CW5 Joseph S. Ludovici, U.S. Army (Retired) (1938-2017) was eight months old when he was taken on his first airplane ride; he soloed on his 16th birthday, after his sophomore year at Woonsocket High School. Joseph was a lifelong pilot, both as a civilian and as a member of the RI Army National Guard (1955-1997). From […]
Thomas J. Magnan, retired from the Rhode Island Army National Guard as a Chief Warrant Office Five (CW5) on July 1, 2009, completing nearly 41 years of honorable military service, which included active duty deployments to Viet Nam, Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. He accrued more than 20,000 flight hours in his career, qualifying in aircraft […]
WWII fighter pilot who flew 161 combat missions in the Pacific, primarily in P-40 Warhawks, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and ten Air Medals. He joined the RI National Guard after the war, and was commander of the 143rd Air Commando Group at the time of his death in 1966. On Monday, March 7, 1966 […]
Major General Kevin R. McBride is now The Adjutant General and Commanding General of the Rhode Island National Guard. Also an Army Aviator, he has commanded an Attack Helicopter Battalion, a Light Utility Helicopter Battalion and the 56th Troop Command (Airborne). General McBride served as the Commander of the 43rd Military Police Brigade from February […]
Cranston native Pasco “Pat” Melone (1913-2007) was an accomplished flight instructor, aerial photographer, aerial banner tower, and aerial acrobat. Called “Rhode Island’s version of Waldo Pepper”, he soloed at the old Buttonwoods airport at the age of 17 after less than 7 hours of dual flight time. According to his family, he was told “not […]
MAJ David L. Nuttall, US Army, Retired (1948- Army helicopter pilot, Vietnam; Master Army Aviator; helicopter instructor in Iran; maintenance test pilot; aviation instructor in both RI and NJ National Guard, accruing about 7500 hours military flight time. Flew another 2500 hours in civilian assignments—medevac, forest firefighting and oil rig support.
Edward Francis Roberts was born in Fall River, MA on January 29, 1924. He earned the Air Medal flying transport planes in the Pacific during WWII. As a member of the Massachusetts National Guard he was activated for Korea. He transferred to the RI Guard in 1956, and at the time of his death in […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Edward Yatsko was a native of New Jersey who settled in Warwick after WWII. When CWO4 Yatsko was retired (forcibly due to age) from the RI Army National Guard at age 62 in 1986 he was believed to be the last World War II combat aviator on active duty flight status and the oldest combat […]