Raymond Noble Estey (1886-1980), a native of Waterbury, CT, moved to Rhode Island in 1909 and became an early photographer for the Providence Tribune. He assisted 2006 inductee Gerald Hanley with his first airplane in 1913, and produced some of the very first aerial photos of Rhode Island that year. While retaining his job as […]
Jack Everling enlisted in the Navy V-5 program in 1945, but did not get to flight school until 1947–and thanks to severe cutbacks in Navy flying did not get his wings until 1949. He flew Skyraiders in combat in Korea–102 missions off the USS Princeton; then in 1955 became the first Air Department officer aboard […]
Woonsocket native and lifelong Rhode Island resident CDR Paul G. Farley, USN (Ret) (1917-1993) survived the sinking of the battleship USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor and went on to earn two Distinguished Flying Crosses and five Air Medals while flying 600 combat hours in the Pacific.
Lt. Colonel Daniel R. Fierro, USAF, (Ret.) (1931 – 2007) was a long-time resident of North Kingstown, and served in the Strategic Air Command (SAC), first flying B47s and then B52s.
Colonel Patrick D. Fleming, USAF (USN) (1917-1955) – this former Jamestown resident and 1941 Annapolis graduate was a World War II Hellcat ace and a Navy test pilot who went to flight school in 1943. He received night fighter training at Quonset, where he met his wife-to-be Neville, daughter of retired Navy Commander Owen Bartlett […]
Navy veteran of WWII, local and international businessman, aviator, and inventor, R. W. (Dick) Foote was born in Providence in 1919. Foote’s successful business career followed his service as a Naval Aviator and test pilot during World War II. He was also instrumental in the development of the first “anti-blackout” or “pressure suit”, the forerunner […]
Wisconsin-born Frank Fox met his bride Jane while stationed at Quonset late in World War II, and thereafter considered Rhode Island his home. He earned a Navy Cross in the Battle of Philippine Sea when his Avenger torpedo bomber scored a direct hit on the Japanese carrier Zuikaku, helping send her to the bottom. In […]
Edson Fessenden Gallaudet (1871-1945), Aviation Pioneer/Aircraft Manufacturer In 1898, four years before the Wright Brothers, he constructed and flew a glider, now in the Smithsonian, which embodied the principle of the warping wing. In 1911 he learned to fly at the Wright school, earning US pilot’s license #32 and a similarly low number in France. […]
Russ, an East Greenwich resident since 1965, served in the Navy from 1944 to 1969. During his flying career he landed on 21 different carriers; he also served on the USS Wasp for two years and USS Lake Champlain for one year. He flew F8F Bearcats with fighter squadron VF-19, and later transitioned to jets […]
2/LT Walter S. Gladding (1915- 1945), a Tuskegee Airman, was born in Plainfield, CT in 1915, the son of Walter and Elsie Gladding of 17 Olney Street, Providence. He attended local public schools, and later played football and ran track at Hope High School. He was an only child. He went on to Rhode Island […]
Major John Trevor Godfrey, USAAF (1922 – 1958), World War II Fighter Pilot Born in Canada, Major Godfrey moved to Woonsocket as a young boy. He was Woonsocket High School’s 1940 class president and a football star. He joined the RCAF in 1941 to avenge the death of his brother, and trained in Spitfires with […]
Newport-born Michael Gold (1920-) was a B-17 navigator with the 447th Bombardment Group whose flak-damaged plane was shot down by German fighters on just his fourth combat mission (January 30, 1944). Two crew members were killed by gunfire, and the others bailed out. Gold faced the difficulties and deprivations of Nazi POW camps with the […]