Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin received a B.S. degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He entered the Air Force and in 1952 flew 62 combat missions in Korea, shooting down two MiG-15s. In 1963, he received a PhD in Astronautics from MIT. Dr. Aldrin became an astronaut in 1963 in the selection of the third group by NASA. On November 11, 1966, he was the pilot of the Gemini XII, and made three spacewalks on the 4-day, 59-orbit flight that successfully ended the Gemini program. As the Lunar Module pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, he was the second person to land and walk on the moon. 

Max Leroy Anderson was a balloonist who, with Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman, in 1977, made the first transatlantic balloon flight. On May 8, 1980, Anderson and his son, Kristian, launched the helium balloon Kitty Hawk from Ft. Baker, California, and landed on May 12 in Quebec, Canada, the first trans-North American nonstop balloon flight. 

Wallace Beery served in the U.S. Naval Reserve Flying Corps from 1933 to 1945, leaving with the rank of Lt. Commander. While serving as a reserve Naval officer, he became an Oscar winning actor with roles on stage and screen. He became one of the top ten stars in Hollywood. Although he was not the most diversified thespian, few could match his power to both intimidate and amuse. 

William Hawley Bowlus was an American designer, engineer and builder of aircraft (especially gliders) and recreational vehicles in the 1930s and 1940s. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Air Service in Europe (1917-1920). He joined Ryan Aircraft and in 1927 worked as Superintendent of Construction on Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. After that, he built and flew gliders, his first love, and established one of the first glider schools in the United States.

Lillian Boyer was an aerial performer in early aviation. On only her second flight, she walked out onto the wing of the moving plane. From 1921 to 1928, she was a professional wing walker, performing at fairs across the United States. Some of her tricks included hanging by her ankles, toes, or teeth; balancing on her head; and jumping from plane to plane in midair. 

Bill Chana attended Purdue University and then came to San Diego to join Consolidated Aircraft as a flight test engineer. He had a long history with Convair, testing the B-24 and B-32 bombers; the Convair XC-99, the largest landplane; the XF-92A, first delta wing; the XFY-1 Pogo, one of the first VTOL aircraft; and the XF2Y Sea Dart, the first supersonic seaplane. He left Convair and in 1973 worked at Rohr Industries as Deputy Program Manager for an experimental triphibian. He also established Bee Aviation Associates which produced the Wee-Bee, pictured in the autographed photo. Chana served on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Air & Space Museum and from 1996 to 1998 was its president, and later President Emeritus. 

Gerald Francis “Jerry” Coleman was a Major League baseball second baseman for the New York Yankees, and manager of the San Diego Padres for one year. Coleman served as a Marine Corps pilot in World War II and the Korean War, flying combat missions in both wars. He later became a broadcaster ("The Voice of the San Diego Padres”) and was honored in 2005 by the National Baseball Hall of Fame with the Ford Frick Award for his broadcasting contributions. 

Douglas Corrigan was among the mechanics who had worked on Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, but that footnote in history was not enough for the Texas-born aviator. In 1938, Corrigan bought a 1929 Curtiss Robin off a trash heap, fixed it up and piloted the single-engine plane nonstop from California to New York. Immediately after arriving, he filed plans for a transatlantic flight but was denied. Instead, they would allow him to fly back to California. On July 17, Corrigan took off from Floyd Bennett Field pointed west, but made a turn and vanished into the clouds. Twenty-eight hours later, he landed in Dublin, Ireland. This "mistake" earned him the name "Wrong Way Corrigan."

In 1917, James Harold Doolittle became a flying cadet in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He later requested a transfer to the European Theater, but the Armistice dashed his hopes for combat flying. In 1922, he became the first pilot to fly coast to coast in under 24 hours, making the journey from Florida to California with just one stop. He spent the rest of the decade working as a test pilot for military and civilian planes. He left the Army in 1930 but returned in 1940. In 1942, he was ordered to lead a raid on the Japanese mainland, called The Doolittle Raid.

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