Aviation Gifts for Men: Ideas for Pilots and Plane Lovers

People who love airplanes usually love them for life. Maybe they fly. Maybe they used to work on a flight line, or they spent their childhood at the fence at the end of the runway. Either way, a generic “for him” gift misses the mark. The best aviation gifts for men speak to that love of flight directly: the right tools for a pilot, a good book about the people who flew first, and something for the wall of the hangar, office or den. Here is a list that works for pilots, mechanics and armchair flyers alike.

The photo at the top was taken by Arthur Rothstein at Meacham Field in Fort Worth, Texas, for the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information. The Library of Congress caption reads “Civilian pilot training school, returning from practice flight.” Three men walk away from a yellow high-wing trainer, two of them in white coveralls. The catalog record lists 1939, while the related series is dated January 1942, so it is fair to call it about 1942. Either way, it captures a big moment in American aviation.

A little history: the Civilian Pilot Training Program

Those men were part of a government program that changed who got to fly. On June 27, 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Civilian Pilot Training Act. According to the FAA, the program grew out of a 1938 trial with 330 students at 13 colleges. Students took 72 hours of ground school and 35 to 50 hours of flight lessons.

The program grew fast. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force says it eventually ran at 1,132 colleges and universities and 1,460 flight schools, and trained 435,165 pilots from 1939 to 1944. It also opened the cockpit to people who had been shut out before. Around 2,000 Black pilots trained through it, including at Tuskegee Institute, and about 2,500 women had trained by mid-1941. After Pearl Harbor it was renamed the War Training Service. So when you shop for a pilot, you are shopping for someone who belongs to a long tradition.

Aviation gifts for men who fly

If he is a working or student pilot, practical gifts go a long way. A few ideas:

• A kneeboard. It straps to the thigh and holds charts, checklists and notes in the cockpit.
• A good flight bag. Pilots carry a lot, from headsets to logbooks, and a bag with the right pockets keeps it all in order.
• A leather logbook cover. The logbook is a record of every hour flown. A nice cover makes it feel like the treasure it is.
• Sunglasses made for flying. Many pilots prefer non-polarized lenses so they can read cockpit screens.
• Flight time. A gift certificate from his local flight school buys hours in the air, which is what every pilot really wants.

Avoid buying a headset unless he has told you exactly which one he wants. Like helmets for riders, headsets are personal, and pilots have strong opinions about them.

Gifts for armchair flyers and history buffs

Not every airplane fan has a license. For the men who love aviation from the ground, think about history and experiences:

• A book about early flight. The Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903, and the stories from the decades after that are some of the best in American history.
• A museum trip. Big aviation museums let you walk under bombers, airliners and space capsules. Many offer memberships that make a good gift.
• An airshow weekend. Tickets to a fly-in or airshow give him a whole day of engines and smoke trails.
• A discovery flight. Many flight schools offer a first lesson for beginners. It is a great gift for someone who always said he wanted to try.
• A model kit. Building a scale model of his favorite plane is a fine winter project.

Porcelain signs for the hangar, office or den

Aviation has always had great graphics. Airlines, plane makers and fuel companies all used bold logos, and many of them went up on porcelain advertising signs at airports and fuel stops. Porcelain is glass enamel fired onto steel, so it stands up to sun and weather in an open hangar door. Today porcelain signs with those classic designs are a favorite with pilots, and they make some of the most personal aviation gifts for men because they can match a plane he flies or an airline he worked for.

For a pilot who has flown a high-wing trainer, the Cessna Aircraft Company porcelain sign is a natural. It shows a single-engine plane over blue mountains, with “The Tradition of Flight” across the top and “Aircraft Company, Wichita, Kansas” in the center. Clyde Cessna built his first plane in 1911, and many pilots learn to fly in a Cessna today. The sign is 12 inches across with porcelain on the front and back.

For an airline man, the United Airlines “Fly the Friendly Skies” porcelain sign shows a blue jet climbing across a white field. United traces its roots to Varney Air Lines in 1926, and the slogan became one of the best known in the industry after it launched in the 1960s. It is 11 3/4 inches across and makes a thoughtful gift for a retired United employee.

More vintage porcelain signs for aviation fans

There are plenty of other ways to go, depending on whether he looks up at the stars, studies old airport photos or still grins at a biplane:

• Space fans: the NASA “meatball” sign in blue, red and white.
• Fuel and airport history: the Texaco Aviation sign with a pinup and a propeller plane, or the Gulf Aviation Products sign.
• Biplane lovers: the Flying A Service sign with Snoopy in his biplane, a fun pick for the den or a kid’s room.

Oil companies were big in early aviation, and many of their logos look familiar from road trips too. Our gas station logo history covers the stories behind them. You can see every design in our aviation signs, along with man cave signs and garage signs. If you are not sure how to put one up, our guide on how to hang porcelain signs covers drywall, brick and garage studs.

Tips for buying aviation gifts for men

• Find out what he flies or flew. A Cessna sign means more to a Cessna pilot. An airline sign means more to someone who worked there.
• Think about where it goes. A hangar wall, a home office or a den all have room for a sign. A small office might need something smaller.
• Do not guess on gear. Headsets, watches and some electronics are very personal. A gift card is safer.
• Order early. Shipping slows down before Christmas.

For more ideas, see our list of gifts for car guys and our tips on building a man cave with porcelain signs.

We ship from Houston, Texas. US orders ship for a flat $10, and international shipping is available at checkout. If a sign is not right, you have 30 days to return it. We pay the return shipping, and you get a full refund.

Cessna, United Airlines, NASA, Texaco, Gulf, Flying A, Snoopy and the other names in this post are trademarks of their respective owners. This article is gift ideas, history and commentary only. We sell porcelain advertising signs, and we are not affiliated with or endorsed by any company named here.

FAQ

What are good aviation gifts for men who already fly?

A kneeboard, a flight bag, a logbook cover or flight time at his local school. For the wall, a porcelain sign of the plane he flies or the airline he worked for.

What can I give someone who loves planes but is not a pilot?

Try a discovery flight, a museum membership, airshow tickets, a model kit or a good book about early aviation.

What was the Civilian Pilot Training Program?

A federal program signed into law on June 27, 1939. It trained 435,165 pilots from 1939 to 1944 at colleges and flight schools across the country.

Are porcelain aviation signs good for a hangar?

Yes. Porcelain is glass fired onto steel, so it holds its color and wipes clean, even in a dusty hangar.

Sources include the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force fact sheet on the Civilian Pilot Training Program and the FAA history “The CAA Helps America Prepare for World War II.” The featured photo is “[Civilian pilot training school], returning from practice flight, Meacham Field, Fort Worth, Tex.,” by Arthur Rothstein, FSA/OWI color slide, from the Library of Congress, with no known restrictions on publication. You can see the full photo at the Library of Congress.