Roanoke, Virginia

Inducted in 1985, W. Clayton Lemon was known by many as the “father of aviation in the Roanoke Valley.” He got his start in aviation by swapping a car for an airplane and soloed without any formal flight instruction. Lemon and another pioneer aviator, Frank Reynolds, teamed up in 1929 to operate Roanoke’s new airport. By 1933, Roanoke was served by an airline and a year later had airmail service. Lemon left in 1937 to become a touring barnstormer, but returned two years later to open Virginia Airmotive, a fixed based operation which he built into a thriving business.