Jack Real - Honors and Awards

Honors and Awards

During his life, Real was affiliated with the Association of the United States Army, Army Aviation Association of America, and the National Aerospace Council of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He served as a director at large for the American Helicopter Society and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He also served on the executive board of the Boy Scouts of America and as a director with the California State University System, Davey Industries, Engineering School Board of Overseers of the University of Pennsylvania, Evergreen International Aviation, Engineering School of Loyola University, Hughes Airwest Airline and Midway Airlines.

Aviation may have dominated his life, but he had another lifelong dedication, which was to scouting. Along with President Gerald R. Ford, Bob Hope and General Jimmy Doolittle, in 1983, Real became only the fourth person to receive the prestigious Americanism Award, which is "given to individuals of national stature who have made outstanding contributions to their community and profession."

He is a recipient of the Howard Hughes Memorial Award presented by the Southern California Aeronautic Association to give recognition "to an aerospace leader whose accomplishments over a long career have contributed significantly to the advancement of aviation or space technology." In 1983, under Real's leadership, Hughes Helicopters received the Robert J. Collier Trophy, American aviation's highest aeronautics achievement honor for his role in developing the AH-64 Apache helicopter. He shared the award with Secretary of the Army Jack Marsh.

In addition to the Collier Trophy and the Boy Scouts of America's Americanism Award, he received numerous awards and honors over his career. They included the Helicopter Association International's Lifetime Member Award (2005); Distinguished Alumni Award, Calumet High School, Calumet, Michigan (2004); Oregon Aviation Hall of Honor (2003); The Chuck Yeager Award (1996); The Howard Hughes Memorial Award (1996); Pioneers In Aviation's Flight Path award, Los Angeles International Airport (1996); Michigan Technological University's Distinguished Alumnus Award (1995) and Elder Statesman of Aviation and National Aeronautical Association (1989). He received honorary doctorate degrees from Northrop University (1985), the Aeronautical Science Selma College (1983) and Michigan Technological University (1968).

In 2003, he published a book, The Asylum of Howard Hughes (ISBN 978-1413408751).

Jack Real died September 6, 2005.