The twenty-third annual RI Aviation Hall of Fame Class of Honorees will be recognized at our annual dinner on Saturday, November 22, 2025 at The Scottish Rite Center, 2115 Broad St, Cranston, RI.
2025 Guest of Honor
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Enoch “Woody” Woodhouse, one of the last few surviving Tuskegee Airmen. He will be 99 in January.
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The 2025 Honorees
Raymond W. Barnes (1915-1992)
Norwood native Barnes served as a B-17 radioman in the 327th Bomb Squadron during WWII. He was shot down and captured on his second mission over Bremen, Germany on November 26, 1943. Of the ten crew members, seven perished and three survived as POWs. He lost an eye in the incident and received the Purple Heart. He was liberated and returned home in June of 1945.
CW4 Michael J. Carpenter, USA (Ret.) (1944-
Carpenter was commissioned through Providence College ROTC in 1966. After earning his wings he deployed to Vietnam, flying the vulnerable “Birddog” light observation aircraft and earning seven Air Medals. He joined the RI Army National Guard in 1969, accepting a position as a warrant officer so he could continue to fly. Carpenter was activated for the post-9/11 security mission, and deployed to Honduras in 2004. When the 1/126th Aviation Company deployed to Iraq in 2004 he requested a retirement age waiver in order to join them. He was awarded the Order of St Michael for his lifetime of service to Army Aviation, which included some 3700 flight hours, 800 of which were combat hours.
Robert G. Danis (1936-2009)
Warwick resident Danis soloed on his 16th birthday and went on to accrue more than 20,000 hours of flight time. He flew with the Civil Air Patrol and as a private charter pilot before spending 30 years flying for USAir. After retirement he launched Lincoln Flight Center in Smithfield and provided flight instruction and aircraft rental. Bob was designated Pilot of the Year by the Ri Pilots Association, and received the prestigious Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award from the FAA.
SSGT Anthony J De Fusco (1923-1944) MIA, China
Providence native De Fusco enlisted in December 1942. By 1944 he was a radio operator / gunner on a B-25 based in China. On August 23, 1944, DeFusco and four other crew members took off from Lingling, China on a combat mission over Anjen. They were not seen nor heard from again. He was one of six sons of Pasquale and Eileen De Fusco; five of whom served on active duty during WWII (of whom three were Army Air Forces veterans.). Anthony was the only one who did not return.
LT (jg) Victor M. Gadrow USN (1913–1941), Lost at Sea
This Peacedale aviator died a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He flew with famed Fighter Squadron 3, assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. On December 22, 1941, his F4F Wildcat crashed into rough seas shortly after takeoff on a mission in the defense of Wake Island. He was South Kingstown’s first wartime loss. Gadrow graduated from South Kingstown HS in 1930 and graduated from Annapolis in 1935. His death caused an unusual distinction for his mother, Hulda Gadrow. Having lost her first-born son in World War I, she is believed to be the only mother to have lost sons in both wars.
CW4 Alton L. Maurais, USA (Ret.) (1937-
A native of Worcester, Maurais served as a helicopter gunship pilot in Vietnam in 1966-67. He accrued 440 combat hours flying with the aerial rocket artillery unit of the 1st Cavalry Division. Maurais had volunteered for the draft in 1956, and was stationed in Germany as a mechanic. After a five-year break in service he reenlisted in order to fly. He deployed shortly after earning his wings. He later went to college on the GI Bill but he could not get a teaching job, so he returned to flying. He became a commercial helicopter pilot and joined the RI Army National Guard. By the time he retired in 1997 he had accrued more than 11,000 flight hours, about evenly divided between military and commercial time.
Eugene F. McSweeney (1921-2015)
Navy fighter pilot McSweeney flew 79 Hellcat sorties with Fighting Squadron 47 off the carrier USS Bataan in 1945, accruing 305 combat hours. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and five Air Medals. Born in Providence, Gene graduated from Pawtucket East High School in 1939. He was sworn in at exercises during the Army-Chicago Bears football game at Boston on September 20, 1942. At war’s end his final missions involved dropping food and supplies to POW camps in Japan.
RADM Darryl L. Walker USN (1963-
Admiral Walker is President of the U.S. Naval War College and a career Naval Aviator. Walker enlisted in the Air Force in 1985 as an Air Traffic Controller and earned a BS from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1990. He was commissioned through Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School and was designated a Naval Flight Officer in 1992. He has accrued some 3900 flight hours and 696 carrier-arrested landings. He earned his MA from the Naval War College in 2002.
LTCOL Herbert “Herb” Woodcock, USAF (Ret.) (1928-2023)
A Providence native and 1950 Providence College grad, he joined the Air Force and was commissioned as a navigator. He deployed to Okinawa with the 4th Fighter Interceptor Squadron during the Korean War; his units supported B-29 bombing missions. In January 1954 he survived a F-94 Starfire crash into the South China Sea. In Vietnam he was assigned to the 12th Air Commando Squadron, as lead navigator for the dangerous defoliation mission named Operation Ranch Hand. He earned the Silver Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses and eight Air Medals, as well as the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.
PRESIDENT’S AWARD
Each year the RIAHOF President may recommend one additional award to any individual, group or organization whose achievement does not fit any other award category, or whose contribution is to the furtherance of the Hall of Fame itself.
SGT Edwin Lee Bowers, Jr., USMC (1936-
Bowers, who served in Marine Aviation as an enlisted navigator from 1956 to 1961, is the recipient of this year’s President’s Award. He has been an active and hard-working volunteer on our ship projects for more than 25 years, and has helped with the RIAHOF honors event since its inception in 2003.
Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame (RIAHOF) is a volunteer driven non-profit group dedicated to identifying, honoring, and perpetuating the memory of those individuals who have contributed to Rhode Island’s rich aviation history.
Few people know just how rich and varied our aviation history is, and just how many wonderfully skilled and talented contributors to the aerial age have been born in Rhode Island, were educated here, lived here for a portion of their lives, or performed some great aviation-related act or service here.
Please help us perpetuate this message!
