The NBAA has announced that Wilson Air Center founder and longtime business aviation advocate Robert A. Wilson will receive the 2019 John P. ‘Jack’ Doswell Award during the association's 2019 Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE), set for October 22-24 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Wilson is a member of the NBAA Security Council and president of Wilson Air Center. Founded in 1996, the company has grown from a single location in Memphis, Tennessee, to additional FBOs in Charlotte, North Carolina; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Houston, Texas.

A retired lieutenant colonel with the Tennessee Air National Guard, Wilson frequently donates his time and aircraft for flights with Make-A-Wish Mid-South Foundation and the Veterans Airlift Command, an all-volunteer organisation offering free air transportation to post-9/11 combat wounded and their families, for medical travel and other related purposes.

He has also served on boards of directors for the Holiday Inn Club Vacations, as well as the Pilatus Owners and Pilots Association, and is an active member of the Citation Jet Pilots Association. In 2006, Wilson was enrolled in the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame, and in 2012 he was inducted into the San Diego Air and Space Museum in recognition of his numerous accomplishments.

“NBAA is proud to recognise Bob Wilson, whose outstanding contributions to the business aviation community reflect Jack Doswell's legacy of lifelong commitment to the industry,” says NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “He has also demonstrated a tireless commitment to promoting safety and security throughout our industry, as well as devotion to giving back, through his involvement in a number of philanthropic initiatives.”

Established in 1987, the Doswell Award is granted for lifelong individual achievement on behalf of and in support of the aims, goals and objectives of business aviation. It is named in honour of Jack Doswell, whose gifts inspired a high standard of involvement in the business aviation community.