This highly-decorated U.S. Navy pilot shot down a confirmed 11 Japanese aircraft, including a Japanese ace. Commanding a squadron of Hellcat fighters off the carrier Essex, he shot down 5 in one day over Cebu Island, in the Philippines. He was also credited with sinking a destroyer escort by firing at the depth charges on […]
MAJ Eric ‘Ric’ Sawyer, USA, Retired (1945-2021) Army helicopter pilot, Vietnam, earning Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star and 31 Air Medals; 27 years in CT and RI National Guard. Radio station, corporate and Connecticut State Police helicopter pilot; ended flying career flying pipeline patrol for El Paso Energy. During his 45 year flying career, Sawyer […]
Lt. Jeffrey Scharver, USMC (1958-1983) Marine Corps helicopter pilot Jeffrey Scharver was killed in action in Grenada on October 25, 1983. His Cobra was shot down during a rescue of fellow wounded Marine pilots. Scharver, an ROTC graduate of Ohio State University, was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. At OSU, an ROTC classroom has since […]
Albert F. Schmid (1929-) pursued a lifelong career in general aviation after he left Naval Aviation. He has resided in Rhode Island for the past 18 years, most recently in Exeter. He was born on September 7, 1929 in Springfield, Illinois and entered Western Illinois University in 1947, where he earned a business degree. He […]
WWII flight engineer and gunner on B-17 and B-24 bombers in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater. Operating from India and China, he flew 56 combat missions totaling more than 400 combat hours. He crewed the first-ever raid deep into China, and the longest mission flown in the war. He later flew on B-29s assessing A-bomb testing. […]
Horace A. Scott (1926-2020) WWII Navy enlisted air crew member and aerial gunner (PBY); civilian mechanic for Navy at Quonset; learned to fly on his own to qualify for Eastern Airlines flight engineer position; 30 year career followed as first officer and captain, during which he flew the Constellation, DC-9, B-727 and L-1011. Accrued more […]
Master Army Aviator Thomas P. Shortall is best known for safely crash landing the helicopter carrying Governor Noel after a mechanical failure in May of 1976. He was raised in the Mount Pleasant section of Providence and graduated from Mount Pleasant High School in 1950. He joined the RI Air National Guard in 1949, and […]
Providence-born Martin R. Shugrue, Jr. (1941—1999) was a Naval Aviator and airline executive who played a pivotal and at times controversial role in unsuccessful attempts to keep Pan American World Airways and, later, Eastern Airlines from failing. He was known as a gregarious executive who had a knack for getting along with union leaders and […]
Harry A. Smith (1923-2012), nose gunner on a 14th Air Force B24 Liberator bomber, was a member of a crew that bailed out of a lost aircraft over China and trekked some 800 miles to safety over a several week period in 1944. Born in Cranston in March 1923, he attended Central High School in […]
COL Paul L. Smith, USA (Ret) (1887-1978). When the Defense Department finally authorized an aviation unit for the Rhode Island National Guard in 1939, then-Governor Vanderbilt had to find an experienced military aviator to head up this unit, the 152nd Observation Squadron. The choice was relatively easy. Woonsocket resident Paul L Smith was a Captain […]
Lieutenant Colonel Warren H. Smith, Jr. US Air Force (Ret ) (1920-2018 ) was born March 22, 1920 in Lincoln, RI, and lived in the house he was brought up in until his death in 2018. He attended Moses Brown School, Slater Junior High School and then Pawtucket High School. He went to Middlebury College […]
John Stellitano ( 1923—) This WWII bomber pilot, educator and athletic coach will turn 100 in March of 2023. He flew 36 missions over Germany in a B-17 Flying Fortress between December 1944 and March 1945. His plane was shot down and he and his crew were fortunate to survive. He is well known locally for his […]
VADM James B. Stockdale, USN (1923-2005) A graduate of the Naval Academy Class of 1947, he is best remembered for his extraordinary leadership as the senior naval officer held in captivity during the Vietnam War, and his 1992 stint as running mate to independent presidential candidate Ross Perot. Admiral Stockdale was one of the most […]
Justin “Jay” Strauss (1933-2021) was a USAF and General Aviation pilot with more than 12,000 hours of flight time. He flew tanker aircraft in the Strategic Air Command for three years. Best known as the longtime owner and manager of his family business, Eagle Cornice, he volunteered many hours on Angel Flight and Veteran’s Air […]