The Allen Family of Aeronauts

According to New York-based aeronautical researcher Chris Lynch, “If there was a founding family of RI aviation, they are it.” Last year the Hall of Fame inducted James Allen (1824-1897)  and Ezra Allen (1828 – 1900). This year, the induction includes the remaining Allen aeronauts, who flew balloons well into the 20th century.

Family members to be honored include James K. Allen, eldest son of James; his sister Lizzie; and their brother E. T. Allen. The youngest sibling, Malvern Hill Allen, named for the Civil War battle during which his father had earned a commendation as a Union Army balloonist, began to fly after 1881. Eventually, James K’s wife and their four daughters also flew, as did Ezra’s wife Mary Frances Penno. In his fine book “Eagles Aloft”, Tom Crouch reports that by July 1891 James Allen and his sons James K. and Malvern Hill had made 481 ascensions. The Allens taught and extended aeronautics well beyond themselves, most notably to more than a half dozen of their offspring, a few of whom became noted aeronauts in their own right.  Crouch writes, “The Allens continued to fly well into the 20th century, earning national fame as ‘America’s First Family of Aeronautics’.”

Barrington natives James Allen (1824-1897) and his younger brother Ezra Allen (1840-1902) distinguished themselves through a lifelong commitment to aeronautics in the 19th century. In the words of Christopher Lynch, the New York aviation historian who recommended the Allens to us, “If there is a first family of aviation in Rhode Island, it has to be the Allens”.

James Allen’s first ascension in Rhode Island took place in 1856, and for the next 50 years Allen balloon ascensions became a part of the state’s culture. James Allen was America’s first military aeronaut, and he and Ezra served with distinction during the Civil War. Count Ferdinand Zeppelin first went aloft in an Allen balloon, and George Armstrong Custer was another of the Allens’ military passengers. The Allens taught and extended aeronautics well beyond themselves, most notably to more than a half dozen of their offspring, a few of whom became noted aeronauts in their own right.

Induction was accepted by Ezra Allen’s grandson, Bill Nangle, assisted by Christopher Lynch.

Professor James A. Allen

The September 27, 1888, wedding of Margaret Buckley and Edward T. Davis was held at the Rhode Island State Fair at Narragansett Park in Providence. An article in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper estimates that 40,000 watched as Davis and Buckley entered the “specially prepared ‘bridal car’ of the mammoth balloon Commonwealth, held down by 24 men at the guy ropes.” After the ceremony, aeronauts James Allen and his son James Kinnecutt Allen. directed the balloon skyward.

Each year, we highlight a China service candidate for recognition. The selection for 2019 is 1/LT Sidney R. Amylon, who served in the China-Burma-India Theater as a B-25 bomber pilot from the autumn of 1944 through mid-1945. 

Born and raised in Warwick’s Hillsgrove neighborhood, he graduated from Aldrich High School at the top of his class of 1939 and entered Brown University with the class of 1943. He left college and enlisted in the Army Air Corps on September 26, 1942. He earned his wings and was commissioned on February 20, 1944.

Lieutenant Amylon was eventually assigned to the 490th Bomb Squadron, 341st Bombardment Group, flying the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber. The squadron’s aircraft bombed bridges, locomotives, railroad yards, and other targets to delay the movement of supplies to the Japanese troops fighting in northern Burma. One of this unit’s squadron leaders accidentally discovered a very effective method for destroying bridges. Once perfected, this technique became so successful that the 490th earned the nickname “Burma Bridge Busters” from the commanding general of the Tenth Air Force.  In the words of one war correspondent, the 490th became “one of the most specialized bombardment squadrons in the world.”  Amylon was personally credited with several bridge destructions, and by the time he returned home he had flown 47 combat missions, comprising 202 combat flight hours. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and multiple Air Medals.

He returned to his studies at Brown after the war and graduated with the class of 1948. He enjoyed a career as a successful businessman, spending many years with BIF Industries in Providence. He and Mary raised six children in Scituate, where he also served on the school committee. There were 12 grandchildren at the time of his death.

Retired Air Force Major General, Apollo 8 Astronaut and former Textron executive Bill Anders is one of the first three humans to view the dark side of the moon. Anders described his experiences and his famous photograph, “Earthrise,” which he took on Christmas Eve, 1968. Along with the first pictures taken of the earth from the moon, Anders is perhaps best remembered for his inspirational quote, “We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.”

Anders, a 1955 graduate of the Naval Academy, was portrayed by Robert John Burke in the 1998 miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon”, and the Anders Crater on the Moon was named in his honor.

Anders lived in Barrington for most of the 1980s while serving as Textron’s executive vice president and later as senior vice president. Providence-based Textron is also a major sponsor of this year’s event.

“Textron takes great pride in the induction of Bill Anders into the Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame. This is a well-deserved honor that recognizes Bill for his achievements as an astronaut and his work in furthering the U.S. space program,” said John D. Butler, executive vice president, Administration and chief human resources officer of Textron Inc. “On behalf of the men and women of Textron, we salute Bill for his service to our country and to our company. We are proud to support Bill and the Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame as it honors those who have contributed to the exploration of flight.”

Anders, who now lives in the state of Washington, flew in with his wife Valerie to receive the award.

“We are delighted that Bill Anders will be able to join us,” said Hall of Fame founder Frank Lennon. “He is truly one of the living giants of the aviation and space community, and we are delighted that someone of his stature will headline our commemoration of 100 years of manned flight in Rhode Island.”

[The first manned flight in this state took place in 1910, but the identity of the first pilot is still uncertain. See attachment for details.]

George Armitage (1887-1948)

Born in England, he came to Rhode Island as a youngster and attended Providence public schools. He may have been the first person to fly in Rhode Island; it is known that he began experimenting with “power driven gliders” as early as 1905. A 1934 article in Rhode Island Review stated: “To George Armitage we give full credit for the design and building of the first power-driven monoplane in Rhode Island.” He organized and operated a machine tool company for some 35 years, and was quite successful as an inventor.

William P. Armstrong  (1924- 1945) was a Tuskegee Airman/Fighter Pilot.

September, 1944: Evelyn Armstrong James remembers it as if it were yesterday. She and her mother (also named Evelyn) had just completed a long and difficult train trip from Providence to Tuskegee, Alabama.  But the trip was worth it; on Friday, September 8, her brother, William P. Armstrong, graduated with Class 44-H from the Tuskegee Flight School. He received his pilot wings and a commission as a Flight Officer in the Army Air Corps.

Bill Armstrong was born on Oct. 30, 1924 in Washington, DC, and along with his mother and sister moved to Providence where his grandfather lived. His mother eventually remarried, to Nelson F. Venter, and the family lived on Codding Street in Providence’s West End neighborhood. After attending Kenyon Street Elementary School and Gilbert Stuart Junior High, Armstrong entered Central High School where, according to former American Legion State Commander Robert Miles, an old school chum from those days, Armstrong excelled academically and was a member of the student council.

Standing about 5’10”, Armstrong was thin, handsome and outgoing. His avocation was singing; according to Miles, he had a beautiful tenor voice. His family attended the Episcopalian Church of the Saviour on North Main Street, which sometimes hosted afternoon teas for teenagers. Musical groups offered impromptu entertainment, and Armstrong was always asked to sing a solo.

