East Greenwich resident LCDR Robert McCollough, USN (Ret) 1924-2008 posted a record of more than 50 years of achievement in military and commercial aviation in the State of Rhode Island. Bob enlisted in the Navy in 1943 after graduating from high school in Pennsylvania. Trained as a fighter pilot, Ensign McCollough flew F4F Wildcats from […]
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.
Eunice Standish Oates (1911-1981) was a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilot) during WWII. When we honored the WASP from Rhode Island back in 2006, there was little information we could find about Eunice, the first Rhode Islander to join the WASP initiative. We were unable to track down her family, and learned very little about […]
LT George Merlyn Power O’Keefe, RFC (1898-1954) Royal Flying Corps reconnaissance and observation pilot, World War I; early proponent of aviation in RI; Office of Price Administration automotive manager for RI during WWII. Prominent auto dealer and political influencer.
CAPT Charles Frederick Pratte, Jr., U.S. Army Air Forces (1915-1945) B-24 bomber pilot, WWII; earned national recognition and the Distinguished Flying Cross for saving his damaged, brakeless aircraft by tying parachutes to gun mounts on forced landing. Disappeared January 22, 1945 on a mine-laying mission at Chichi Jima; declared dead 1946. Pratte earned four Air […]
Harrisville resident Joel Rawson, best known locally for his lengthy and distinguished career at the Providence Journal, has had a life-long love affair with flying. His Vietnam combat flying experience was so secret that most people have never heard of his airplane or its mission. He was an original member of the Richmond Flying Club […]
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 […]
CAPT John A. Romano, USN (Ret) is a retired Navy Captain and long-time East Greenwich resident. John Romano’s role in RI aviation history is broader than his service and accomplishments as a Naval Aviator. With war clouds on the horizon in the late 1930s, the Navy appropriated the Romano family’s 400-acre Davisville farm, vineyards and […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]