2021 Inductees
In 1956, Flo and Bob Irwin founded Fullerton Air Parts in Southern California. Bob was an active pilot, and Flo had good business sense and a passion for service. After several years, the Irwins sold that business and started a new one in 1965 — Aircraft Spruce. While the company initially sold only the timber mentioned in the name, it quickly grew into a one-stop shop for homebuilders and restorers, and was renamed Aircraft Spruce & Specialty. Starting with just Flo and Bob in 1965, today the company employs more than 150 people.
Bob owned and flew a Vultee BT-13B, a 1949 Navion, and a 1968 Navion Rangemaster that he used to travel with until he retired from flying after 50 years as a pilot. The Aircraft Spruce catalog is to generations of homebuilders what the Sears “wish book” was to a generation of kids — a sort of magic shopping list that overflows with the stuff dreams are made of.
Flo died in 1989, and Bob followed in 2015 at age 95. The Irwins’ legacy of service, quality products, and passionate dedication to the aviation community lives on as their children and grandchildren continue the family business in the form of both Aircraft Spruce & Specialty and ACS Products Co., which manufactures products distributed by Aircraft Spruce.
Previous Inductees
Frank Christensen
Darryl Murphy
Rob Hickman
Jim Bede
Tom Hamilton
George Pereira
Phillip J. Lockwood
Wes Schmid
Ed Fisher
Dean Wilson
Lance A. Neibauer
John W. Dyke
Randy Schlitter
Robert Bushby
Pete Bowers
Bob Whittier
William Chana
Ken Brock
Jack Cox
John Monnett
Jean Delemontez
Leslie Long
Chris Heintz
Richard VanGrunsven
Henri Mignet
Curtis Pitts
Burt Rutan
Bill Warwick
Harold Best-Devereux
William W. Ghan
Ladislao Pazmany
Sam Burgess
Nicholas D'Apuzzo
Ed Heath
Volmer Jensen
Tony Bingelis
Molt Taylor
John Thorp
Robert Burbick
Bernie Pietenpol
Ray Stits
George Bogardus
Paul H. Poberezny
Steve Wittman