Commander Harold J. Brow, USN (1894-1982)

Born in Fall River, he graduated from Providence Technical High School in 1912. He served in the Rhode Island National Guard from 1913-1914, then enlisted in the Navy in April, 1917 and earned his wings a year later. By 1923 he was the fastest flyer in the world; Brow established a world outright airspeed record at Mitchel Field, Long Island. Commander Brow beame the first commanding officer of the still-under-construction Quonset Point Naval Air Station, and on Dec. 31, 1940 he made the first landing on a crude runway that was part of a base-in-the-making.