Robert L. Taylor (aviator)

Robert Leo Taylor (born 2 July 1924 in Ottumwa, Iowa) is the founder and president of the Antique Airplane Association Inc. as well as co-founder and Chairman of the Board of the Airpower Museum[1][2] with which organization he shares ownership of Antique Airfield in Blakesburg, Iowa.[3]

For the majority of Taylor's life, he has been involved in aviation. In 1941 he soloed and then served in both World War II (US Army Air Forces)[4] and the Korean War. He has worked as an aircraft mechanic and airport manager in addition to buying and selling airplanes and restoring them. Taylor has promoted aircraft and flown them in television commercials and feature films. Taylor continues to share his expertise about flying with people around the world to this day.[1]

In 1994, Taylor was inducted into the Iowa Aviation Museum's Aviation Hall of Fame for his establishment of the Antique Airplane Association in 1953 for providing a place and a purpose to fly, to preserve, to share and to promote the early flying machines.[1]

Taylor, who still resides in Ottumwa,[3] publishes a national and international magazine featuring articles and stories about the peculiarities, the mystique, the nuts and bolts and the joy of antique airplanes.[1]