He graduated from high school in January 1943, and wanted to become a lawyer. Because of World War II, military service had to come first, and he chose the U.S. Army Air Forces. Armstrong was accepted for training as a military pilot at the Tuskegee Institute in central Alabama. On Sept 8, 1944 he graduated from Tuskegee Army Flying School and became a Flight Officer in the 301st Fighter Squadron, part of the elite 332nd Fighter Group.

He soon deployed to Ramitelli Air Field in Italy, and began flying bomber escort missions in the P-51 Mustang fighter. On April 1, 1945 – Easter Sunday- the 332nd Fighter Group successfully escorted  B-24s which bombed a marshaling yard in St. Polten, Austria. On the return trip, an air battle ensued; 12

German planes were shot down, but two Mustangs were also lost.

“After fulfilling our mission, the 301st broke away from the rest of the group and flew straight down the Danube River,” Flight Officer James H. Fischer said an interview published in Tuskegee Airmen: The Men Who Changed a Nation by Charles E. Francis.

“…when we got to Linz we met a great deal of flak. Frankly, we were looking for enemy barges on the river, but instead sighted enemy planes.”

In his report, 2nd Lt. John E. Edwards said he saw one P-51 Mustang hit by fire from an enemy plane, and dive to the ground.

“I also observed a pilot bail out of his plane after having been attacked by enemy fighters about 15 miles south of Wels,” Edwards wrote in the report. “I was not able to identify either of the pilots or the planes, except that they were our planes in both instances. It is logical to assume that either 2nd Lt. Walter P. Manning was the pilot that spun in and Flight Officer William P. Armstrong was the pilot that bailed out or vice versa since two of our eight planes that engaged in the fight didn’t return.”

Armstrong’s body was still missing in October 1946 when the Eugene Perry Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars dedicated the corner of Cranston and Codding streets as the William P Armstrong Memorial Square. [Because the neighborhood was eventually redeveloped, Codding Street no longer exists and there are no records showing that the memorial square was ever moved to another location.]

In 1949, American Legion Post #69 was renamed the Lieutenants Armstrong- Gladding Post.

According to Maria DeMento of the Grace Church Cemetery Project, Armstrong’s stepfather, Nelson Venter, was determined to find Armstrong’s remains. Pressuring military authorities finally bore fruit; the flier’s remains were finally located. He had been buried in Austria, and Venter arranged for the body to be returned home. In March, 1950, Armstrong was buried in the family plot at Grace Church Cemetery in Providence.

For his service, Armstrong was awarded a Purple Heart and an Air Medal. As a member of the 332nd Fighter Group, he was also awarded a Presidential Unit Citation.

Captain Karl W Augenstein USAF (1924-1954) was a German immigrant from Cranston who, as a teenager, made the decision to fight for his adopted country. He became a WWII B-24 bomber pilot, flying 11 combat missions before German capitulation in May 1945.

As a civilian, he was the corporate pilot for Bulova Watch Company. He returned to the military in 1948 as a 1/LT in the RI Air National Guard. He transitioned to fighters and qualified in the F-51 Mustang, seeing stateside service during the Korean conflict. After qualifying in the F84D Thunderjet, he was killed when he crashed after takeoff from Bradley Field in Connecticut in August 1954 while on a training flight for the Guard.

This photo of Augenstein and crew appears as the cover spread in the volume of the Time-Life History of World War II entitled “Air War in Europe”.

Lieutenant Commander Stanley Auslander, US Naval Reserve, a long-time Warwick resident and patrol bomber pilot, sank one German U-boat and damaged another off the coast of Brazil. He later flew patrols from England before and after D-day, and is credited with homing a British destroyer in to sink another U-boat. He earned a Distinguished Flying Cross and two Air Medals for these actions. The New York City native also flew with the Navy’s Special Project Unit Cast, testing new radar and electronics equipment.

Col. John F . “Jack” Barrett, US Air Force, Retired (1912-1997)

Captain Frederick R. Bartlett was born in Lakewood, Ohio on 22 June 1930. He grew up Wyncote, Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts, where he captained the swim and tennis teams.

Fred enlisted in the Navy in 1952 at the height of the Korean War. He became a Naval Aviator, assault helicopter pilot with HA(L)-3, Vietnam, a fixed wing patrol pilot and instructor, and XO of USS Iwo Jima, which led the minesweeping operation in the Suez Canal after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. Captain Bartlett (known as “Black Bart”) was a consummate career Naval Aviator. A jack of all trades, he flew fixed wing prop planes, jet aircraft and helicopters.

A long-time North Kingstown, RI resident, he retired in 1978, then taught history at Valley Forge Military Academy in PA. He was a highly successful competitive swimmer, and in his later years became a champion triathlete. Bartlett competed in multiple Ironman events, including the 2000 Hawaiian Ironman at the age of 70. He died in 2020.

Eugene Bielecki was born in Pawtucket in 1927. Gene is a founding member and past president of the Rhode Island Pilots Association. In his piloting career he has logged well over 30,000 flight hours, including more than 15,000 hours as a Flight Instructor. He holds a number of single and multi-engine private and commercial ratings (both pilot and instructor), including seaplane and glider ratings. Gene was an early and active proponent of the FAA Wings program, encouraging general aviation pilots to continue flight training and attend safety seminars throughout their flying lives. Gene was twice selected as FAA Flight Instructor of the Year , and at 81 he is still flying as an FAA designated pilot examiner. Aero Club of New England awarded him its Presidential Medal for lifelong aviation achievement in 2003.

Alabama-born Richard Warren Blackman (1939—2013) made a major contribution to aviation in RI through
his lengthy service with the Civil Air Patrol (CAP).

Richard enlisted in the Alabama National Guard at 15 years old, serving for 3 years. Upon graduating high school in 1959, he enlisted in the Navy, with hopes of one day becoming a helicopter pilot. Already a Master Plumber, the 18-year-old was assigned as a Boiler Tender/Fireman aboard the USS Allagash, AO 97, home-ported in Newport, RI–where he met the woman who would become his wife of 52 years, Patricia A. Conway.

He left the Navy and went to work for the Providence Gas Company. In the late 60’s, Richard enlisted in the Naval Reserve, then the RI National Guard. He had considered, again, going to Helicopter School, with the Vietnam War raging. In 1978, Richard finally satisfied his lifelong desire to fly by attending flight school at North Central Airport. He joined the 102nd Composite Squadron of the CAP, and by 1980 he was heavily involved in RI-EMA training, search and rescue missions and radio communications monitoring. He often served as Mission Commander on the Wing’s many Search and Rescue Missions in the 1980s and 90s – most notably the search for John F. Kennedy Jr.’s downed aircraft. He became Squadron Commander, successfully completed CAP National Staff College, and was invited back to the College as an instructor. He eventually became RI Wing Chief of Staff. He was slated to become Wing Commander, but lung disease grounded him.

In his years of service to CAP, he mentored hundreds of children, teaching them the wonders of flight and aerospace technology. His love of children was manifested in a most unusual avocation: he was a very successful clown! He was the founder of the Blackman Family Clowns who entertained at area schools and hospitals. He was known as “Grandpa Muggle” to the kids of the Cranston school system. Another of his passions was flying remote-controlled aircraft, and he volunteered at various schools giving demonstration flights. He was also the first male assistant Girl Scout leader in the United States.

