Oct. 17, 2016
NBAA notes the recent passing of William B. Watt, co-founder of Executive Air Fleet, the pioneering aircraft management firm, and the first individual to receive the association’s John P. “Jack” Doswell Award for lifelong individual achievement in support of business aviation. Watt, who lived in Franklin Lakes, NJ, was 97.
“William Watt was a consummate professional, who was a leading figure in the emergence of business aviation during the industry’s formative years,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “He was an accomplished pilot whose numerous contributions helped the industry and NBAA grow.”
Watt’s involvement in NBAA activities dated from the 1960s. He was a member of NBAA’s Associate Membership Advisory Council from its inception in 1973, and in 1989 Watt received the Doswell Award.
Watt learned to fly as a teenager in Oregon, and trained North American B-25 bomber pilots during World War II. After leaving the military in 1945, he joined International Telephone and Telegraph. Besides being that technology company’s first chief pilot at the age of 26, he was in involved in test flying the company’s radar and instrument landings system equipment. In 1949, he flew a Douglas DC-3 from San Francisco, CA to White Plains, NY on automatic pilot in what was considered the first transcontinental hands-free flight.
Later, Watt served as chief pilot for Hoover, AT&T and Atlantic Aviation before helping Matthew Weisman launch Executive Air Fleet, an aircraft management company based at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport, in 1965. Even after turning 90 years of age, he remained active in the industry as a consultant.
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.