Najeeb Elias Halaby is one of America's pioneer pilots of the jet age. Halaby helped organize the Navy's first test pilot school and acted as the school's chief instructor. Halaby was one of the first pilots to flight-test American Airlines' first operational jet airplane, the Bell YP-59 Airacomet, and made the first continuous transcontinental jet-powered flight in a Lockheed YP-80 Shooting Star.

The Political Years

Halaby was the first chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He completed his military career as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in 1953. During the Kennedy Administration, Halaby was named Principal Aviation Adviser to the President and Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) in January 1961.

Halaby was born in Dallas, Texas in 1916. He was educated at Stanford University (AB. 1937), the University of Michigan and Yale University (LLB) in 1940. Halaby began his flying career in 1933 when, at the age of 17, he received his student pilot license in a Travelaire bi-plane. In 1940, Halaby became a civilian instructor for the Army Air Corps and a civilian test pilot for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. In 1943, he joined the armed forces as a Naval Aviator where he was instrumental in developing the Navy Test Pilot School.