Honoree – Harry Combs

Harry B. Combs

Honored 1973

Harry B. Combs was born January 27, 1913. He learned to fly at the age of 15.  In 1931 he worked with Frank Van Dersarl (Hall of Fame – 1971) and flight tested Frank’s plane, the VAMP Bat.

After obtaining a degree in Economics from Yale, he worked with Pan American Airways. Combs returned to Denver in 1937 and joined the 120th Observation Squadron – Colorado National Guard where he acquired enough flying time to earn an instructor’s rating.

In 1938, he founded Mountain States Aviation (later Combs Aviation). Prior to America’s entry into World War II (WWII), Mountain States acquired a government contract to conduct civilian pilot training. About 9000 students were trained here as pilots during the war. Wanting to do more for the war effort, Harry joined the Army Air Force in 1944 and flew C-54s on the Europe and India routes.

After WWII, Combs became an airplane distributor. His Beech distributorship, based at Denver’s Stapleton Airport, led the U.S. in sales in 1958 and the world in 1962.

President John F. Kennedy appointed Combs to a group tasked to design a plan for the modernization of air traffic control systems. Combs developed a plan to separate air traffic based on aircraft performance, and many of Combs’ suggestions are still used today by the FAA.

In 1967, Combs became the president of the failing Gates Learjet Corp. Harry quickly diagnosed the company’s problems and led an amazing turnaround. When he stepped down, Gates LearJet had become the largest manufacture of business aircraft in the world and had a net worth of $200 million.

In 1979, he co-authored a highly acclaimed biography of the Wright Brothers titled Kill Devil Hill: Discovering the Secret of the Wright Brothers. His book received the James J. Streiberg Award from the Aviation/Space Writer’s Foundation and the National Air and Space Museum.

In 1973 Harry Combs was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame. In 1974 Combs was named America’s General Aviation Man of the Year and in 1985 was presented the prestigious Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy. Combs was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1996.