society’s Honours, Medals and Awards are open to everyone in and supporting the globalaerospace community – from senior professionals to students and graduates. Nominations for next year’s awards are now open and the form can be found at www.aerosociety.com/medalsandawards.The closing date is 31 April 2022.