Blake was born on November 8, 1897 in Westerly and graduated in 1916 from Westerly High School, he was the star center on the football team and a member of the track team. After a semester of college in Boston, he volunteered for the American Ambulance Service in January 1917 before the US entered the war. He sailed for France shortly thereafter, and participated in the Battle of Verdun. He applied for French Army Aviation and was accepted June 1917, becoming a member of the Lafayette Flying Corps.

He was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the US Aviation Service on March 17, 1918, and was sent back to his former French unit on detached duty. He flew more than 100 hours over enemy territory and completed 37 bombing missions. He and his observer/gunner earned the Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre on August 9, 1918, when they fought off a number of German airplanes and completed their mission. He joined the Rhode Island State Police in 1930 and had reached the rank of Lieutenant when he was recalled to active duty in February of 1941. He served as director of counterintelligence (renamed security services) for the Office of the Chief of Army Corps for the remainder of the war, He retired in 1945 and died in 1958. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Roger Holland Blake (1921-1952) was born October 15, 1921. His father, a World War I aviator, was attending RI State College at the time. Roger graduated from Aldrich High School in 1939. and left college after one year to enlist in the Army Air Corps on May 1, 1942. He flew with the Air Transport Command until leaving active duty in 1946. In 1949 he volunteered to return to active duty, getting back in the Air Force just in time to fly in the final days of the Berlin Airlift. In 1951 the Air Force established a special unit at Eglin AFB, Florida. Its mission was to operate obsolete aircraft (mostly B-17 Flying Fortress bombers) as radio-controlled aerial targets for various tests. Captain Blake was assigned to that squadron as a pilot; his crew’s job was to guide the target drones during the missile and rocket tests. On August 25, 1952, a rocket fired by the pilot of an F-86D Sabre jet, the Air Force’s newest all-weather fighter, hit the director B-17 instead of the drone, sending the manned aircraft spinning in flames into the Gulf of Mexico. Two of the eight crew members survived by parachuting into the sea. Captain Roger H Blake, 30, was on the list of six missing. His remains were never recovered. A plaque at Eglin Air Force base is dedicated to the six crew members who were killed in this incident, honoring those who “Gave their lives to their country in furtherance of the mission of the United States Air Force.”

Bonaccorsi (right) with two Army Air Forces buddies, Tinian, late 1945.

Edward J. Bonaccorsi (1925-2015) graduated from Samuel Gorton High School in Warwick, then enlisted as an Aviation Cadet in May, 1943. Failing a pilot medical, he became a mechanic, qualifying in both the B-24 Liberator and the B-29 Stratofortress. He served with the 40th Bombardment Squadron, and spent six months on Tinian Island as the war ended. (Enola Gay was one of the aircraft in this unit, although he was not involved with the final raids of the war.)

He studied civil engineering at Indiana Institute of Technology, and was called back to active duty during the Korean War, serving stateside. He worked for both Campanella & Cardi and Tilcon Gammino construction companies before retiring.

During his career as a civil engineer he helped to design and build roadways throughout Rhode Island, Southern Massachusetts, Cape Cod, into Connecticut and even as far north as Maine. He was also  involved in the design and paving of runways at Otis Air Force Base.

Lieutenant Colonel Horace LeRoy Borden, US Air Force (1892-1951), was a World War I Aerial Observer, WWII Training Squadron Commander, & Cold War Support Squadron Commander.

He was born April 25, 1892 in Portsmouth, attended Moses Brown School and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1914. He enlisted in the Army, and earned his commission in August, 1917. Shortly thereafter he applied for Air Service duty. He went overseas on February 27, 1918, and trained to be an aerial observer. He was assigned to the 90th Aero Squadron, performing short-range, tactical reconnaissance. He flew combat missions during the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives.

On October 29, 1918, Borden, flying as an observer/gunner, succeeded in fighting off three Fokkers, but while completing his observation mission a six-star rocket exploded in the plane, setting the canvas fuselage afire. Borden grabbed the flaming rocket and threw it over the side. He then crawled back along the fuselage and put out the fire. Borden earned a Distinguished Service Cross and a Purple Heart for his actions.

He worked as an investment banker in Springfield for many years. He was recalled to active duty early in World War 2. He served throughout the war with a Bombardier Training Group at Big Springs, TX . On April 22, 1943, Borden pinned pilot’s wings on his own son Roy, who had just graduated from flight school. The elder Borden stayed in the service after the war. He served with Army of Occupation forces in Italy and Germany. Major Borden became part of the Air Force when it was formed in 1948, and was assigned to Westover AFB near his home in Springfield. He died suddenly in 1951 of a cerebral hemorrhage.

First Lieutenant Horace LeRoy Borden, Jr. US Army Air Forces (1921-1944) was a World War II fighter pilot killed in action in the Phillipines in 1944.

Horace LeRoy Borden, Jr. was born in 1921 to Horace LeRoy Borden, Sr. of Portsmouth, RI and Margaret Hayden of Fall River. MA. The family moved to Springfield, MA in about 1924. Roy

Borden attended Georgia Tech in the class of 1943, but left in 1942 to join the Army Air Corps. On April 22, 1943, he graduated from the Eagle Pass, TX advanced single engine pilot school. The graduation speaker that day was his father, who pinned the wings on his son’s chest. He joined the 311th Fighter Squadron, 58th Fighter Group and served as a P-47 Thunderbolt pilot, initially in the New Guinea area. He was chosen as the typical Air Force aviator for the patriotic poster that was put up in the many aviation spare parts plants throughout the country.

Lieutenant Borden was also an accomplished poet, the author of a number of inspiring and excellent poems which reflected the thoughts of our young servicemen at war. In 1943, he wrote one of the nation’s immortal war poems. Entitled “Flier’s Reward” it was included in the book “Reveille”, a historical collection written by members of the Armed Forces.

The day after Christmas, 1944, Roy was reported missing. It is presumed that he was lost at sea during the battle for Mindoro in the Phillipines. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He had previously been awarded the Air Medal. His remains were never recovered, but he is remembered at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Fort William McKinley, The Philippines.

Allen P Bourdon (1888-1972) was an aviation pioneer and WWI instructor pilot; he also flew with Amelia Earhart. He moved to RI in 1917 to learn to fly at Gallaudet Aviation in East Greenwich. He became a designer and test pilot for Gallaudet and later set up his own manufacturing plant at Hillsgrove. Bourdon Aircraft Corporation produced the Kitty Hawk in 1928, the first commercial aircraft built in New England. He was a Vermont native who had a lengthy career as a Civil Aeronautics Board accident investigator.

Bourdon was the recipient of the 2022 Galkin Award, named for the RI Aviation Hall of Fame’s most generous benefactors. This award, first given in 2017, is named after Warren and the late Robert Galkin, and is given to an individual whose contribution to aviation includes an advancement of the field though technology, design, implementation, exploration, bold initiative or risk-taking.

Watch the 2022 Induction Dinner Segment:

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.

Paul Broadnax, the child of two well-known and influential Boston-area classical musicians, was drafted into the Army toward the end of WWII. Already an accomplished pianist and vocalist, the Army assigned him to support Army Air Corps units at both Shepard Field in Wichita Falls, Texas and to Lockbourne Airbase in Columbus Ohio where Tuskegee graduates were assigned. He played with the Tuskegee Airmen military band and dance band.

Later in life, Broadnax has entertained many Rhode Island audiences during a career that has seen him twice nominated as the Boston Music Awards Jazz Singer of the Year. In 2003 he was named Musician of the Year by the Boston Musicians’ Association. He plays regularly with the Reggie Centracchio quintet, the musical group led by the former Rhode Island Adjutant General.

