With the eye of a photographer and the soul of an aviator, Philip Handleman has spent much of his life capturing the essence of flight using words and pictures.
For his efforts, Handleman will be honored Saturday, April 19 with the prestigious Harriet Quimby Award during the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame (MAHF) enshrinement ceremony at the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum (also known as the Air Zoo) in Portage.
‘It’s a high honor and I feel deeply privileged to have been selected,? said Handleman, who resides in Birmingham, but owns the 160-acre Sky Ranch, a private airstrip on Noble Rd. in Oxford Township.
The award was named for Michigan native Harriet Quimby (1875-1912), a famous journalist/photographer who became the first woman in the United States to get a pilot’s license and was the first female to fly solo across the English Channel.
Handleman’s contributions to the history of flight through his photos and writings earned him this award.
An active pilot for 37 years, his aviation and architectural photos have graced U.S. Postage stamps commemorating the 50th anniversaries of the Air Force (1997) and the Air Force Academy (2004).
Handleman’s also authored 20 highly acclaimed aviation books and numerous magazine articles on a wide range of aviation topics from air racing to combat aircraft.
He’s currently working on his 21st book about aviation history.
‘It’s focus is more on the personalities and the history of aviation as opposed to the hardware,? Handleman said. ‘If everything goes according to schedule, we should see that on the book shelves next spring.?
It’s through his words and photos that Handleman tries to convey to his audience ‘some sense of the magic and the wonder of flight.?
His passion for soaring through the wild blue yonder began at age 12 on a little grass airstrip outside Cleveland, Ohio. That’s where his parents took him for his first plane ride aboard a Piper Cub.
‘The grass was green, the sky was blue and in every direction that you turned there was a little yellow airplane,? he said.
As a youngster, Handleman would sit spellbound as he listened to his mother’s ‘wonderful stories? about climbing the fence and sneaking in to see the National Air Races, which took place at the Cleveland Municipal Airport (now Hopkins International Airport) during the 1930s and 1940s.
All the great aviators of the Golden Age of Flight came to these shows, from Charles Lindbergh to Jimmie Doolittle to World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker.
‘She saw them all,? Handleman said.
His father also had an interest in aviation having served in the U.S. Army Air Forces in a non-pilot role during World War II.
Although his parents ‘sparked? his interest in flight, it’s his wife of 18 years, Mary, who’s provided the biggest influence and ‘critical support? as far as helping Handleman through the long and difficult creative process of turning ideas into realities.
‘I like to say that she’s my navigator in life,? he said. ‘It’s so important to have someone who believes in you.?
‘I consider us a team,? Handleman noted. ‘I wouldn’t be able to do it without her.?
For the last 20 years, Handleman and his wife have played host to a broad cross-section of flyers and flying enthusiasts at their Sky Ranch in Oxford.
Honored guests have included members of the Air Force Thunderbirds, Navy Blue Angels and Army Golden Knights as well as famed test pilots, astronauts, fighter aces, Tuskegee Airmen, aviation historians and aircraft restorers.
Handleman enjoys flying his restored Boeing Stearman biplane. ‘It was used as a World War II trainer,? he said. ‘Mine was built in 1943 and used by the U.S. Navy . . . After the war, it was used as a crop-duster.?
Handleman has one other plane at the Sky Ranch, a Cessna that’s been restored as an Air Force U-17C. This type of plane was made in the mid-1960s and early 1970s, and used in Southeast Asia. ‘I find it more fun flying the old airplanes,? he said.
When he’s not buzzing around the skies, Handleman is president of Handleman Filmworks, which makes award-winning documentaries for public television.
Handleman will be presented the Harriet Quimby Award the same night as four other men will be enshrined in the MAHF.
Those to be inducted include a World War II B-24 pilot, a Tuskegee Airman, the person responsible for the testing and prelaunch which led to landing the first astronauts on the moon and the inventor of the high-altitude oxygen mask.
‘It’s a very impressive list of people so it really gives one goose bumps to be included in that group of distinguished individuals,? Handleman said.