Congratulations to “the Henry Ford of helicopters,” Frank Robinson, who was presented with the Howard Hughes Memorial Award at a reception in Los Angeles recently. The 26th recipient of the award–a solid silver medal cast from ore extracted from Hughes’s Nevada mines–joins luminaries such as Jack Northrop, Jimmy Doolittle and Chuck Yeager on the list of honorees.

The medal recognizes “significant contributions to the advancement of aviation or space technology.” Neil Armstrong presented the award, calling Robinson “an accomplished engineer” and “an exceptional entrepreneur, building a company from nothing to a position of preeminence in its field.”

Robinson has delivered nearly 6,000 helicopters in more than 70 countries.