Born in 1925, Pawtucket resident Ken Brown joined the Navy in early 1943.  He saw action in the Mediterranean, European, China-Burma-India and Pacific theaters, and participated in both the Sicilian and Normandy invasions as a Gunner’s Mate on LSTs. Brown took flying lessons shortly after his discharge, and  in 1957 he joined the FAA as an Air Traffic Controller. He also became  an Instrument Instructor, obtained his Multi-Engine and ATP ratings, and  taught aerobatics. After more than 20 years as an Air Traffic Controller (with his last assignment at T. F. Green), he was promoted to Accident Investigator.  He later became the Regional Safety Coordinator for all of New England, and at one time was chief pilot the FAA’s King Air. He was named the Rhode Island Pilots Association Airman of the Year in 1979.

Richard E. Byrd (1888-1957), after retiring early from the Navy in 1916 because of an ankle injury, was assigned to be the Inspector-Instructor of the RI Naval Militia in 1916. He supervised the Militia’s acquisition of its first seaplane, and helped usher this state into military aviation. He then became the Militia’s last commander, serving in that capacity until the Militia was federalized on April 6, 1917. He eventually earned his wings at Pensacola and went on to his spectacular career as a polar explorer and pioneer aviator.

Captain William McBrayer Calhoun, USN, Ret. (1948-2015) was a long-time RI resident. CAPT Calhoun graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1967.

One highlight of his Naval Aviation career was a 1969-70 tour as a LTJG with the highly decorated Helicopter Attack Squadron (Light) 3, nicknamed the “Seawolves”, an all-volunteer squadron formed in support of Naval Special Warfare operations and Mobile Riverine Forces. Missions included Search and Destroy patrols, reconnaissance, MEDEVAC, and SEAL Team insertion and extraction.

He later commanded Helicopter Combat Support Squadron ONE, also known as the “Pacific Fleet Angels”, and served as Air Boss of the USS Peleliu. His awards include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, three single action and 21 Strike/Flight Awards, Navy Commendation Medal with Combat “V” and Gold Star, and the Combat Action Ribbon.

During his Vietnam tour he was exposed to Agent Orange. While on Disability Leave from the Navy, he attended the University of Georgia Law School and became a member of the Georgia Bar. This later contributed to his selection as Dean of Academics at the Naval War College.

He retired from Navy active duty service in 1994 as a member of the War College faculty and was pivotal in transitioning the Deanship from an active duty Naval Officer billet to a Civilian position. He also represented the Naval War College at the  Mediterranean and Black Seas Symposium in Venice, Italy. Greatly respected by both students and faculty alike, he continued to teach until a month before he succumbed to cancer.

BG Christopher Callahan, USA now serves as the 44th Adjutant General of the State of RI. Previously, he served as the Director of Aviation and Safety at Quonset. He also served in Iraq as CO of 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment. Under the command Colonel Callahan, Task Force Dragonwing deployed soldiers from several states and conducted combat support operations throughout the entire Iraqi theater. The unit earned the distinction of being the top Army National Guard aviation unit for 2005.  General Callahan, a Massachusetts native, graduated from Fitchburg State College in 1986 and was commissioned through the Early Commissioning Program.  General Callahan had an opportunity to transfer as an Infantry Officer in the Massachusetts National Guard to the Rhode Island Army National Guard. He graduated from the rotary wing course in 1988 at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

LtCol Lynn Carter US Air Force, Retired (1919-2014)

LCDR Lynn Carter II, US Navy, Retired  (1946-)

Vice Admiral and career Naval Aviator Walter “Ted” Carter of Pascoag, now Superintendent of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, earned his Naval Flight Officer wings in 1982. Since then, Admiral Carter, a record-setting “Top Gun” aviator, has made 2,016 landings (called “traps”) on aircraft carriers; that is more than anyone else in US Navy history.

Carter’s call sign of “Slapshot” reflects his career as a star hockey player in college. He is the first Burrillville HS grad to ever attend the Naval Academy, graduating in 1981. He flew 125 combat missions in support of joint operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. Carter accumulated 6,150 flight hours in F-4, F-14, and F-18 aircraft during his career. He has commanded a strike fighter squadron, a fast combat support ship, the supercarrier USS Carl Vinson and a carrier strike group.

Before President Obama nominated him to serve as the Naval Academy’s 62nd Superintendent, Carter was President of the Naval War College in Newport. So far in his career he has earned a number of personal awards, to include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal (two awards), Legion of Merit (three awards), Distinguished Flying Cross with Combat V, Bronze Star, Air Medal (two with Combat V and five strike/flight), and Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (two with Combat V). He was awarded the Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale Leadership Award and the U.S. Navy League’s John Paul Jones Award for Inspirational Leadership.

Commander Richard L. Cevoli, USN (1919-1955)

Born in East Greenwich in 1919, Commander Cevoli earned numerous decorations during WWII and Korea. The LaSalle Academy and URI grad was awarded the Navy Cross during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. By the end of his tour Cevoli earned a total of five Air Medals in addition to the DFC and the Navy Cross. When the Korean conflict erupted he found himself back in combat. On December 4, 1950 he flew cover when then-LT(jg) Thomas Hudner earned the Medal of Honor by crash-landing his own Corsair in a futile attempt to save the life of his wingman, Ensign Jesse Brown–the Navy’s first commissioned African-American pilot.

Aerospace engineer George Chakoian flew 46 combat missions in the Pacific as a radio operator/gunner on a B-24. After graduating from RI School of Design in 1948, he began a technical career that spanned six decades. His specialty was airdrop systems, and he was Project Engineer for a number of projects relating to the airborne delivery of equipment to a war zone. In  his engineering career he received patents for an air brake for missiles as well as an air drag apparatus. Listed in Who’s Who in American Aviation, Chakoian lives in Lincoln.

Marine Corps Maj. William D. Chesarek was born in Newport, RI. He is the first American to receive Great Britain’s Distinguished Flying Cross since World War II. His exploits involved the daring rescue of a wounded British soldier in Iraq. Queen Elizabeth II presented his award at Buckingham Palace.

LCDR Godfrey DeCourcelles Chevalier, USN, Aviation Pioneer (1889 – 1922)

Providence-born Chevalier graduated from the Naval Academy in 1910.  On July 12, 1916, he was launched from the first catapult designed for shipboard use, aboard USS North Carolina. In 1917 Chevalier was assigned to duty in Europe. He commanded the US Naval Aeronautic Station in Dunkirk and the Northern Bombing Squadron, US Naval Aviation Forces in Paris. In 1920 he participated in the conversion of the collier Jupiter into the United States’ first aircraft carrier, USS Langley (CV 1). As Officer in Charge of the Aviation Detachment, he had been instrumental in the development of the arresting gear used aboard.  On October 26, 1922, LCDR Chevalier made the very first landing on Langley’s deck.   Ironically, Chevalier never saw the full glory of the aircraft carrier. Less than three weeks later,  he incurred fatal injuries in a plane crash near Norfolk.

Induction was accepted by the senior naval aviator present, Jack Everling, former CAG on USS Saratoga.

