A native San Diegan, William E. “Buzz” Gibbs has been involved in the operation of Gibbs Flying Service at Montgomery Field since 1970. Gibbs Flying Service was founded in 1937 by his late father, a local aviation pioneer, and a member of the Museum’s International Air & Space Hall of Fame. Today’s Montgomery Field was known as Gibbs Field until 1948. Gibbs, who holds commercial, instrument and multiengine pilot licenses, received a mechanical engineering degree from San Diego State College in 1967, also completing graduate study in business administration. Currently, Gibbs Flying Service has 230 based aircraft tenants, about half in hangers, with ramp space for 30 transient aircraft. In 1990 Gibbs was also part of the group that acquired a lease on Palomar Airport hangar and office space, where he was responsible for overall management. The Palomar facility eventually included over 100,000 square feet of hangar and office space. The facility was sold to a real estate investment group in 2000, but Gibbs continued to manage the property for the new owner’s group for several additional years. Gibbs has represented general aviation in San Diego for many years on a number of important boards and committees, including the FAA TCA Airspace Review Committee, SANDAG, the Montgomery Field Master Plan Committee and the City of San Diego Airport Advisory Committee. He also chaired the Kearny Mesa Planning Group for many years, and was active in the San Diego General Plan update as a member of the CPC Advisory Committee.