Leaving Purdue University, Chana came to San Diego to join Consolidated Aircraft as a fight test engineer. He was involved in testing the B-24, as well as the B-32, in which he survived a 1943 crash at Lindbergh Field. Chana was instrumental in testing the Convair XC-99, the largest landplane, the XF-92A (first delta wing jet), the XFY-1 Pogo (one of the first VTOL aircraft) and the XF2Y Sea Dart (first supersonic seaplane). Later, he managed engineers and service representatives assigned to the F-102 and F-106 interceptor programs, and, in the 1960s, worked as base manager for the installation and check out of the Atlas Missile at Fairchild AFB, as well as the Sycamore Canyon test site in San Diego. In 1973 Chana moved to Rohr Industries, Inc., where he was Deputy Program Manager for an experimental triphibian. Chana also established Bee Aviation Associates, which produced the Wee Bee, regarded as the world's smallest airplane. The company also produced the Honey Bee and the Queen Bee. Beginning in 1963, Chana served on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Air and Space Museum. He was the Museum President from 1996 to 1998, later President Emeritus. Chana received the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) National Distinguished Service Award in 1973, and was named an AIAA Fellow in 1993. He was inducted into EAA's Homebuilder's Hall of Fame in 2003, was awarded the Verville Fellowship at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and received the Cliff Henderson Achievement Award from the National Aeronautics Association.
Inducted in 2015.
Portrait Location: Near R-44 and B-5 Brougham

Induction Video