John Bayard Chevalier (1887-1955) was born in Providence on January 3I, 1887. His family moved to Medford, MA where he attended high school. He graduated from Harvard with the class of 1908, and went to work for Standard Oil Company. He spent the next three years in Bombay, and from 1912 to 1917 he was in Shanghai. His first military experience came from three years of service with the American Company of the Shanghai Volunteer Reserve Corps.

He returned home after the US entered the war and enlisted in the Signal Enlisted Reserve Corps with the intention of becoming a pilot. After graduating from ground school he sailed for France as an enlisted man, aviation cadet. He trained with the French Army and earned his commission and pilot wings in June, 1918. He then headed the American Aviation Detachment at the Avord advanced flying school, and was CO of the Aviation Instruction Center at Cavaux when the war ended.

By the time he re-entered the business world (the wholesale tea business) in 1919 he spoke five foreign languages. He spent the rest of his life in foreign trade and banking, specializing in Asian affairs. He died September 14 1955 in Cambridge, MA.

NOTE: His brother, Godfrey de C. Chevalier, was one of our inaugural inductees in 2003. He was a WW1 Naval Aviator who made the first-ever landing on a moving ship (USS Langley) in 1922. Less than a month after Chevalier’s successful landing, he was badly injured in a plane crash near Norfolk, and died two days later. Godfrey was the second of his family to die in the service of his country. In 1898, an older brother, Harold Frye Chevalier, Private, 21st U. S. Infantry, died while en route to the Philippines, in the Spanish-American War, and was buried at sea.

Chute in 1945.

James H. Chute (1918-1993), a Pawtucket native, was an 8th Air Force B-17 bomber pilot who earned the Distinguished Flying Cross over Germany. After completing his 35 combat missions in January, 1945, he went to the Pacific Division of Air Transport Command, flying C-54 transports. At the end of the war he participated in Southwest Pacific Wing Project No. 75, a mission that consisted of flying occupation forces from Okinawa to Japan, and evacuating freed POWs on the return flights.

James “Jim” Chute, a 1936 graduate of St. Raphael Academy, attended Providence College. He and his wife Katherine owned and operated the Highland Cottage Dairy until 1965. In 1971, he purchased a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise at the entrance to the old Narragansett Racetrack. He was one of the first Dunkin’ Donuts operators in Rhode Island, developing two additional locations in Pawtucket and serving on numerous advisory councils and committees within the Dunkin’ Donuts franchise system.

The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a congressionally chartered, federally supported non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CAP is a volunteer organization with an aviation-minded membership that includes people from all backgrounds, lifestyles, and occupations.

In 2017, RIAHOF helped to honor the RI CAP on 75 years of achievement.

The Civil Air Patrol’s cadet program was established in 1942. CAP cadets wear modified Air Force uniforms, hold ranks, and practice military customs and courtesies. They are required to maintain physical fitness standards, and are tested on their knowledge of leadership and aerospace subjects. Cadets are given many opportunities to lead and to follow; they may hold leadership positions at squadron and wing activities, and are often involved in planning these activities.

For more information on RI CAP, please visit their Facebook page.

General Philip Conley is a LaSalle Academy alumnus and a 1950 Naval Academy graduate who grew up in West Warwick and flew combat missions in Korea and Vietnam. He earned a Distinguished Flying Cross in Korea, flying with the famous forward air controller unit known as the “Mosquitoes”. Conley eventually rose to head the Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California. There he supervised the development of every major aircraft now in our flying arsenal, to include the B-1 bomber, F-16, F-15, A-10 and F-117 stealth fighter. He was commander for the first space shuttle landing at Edwards, and in 1982 he hosted President Reagan’s visit to view the first shuttle landing on a conventional runway. General Conley has 4200 hours flight time in 86 different aircraft types/models.

Captain John J. Coonan, Jr., USN (1944-2009) was born in Pawtucket to a Navy family. His father, who also retired as a Navy Captain, was deployed in the SW Pacific flying the PB4Y (Navy version of B-24) and did not see his son until he was 13 months old. His father was stationed at NAS Quonset Point for several years in the early 1950s, and he grew up in Wickford and East Greenwich. The Coonan family returned to RI during his father’s deployments. They moved 14 times before his graduation from high school in 1962. CAPT Coonan attended the University of Virginia under the Regular NROTC Program graduating in June 1966. He was designated a naval aviator on 29 September 1967. He flew the A-7 during a Vietnam deployment in VA-87 aboard USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14), and eventually commanded a Light Attack Wing, the supply ship USS Mars, a Carrier Air Wing and eventually the aircraft carrier USS America (CV -66).

In April 1993 he took over the Naval Aviation Schools Command. He accumulated more than 4,500 flight hours (including more than 3,000 in the A-7 aircraft) and logged 1,000+ carrier arrested landings. Following retirement from the Navy in 1996, he joined the staff of National Naval Aviation Museum Foundation in Pensacola, Florida. He served as Director of Development and later Vice President of Education and Chief Operating Officer.

His most lasting contribution to aviation and to the foundation, however, was his stewardship of the National Flight Academy, the premier and one-of-a-kind scientific, technological, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teaching facility in this country. He was selected to bring the concept to reality and serve as the Academy’s first Director. Unfortunately, he succumbed to cancer in June of 2009. John J Mazach, Vice Admiral, USN (ret) nominated Captain Coonan for recognition by RIAHOF. He wrote:

“John Coonan…was always a leader in the air (as well as on the ground) from his first combat tour all the way through his tour as the Air Wing One Commander on what would eventually be his ship, USS America (CV66). His consummate leadership was recognized when he commanded Attack Squadron Fifteen in 1981. He became the first recipient of the James B Stockdale Leadership Award,  given annually to the Commanding Officer who best exemplifies the enduring inspirational leadership characteristics of Admiral Stockdale.”

Pawtucket native Thomas G. Corcoran (1899-1981) played a pivotal role in the establishment of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers. He also championed the construction of Washington’s National Airport. After World War II, he played a leading role in the establishment of Civil Air Transport (CAT), the Nationalist Chinese airline. He was also instrumental in saving 71 transport planes from falling into Communist hands when Mao Tse-Tung took over mainland China. CAT was later owned by the CIA, and supported United States covert operations throughout East and Southeast Asia. In 1959, CAT changed its name to Air America.

Nicknamed “Tommy the Cork” by his boss, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Corcoran was one of the architects of the New Deal. He graduated from Pawtucket High School, was valedictorian of his class at Brown University and received his law degree from Harvard. As well as drafting New Deal legislation, Roosevelt used Corcoran as his “special emissary to Capitol Hill”.

Elliott Roosevelt wrote, “Apart from my father, Tom (Corcoran) was the single most influential individual in the country.” Much of his work during the New Deal was in conjunction with Benjamin V. Cohen. Together Corcoran and Cohen were known as the “Gold Dust Twins” and were on the cover of Time Magazine’s September 12, 1938 edition.

Bertrand “Bert” T. Cournoyer (1919-1967) was born and raised in Manville, RI. He graduated from Woonsocket High School in 1937. He was President of the Senior High School Band and received numerous music awards, including All New England clarinetist. He was awarded a scholarship to The New England Conservatory of Music. After one year, Bert decided not to make music his career and transferred to Providence College, continuing to play in dance bands as clarinetist, saxophonist and vocalist to support himself while in college. Music remained an important facet of Bert’s life, even throughout military service.

