The Fort Worth Aviation Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, will honor aviation pioneer Bessie Coleman and former General Dynamics F-16 test pilot Dave Palmer with its 2026 Wings Awards during the museum’s National Aviation Day celebrations on Aug. 15. The annual awards, established in 2015, recognize people and organizations that have contributed to North Texas’ aviation heritage. This year’s honorees come from very different periods of aviation history, with Coleman remembered for breaking barriers in the early days of flight and Palmer recognized for his work on the F-16 program in Fort Worth.
Coleman was born in Atlanta, Texas, in 1892 and grew up in Waxahachie. After American flight schools refused to train her because she was both Black and a woman, she learned French and traveled to France to pursue her aviation ambitions. She earned an international pilot’s license in 1921 and went on to perform as a barnstormer, becoming known as “Queen Bess” and “Brave Bessie.” Coleman also refused to appear at segregated air shows and hoped to establish a flight school for Black aviators. She died in a test-flight accident in Florida in 1926, at age 34. The museum is honoring her 100 years after her final flight.
Palmer’s career is closely tied to one of Fort Worth’s most important aviation programs. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy and flying Navy fighters in combat over Vietnam, he joined General Dynamics in 1977 as an experimental test pilot. He became one of the early test pilots for the F-16, flying the fighter from Fort Worth and Edwards Air Force Base during its development through 1988. Palmer eventually logged about 11,000 hours in military, commercial, and experimental aircraft. He joins fellow F-16 test pilots Lt. Col. Phil Oestricher and Lt. Col. Neil Anderson as a Wings Awards recipient.
“Bessie Coleman and Dave Palmer represent the full arc of North Texas aviation — a Texas daughter who broke every barrier to fly, and a test pilot who helped give Fort Worth the F-16. The Wings Awards exist to make sure stories like theirs are never forgotten,” said Jim Hodgson, Chairman and Executive Director of the Fort Worth Aviation Museum. The 2026 Wings Awards will be presented at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Fort Worth Aviation Museum as part of its National Aviation Day program. For more information and to support the museum, click on this link: fortworthaviationmuseum.com.
