Henry Belin du Pont (1898-1970) was one of the most influential figures in the development of aviation in The First State. A 1923 graduate of M.I.T., he earned his pilot's license (signed by Orville Wright) in the same year. Charged with an enduring faith in the potential of aviation, he financed aircraft design and construction, built airport facilities, founded aircraft sales and service enterprises, and took the lead in bringing Giuseppe Bellanca to New Castle.
In 1925 "HB" developed an airfield at what is now Barley Mill Plaza. It became a beehive of flight training and aviation research. In 1933 he was elected to the board of North American Aviation and in 1935 elected chairman of TWA.
In 1938 he formed Atlantic Aviation Sales, followed by Atlantic Aviation Service and Atlantic Aviation Supply. After World War II, HB merged the three units into Atlantic Aviation, Inc., at New Castle County Airport. The fins soon became the largest aircraft sales and service organization in North America.
Ever ready to talk aviation, the du Pont Company executive was known to hangar-fly with pilots long into the evening. HB was regarded as a "regular guy who held his employees in high esteem."
HB was nominated to the DAHF by John G. Hite and Mack Graham of Wilmington.