In 1940, Bert enlisted in the RI Army National Guard Band and was given the rank of Sergeant. In January, 1941, he was promoted to Technical Sergeant, serving in the 243rd Coast Guard Artillery Band at Fort Wetherill, RI. In February, 1941, Bert entered Cadet Flying School at Turner Field, Georgia, where he earned his wings in October. He was first sent to Puerto Rico, where he served as a member of a pursuit squadron for the next several months.

In September of 1942, Bert was sent overseas and assigned to the 23rd Fighter Group, 74th Fighter Squadron in Kunming, China. His primary was flying fighter escort for bombers, including many missions over the over the Hump. During this period, Bert served as a French interpreter for General Claire Lee Chennault. He accompanied the General to the home of Madame Chiang-Kai-Shek.

In late December, 1942, Burt was reassigned to Lahore, India, to conduct flight training for Nationalist Chinese pilots. As a check pilot, he screened the trainees to determine their fitness for further training in the US. Bert organized another band to entertain the troops and was promoted to Captain.

He returned stateside in July, 1944 and served as part of a readiness team at Pinellas Air Force Base in St. Petersburg, Florida until August, 1945. He was promoted to Major and was discharged at Fort Devens, MA in October, 1945. He graduated from Brown University in 1948.

The Cournoyer family remained in Rhode Island until 1958 when Bert, now in the insurance business, was offered a promotion in Rochester, NY. His immediate family, widow Doris and daughters Doreen and Micki continue to reside in the Rochester area. Bert’s last flight as a pilot took place at a small general aviation airport in Primrose, RI. Aboard this flight were his  grandmother, his mother, his wife, and (unbeknownst to all), his first daughter.

Senior Chief Malcolm L. Craig, US Navy (1927-2006) was a Combat Air Crewman, World War II, Korea and Vietnam Veteran.

Malcolm Craig was born in Charlotte, Maine and enlisted in the Navy in 1943 at age 16. After receiving navigation training he became a LORAN (Long Range Navigation) specialist.

By the time he retired as a Senior Chief Aviation Electronics Technician with 22 years service, he was a veteran of three wars. He had had flown from the decks of 13 different aircraft carriers, and had made 122 landings on USS Saratoga. He flew TBM-1-C Avengers and Hellcats during World War II, and later he crewed AD-5 Skyraiders, B-24 Privateer bombers and WF Trackers.

After retiring from the Navy, he owned and operated the former Craig TV in North Kingstown. He was an active member of the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation, from which he received numerous volunteer awards.

Robert Crandall is a native of Westerly, University of RI grad and long-time Chairman of American Airlines.

Crandall led American Airlines from 1980, when he was named president and later chairman, until he retired in 1998. American Airlines was transformed from a small, domestic carrier to one of the world’s leading airlines with the largest jet fleet worldwide. American led the airline industry in the 1990’s in revenues and operating income, and its parent company, AMR Corporation, was one of the top Fortune 500 companies.

LT John Crouchley is the WWII B-24 pilot whose remains were found in Bulgaria and repatriated back for burial in RI in May of 2017.

He was flying a B-24 bombing mission on June 28, 1944 against the Titan Oil Refineries in Romania.  After completing the bomb run, his plane was attacked by a number of German fighters. He was able to keep the four-engine plane aloft for an hour as his gunners fought off repeated attacks. But the German fighters inflicted more damage, and the plane was no longer airworthy. The B-24’s autopilot was destroyed, so Crouchley stayed at the controls, keeping the plane aloft as nine other men jumped to safety. All 9 crew members landed safely and were released from POW camps after the war. But the plane—and Crouchley’s remains—was never found.

The eventual recovery came about largely as a result of the development and growth of the internet. Networking helped connect curious family members with relatives of surviving crew members, who gathered and shared information, zeroing in on the fact that the surviving crew members had been held in prison camps in Bulgaria, not Romania. It took about 14 years, but a retired Bulgarian colonel and academic found a record noting a plane crash and the burial of the remains of a man named “John Krachali.” An archeological dig on a remote mountainside and DNA testing finally resulted in John Crouchley “coming home”.

On May 1, 2017, almost 75 years after his valiant final act, a flag-draped casket containing the remains of Lt. John Dudley Crouchley Jr. arrived at T F Green airport. As the airplane taxied in, it passed under an honor arch of water provided by airport firefighters.

COL Ted Crouchley  enlisted in the Army Air Corps in July 1941 and earned his wings on Feb. 4, 1942, shortly after Pearl Harbor. Fresh out of B-24 qualification training, he volunteered for a highly dangerous secret mission: a backup plan to bomb Japan in case the April 18, 1942 Doolittle raid — B-25 bombers launched from the deck of the USS Hornet — failed.

This Hail Mary effort involved flying halfway round the world, across the Atlantic, Africa and into India, before staging at bases in eastern China. But by the time the volunteer squadron reached Egypt, the Japanese had captured the Chinese bases from which they had hoped to launch. So Ted instead became a member of the first operational U.S. bomber unit in the European Theater of Operations, based near Cairo.

On June 12, 1942 he flew one of 13 planes on the first American strategic bombing mission against Axis territory in Europe. Their target: the Ploesti oil field in Romania, which a year later would make headlines as the target of the Allies’ “Operation Tidal Wave” bombing attacks. Three days later, Ted participated in another mission, this time against the Italian battle fleet, which left its base to try preventing a British convoy from reaching the island of Malta. For this mission, he earned a Silver Star. The men and planes of Ted’s unit raided shipping in the Mediterranean and North African ports in support of British efforts to halt German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s march toward Cairo. They bombed harbor installations in Libya, Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy to cut enemy supply lines to North Africa.

By the time Crouchley rotated home in March, 1943 he had flown 33 combat missions totaling 331.2 combat flying hours. In addition to the Silver Star, he earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Air Medals. He spent the rest of the war training new bomber pilots.

Crouchley remained in the service after the war, earning a regular army commission, and transition to the newly created United States Air Force in 1947.  Among various tours of duty, Crouchley flew nuclear armed B-47 bombers from Pease Air Force Base, Portsmouth, NH from 1956 to 1960.  In September 1970, he ended a thirty year career as Commander of Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. He died 20 Oct 1992.

Edward “Ted” Cunningham is a Rumford native and a 1949 graduate of St. Raphael High School in Pawtucket. Ted enlisted in the Navy to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a carrier pilot. During the early days of the Vietnam War, he flew numerous highly classified ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) missions shadowing and photographing Soviet missiles.

After leaving the Navy Ted was a test pilot for Douglas Aircraft, a pilot for Garuda (Singapore) Airlines and a Captain for Midway Airlines. His career encompassed some 20,000 flying hours, spanning the age of the propeller driven fighters through jet fighters, jet bombers, and airliners. He also flew more than 300 combat/operational missions and has 400 carrier landings; in the process, he earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses, four Air Medals and two combat-earned Navy Commendation Medals.

Henry D’Amico (1921-2009) was born and raised in East Providence to Italian immigrant parents. A graduate of East Providence High School, he was a WWII fighter pilot who flew 75 combat missions over Europe in his P-47 Thunderbolt, affectionately named Li’l-Rhody.

As part of the 9th Air Force, 1st Lieutenant D’Amico flew escort flights, dive bombing and strafing missions, and close support for ground troops.  His squadron was the first unit to provide air support for the D-Day operations in the Invasion of Normandy, during which he flew cover over Cherbourg. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, EAME Theater Medal with 4 Bronze Stars for Air Offensive (Europe, Normandy, Northern France, and Germany campaigns), and the Air Medal with twelve Oak Leaf Clusters.

