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Frederick W. Smith, founder and CEO of the pioneering FedEx parcel delivery service, was the honoree March 1 as the Aero Club presented him with its annual Howard Hughes Memorial Award.
Fred Smith, second from left, stands by the Howard Hughes Memorial Award Trophy with four previous recipients. They are, from left, Sam Iacobellis (2001), Bob Hoover (2009), Frank Robinson (2004) and Jim Albaugh (2007)
More than 200 Club members and guests attended the festive event at the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles. They saw a previous HHMA recipient, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Jim Albaugh (the 2007 honoree), present Smith with the traditional medallion made of silver from the Hughes mines in Nevada.
Fred Smith addresses the audience of more than 200 at the awards banquet. Photo by Josh Barash
Accepting the award, Smith paid tribute to the recipients of previous years, including Jimmy Doolittle (1979), Neil Armstrong (2003), Bob Hoover (2009) and many others. He also mentioned “the engineers at Douglas, Lockheed and Boeing who built these fantastic machines that we all take for granted today.” He said, “The most important thing we can do is remember that we all stand on those people’s shoulders. We live in unprecedented times of human development because of what they did. ”
Recalling his own experiences in Southern California, particularly at Camp Pendleton during his Marine Corps career, Smith recalled that many of the major developments in American aviation took place “within 50 miles” of the banquet site in Los Angeles.
Citing the Boeing 777 as the current flagship of the FedEx aerial fleet, Smith called attention to the development of future technology now taking place at Boeing and elsewhere in the U.S., saying, “Those who discount the U.S. and think our best days are behind us have another think coming.”
Admiring the Jonathan Club’s dessert showing an airplane flying over a FedEx package are, from left, Honoree Fred Smith, Aero Club President Nissen Davis and Boeing’s Jim Albaugh. Photo by Josh Barash
Smith’s name is now engraved on the base of the award trophy along with those of 31 previous honorees, a distinguished list of aviation and aerospace leaders that began with Jack Northrop in 1978. Smith, a native of Mississippi, launched Federal Express—the firm’s original name—in 1971 following four years of service in the Marine Corps. During those years he served two tours of duty in Vietnam, earning a Silver Star, Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.
FedEx is now a $37 billion global transportation and logistics giant that operates almost 700 aircraft and 80,000 ground vehicles in 220 countries and territories with its headquarters in Memphis.
Smith receives the silver award medallion from 2007 honoree Jim Albaugh of Boeing. Photo by Josh Barash