Joe Huffman, Sr. and Bernard Michael
Joe Huffman, Sr., an FAA Certification Engineer with Duncan Aviation, and Bernard Michael, a former long-time technician with Duncan Aviation, were recently honored as recipients of the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award.
The Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award is named in honor of Charles Taylor, the first aviation mechanic in powered flight. Taylor served as the Wright brothers’ mechanic and is credited with designing and building the engine for their first successful aircraft. The award recognizes the lifetime accomplishments of senior mechanics.
Award recipients are required to have worked for a period of 50 years in an aviation maintenance career and must have been an FAA-certificated mechanic or repairman working on N-registered aircraft maintained under the Federal aviation regulations for a minimum of 30 of the 50 years required.
Joe has been employed in aviation for 50 years, 48 of those years being dedicated to serving at Duncan Aviation. He was initially hired at Duncan Aviation as a mechanic in 1967.
Bernard served his country by joining the Air Force and then attended Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology, where he graduated with an Airframe/Powerplant license and a commercial pilot certificate. In January 1966, he started his 50-year aircraft maintenance career moving around the Midwest where he repaired flight controls for Douglas Aircraft Co. in Oklahoma, performed IA inspections in Iowa, conducted agricultural spraying in Kansas, and was a jet airframe shop supervisor for Duncan Aviation.
A third aviation technician, George Czarnecki of Central Cylinder Service in Omaha, Nebraska, was also presented with the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award at the same time.