He married his sweetheart and attended the University of Florida on the G.I. Bill, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture. He went on to have a very successful career, raised four children with his wife Jean, and spent summers in Rhode Island visiting family.

CDR John B. Dana, US Navy, Retired (1932-1988)

Domenic DeNardo (1929-) is an aviation artist and general aviation pilot. He was born in Providence in 1929, and
has been fascinated with airplanes since he was a child. His father, a mechanic and toolmaker as well as an ardent
motorcyclist in his early years, built an aircraft powered by an Indian motorcycle engine in upstate New York. Even
though an attempt to fly it from a snow-covered field failed, the story of the effort fueled young Domenic’s curiosity and passion for aviation.

He vividly remembers seeing the dirigible Hindenburg flying over his home enroute to Lakehurst, New Jersey in
1937. The sight of this awesome airship was indelibly imprinted into the memory of an impressionable 8-year-old.

“I watched early monoplanes and new Douglas DC-3s fly directly overhead from Boston to Providence,” DeNardo
recalls. Awed by the wonder of flight, he had the opportunity for his first airplane ride a year or so later, in a Stinson
Trimotor.

During the war, he was obsessed with drawing military aircraft that flew from nearby airfields, such as F4U Corsairs
and P-47 Thunderbolts. He began building and flying model airplanes of his own design.

While attending Mt. Pleasant High School in 1948, he designed and constructed a functioning wind tunnel and a
model speed plane that won first place in the state Science Fair. In the same year, the 18-year old DeNardo captured first place in the New England model airplane speed competition, sponsored by the Providence Joumal/Bulletin. The official clocked speed: 150 mph.

“The individual with the heart and desire to be the best, not only as a professional, but as an individual.”
-Advertising Club of Boston Citation, 2003

During his model airplane days he noticed the aviation artwook of Joe Kotula on Model Airplane News covers. The
memories of those paintings and drawings served as an inspiration somewhat later in his life. One of the visitors to the science fair was aeronautical engineer Harold Sadler, who was so impressed with DeNardo’s work that he offered him a summer job The company was none other than Gazda Engineering, owned and run by Antoine Gazda. He worked for Gazda part-time, weekends and nights, into the early 1950s.

DeNardo graduated from Mt. Pleasant in January of 1949. Through a scholarship, he took four years of evening graphic art and design classes at the Rhode Island School of Design. He then studied aeronautical engineering
at Rhode Island State College, where he was a member of the ROTC. He also joined the Civil Air Patrol.

In January, 1956, DeNardo took the plunge and opened his own commercial art studio. After 40 years in the commercial art business, and after witnessing the changes brought about by the introduction of of compute generated art, DeNardo decided that the time was right for a change. He gradually phased himself out of advertising art and began devoting his time to fine art aviation painting.

In 1996, he was accepted as an Artist Fellow member in the prestigious American Society of Aviation Artists. “The fact that I find great joy in painting aircraft (and the natural arena in which they fly) made this an easy and
natural transition for me,” said DeNardo. DeNardo particularly enjoys the research required to recreate and record
an historical event. He strives for accuracy in every respect: time of day, sky conditions, setting, aircraft type and
markings and much more.

Mark is a RI Army National Guard helicopter and fixed wing pilot who has flown almost 10,000 hours for the RI Army National Guard. He has deployed three times to Iraq, once to Kuwait, and once to Colombia; and has flown numerous Army aircraft in 38 countries and territories.

Captain Frederick E. Dick, US Army Air Corps (1920-2005) was a WWII fighter ace was a long-time Barrington resident.

He enlisted on December 8, 1941, and in December, 1943 he went to war with the 5th Air Force’s 49th Fighter Group, 7th Fighter Squadron, flying a P-38 Lightning.  In about 18 months of action in the South Pacific, he completed 210 combat missions, including skip-bombing, dive bombing, intercept, patrol, escort and strafing missions across the South Pacific. At one time he had flown more  missions than any other fighter pilot in the theater.

On March 6, 1945, Captain Dick led a formation of P-38s during a B-25 escort mission to Hainan Island in the South China Sea. As the Lightnings reached the target area, they encountered 15 to 20 Japanese Zeros, one of which Dick shot down  for his 5th aerial victory, earning him the title of ace. One of his victories was also the celebrated 2,500th shootdown in the Pacific Theater. For his skill and bravery was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Metal with 6 Clusters, and the Purple Heart.

Captain Dick gave up flying after the war; in a 1995 interview, he said that once you have flown a high-performance aircraft in combat, recreational flying was as tedious as watching tennis.

Captain Archibald H. Douglas, USN (1885-1978)

Captain Douglas graduated from the Naval Academy in 1908. He was designated as a Naval Aviator in June of 1918, and saw combat duty in France with the Northern Bombing Group. His aviation career included actions in two World Wars and command of three different aircraft carriers. He first came to Rhode Island in 1929 as a student at the Naval War College, and over the next 17 years served four more tours in Newport. In June of 1940 he became CO of USS Saratoga, commanding the carrier through Pearl Harbor, the aborted relief of Midway, and Sara’s first torpedoing by a Japanese submarine on January 11, 1942. He brought the ship safely back to Washington for repairs, and then received orders back to the Naval War College, where he served as advisor for air operations and Acting Chief of Staff. He retired from the Navy in March of 1946 and lived the rest of his life in Newport.

Bell Helicopter-Textron, a wholly owned subsidiary of Providence-based Textron, Incorporated was also the Presenting Sponsor of this year’s induction ceremony.

“Bob” P. Douglas (1930-2023), a Johnston resident for more than 60 years, was born in Melrose, MA. He grew up in Groton MA and South Boston, and developed the flying itch at a very young age.
Bob attended the Hillside School for Boys in Marlborough and graduated from Ayer High School in 1948.
He joined the Navy that summer, and went through basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station. He qualified as an aviation electronics technician in August of 1949 at Naval Air Technical Training Center Memphis. Assigned to Quonset Point, he served in Antisubmarine Warfare Squadrons as an enlisted air
crew member during the Korean War. He deployed to the Med aboard USS Tarawa in 1951. In 1979 he was appointed as an Operations Specialist with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation at TF Green Airport. He retired in 1990.

Born in Providence, Parker S. Dupouy (1917–1994) was one of the 57 combat pilots serving as the Flying Tigers in China in the early days of World War II. A Central High School grad, he enrolled as an Aviation Cadet after graduating from Brown University in 1939. In May, 1941 he resigned his Army Air Corps commission to volunteer with General Claire Lee Chennault and the Chinese Air Force. He eventually moved to Kunming, China as vice-commander of the Hells Angels Squadron. In July of 1941, his unit (with 18 planes and 25 pilots) destroyed 81 Japanese planes while being outnumbered ten to one. Parker is officially credited with getting 4.5 kills, although records show he probably had an additional seven that could not be independently confirmed. He was awarded the “Chinese Sixth Cloud Banner” after his encounter with a Jap Zero on Christmas day, 1941. Out of ammunition, DuPouy dove on the more maneuverable Zero and sheared off the enemy plane’s left wing. In the process he lost the last four feet of his own right wing. Knowing how scarce P-40’s were, he managed to nurse the plane back to base. This encounter is memorialized in a painting by Dan Zoernig named “One the Hard Way”. Parker also flew Madame Chiang Kai-shek around China while she acted as a keynote speaker throughout the country. After the AVG disbanded, DuPouy went to Republic Aviation on Long Island where he became Chief Test Pilot. He and one other AVG pilot did all of the testing on the P-47 Thunderbolt, directing some fixes which made the plane such an effective weapon. In 1946 he moved to Pratt & Whitney where he tested the experimental B-50 bomber. After the war, he went back to work as an engineer, ending his career with KG Engineering in Woonsocket. He died of cancer at the age of 77.

Omar Duquette, a Warwick native who was a “Doolittle Raider”, one of the 80 volunteers who manned sixteen B-25 aircraft launched from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet to bomb Tokyo in April of 1942. He joined the Army in February, 1938 at Providence and served at Fort Slocum, New York before being assigned to the Army Air Corps as a mechanic. He served at Albrook Field, Canal Zone before joining the 37th Bomb Squadron at Pendleton, Oregon. Because of weight restrictions the Doolittle mission crew members were trained for two jobs. Staff Sergeant Duquette was a member of the five-man crew on Aircraft Number 12, serving as mechanic and gunner. Duquette bailed out over China and made it back to friendly territory, only to perish on another secret bombing mission just six weeks later. General Doolittle himself attended the ceremony after the war to dedicate a monument erected in Omar’s honor in Phoenix Square where he grew up (now West Warwick). After the dedication, some of his friends started an AMVET Post in the name of Omar Duquette.

Lawson “Topper” Durfee (1945—), an Army helicopter pilot with almost 1000 Vietnam combat hours, he earned the coveted Master Army Aviator designation. He retired from the RI Army National Guard after 26 years of service accruing some 7000 total flight hours. Durfee has been a South Kingstown Reserve Police Officer for 25 years, and a Charlestown Constable detail officer for 11 years. Since 2004, he has also been an Assistant Harbor Master for the town of Charlestown. Born in Wakefield, he graduated from South Kingstown High School and URI.

Watch the 2022 Induction Dinner Segment:

BG (Retired) John L. Enright Sr., USA (1947—)

General Enright is the former Deputy Commanding General and Assistant Adjutant General-Army for the State of RI. As an Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam he accrued close to 1000 combat flight hours. A Master Army Aviator, he he retired from the RI Army National Guard after forty years of service with almost 7000 total flight hours. Born in Providence, he is now a Pawtucket resident.  A Hope High School grad, he holds a BS degree from Bryant College, and a masters from Salve Regina University.

Watch the 2022 Induction Dinner Segment:

Over the past 22 years, long-time Warwick resident and Navy Korean War veteran Stanley R. Essex, Jr., has virtually single-handedly restored two wrecked warbirds to magnificent display condition: a WWII-era Navy Hellcat fighter for the Quonset Air Museum, and the F9F Panther jet known as the “Ted Williams Airplane” for the Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame/USS John F. Kennedy project. Along the way, he has worked on a number of other aircraft restoration projects, and was instrumental in the construction of an award-winning 30-foot-long model of the aircraft carrier USS Wasp. He was born in Amesbury, MA on March 26, 1931. His father was a single dad and a career sailor, so young Stan lived with his grandmother while his dad was at sea. When his grandmother died in 1940, he moved to Warwick to live with his father’s brother’s family. Stan always loved planes, so just prior to the outbreak of the Korean War, he enlisted in the Navy under its High School Airman Recruit Program, with a guarantee of aviation training and an aviation billet. He soon found himself deployed in combat aboard the USS Bon Homme Richard, where he became a plane captain for an F-9 Panther. After Korea he finished his service with Carrier Air Wing 7 at Quonset. Using the GI Bill, he learned electronics and avionics, and eventually operated his own television servicing and repair business. In 1989 Stan became one of the first members of the Quonset Air Museum, and was heavily involved in the recovery and retrieval of a crashed Hellcat off the coast of Block Island.

Read the Cranston Herald‘s article on Stan Essex >

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 a news photographer, he joined the RI Naval Militia in 2015 in order to fly. He documented early militia flying in 1916. When he was unable to obtain a flying rating after war was declared in April, 1917, he left the militia to join the Lafayette Flying Corps. Arriving in France just as the Lafayette Flying Corps was disbanded, he joined the US Army Air Service and flew in combat with 99th Aero Squadron until the end of the war. After the war he was a vocal proponent of aviation and veterans’ causes. He continued his career in aerial photography, moving to California in 1941. He died in 1980 in his 95th year.

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 USS Saratoga, helping put her into commission in 1956. Toward the end of his career, he was one of the last six officers assigned to NAS Quonset Point, with the sad duty of closing the base.

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.

He was a 1934 graduate of LaSalle Academy and 1938 graduate of Providence College, lettering at both schools in baseball, basketball and tennis. On the morning of December 7th he survived the attack by escaping through a 28-inch porthole after the ship capsized, swimming through the oily burning water to the beach, where he and other survivors were strafed by Japanese aircraft. He was one of the 12 men helped to safety by Chaplain (LTJG) Aloysius Schmitt, who perished trying to rescue others.

Farley was later promoted to LCDR and took command of the newly-formed Torpedo Squadron 37, leading his unit on strikes in support of the island-hopping campaign across the Pacific. He returned to the US at the end of 1944 and spent the last year of the war as a Naval Aide to the President at the White House. He left active duty in 1946, and retired from the Naval Reserve as a Commander in 1954. Mr. Farley worked as a manufacturers’ representative for Blackstone Mills, Goodall Fabrics and Dicey Mills from 1946 until retiring in 1974

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. His USAF duty included several tours supporting the Vietnam engagement, including tours in Guam and Thailand.

In 1968, Dan was promoted to Director of Academic Training, Castle Air Force Base, Merced CA, where he developed his interest in teaching the art of flying and the importance of military service. Dan held this position until his retirement in 1973.

Still wanting to stay involved in the Air Force, and pursuing his interest in educating young people, Dan, along with Master Sergeant Robert Kreyssig, USAF, (Ret) accepted the challenge of creating and directing the Coventry High School Air Force Jr. ROTC program, which they ran for more than 10 years. Another highlight of his educational career was Dan’s selection as an alternate for the Space Shuttle ‘Teacher in Space Project’.

During his time in Rhode Island, Dan satisfied his own passion for flying in a Cessna 150, and then a Piper 140. After earning his pilot instructor rating, Dan established and operated Astoria Aviation at Quonset Point, focused on private pilot lessons. During his 22 retirement years, Dan passed on both his knowledge of and passion for flying to dozens of aircraft and pilot enthusiasts. Dan was a long-time RI resident, an active leader and participant in aviation throughout his career, and an avid support of RI-based aviation and military organizations.

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 of Jamestown.

Flying with VF-80 from USS Ticonderoga, he shot down 19 Japanese aircraft in only six missions, and destroyed several others on the ground. He earned the Navy Cross, 3 Silver Stars, a Bronze Star, five DFCs and  four Air Medals. After the war, he served as a test pilot at Pax River. In January, 1947, General Curtis LeMay invited him to transfer to the new USAF Strategic Air Command. He flew with Chuck Yeager, and is on record as one of the pilots who flew the X-B-1 “Glamorous Glennis”, first aircraft to travel faster than the speed of sound.

Colonel Fleming died February 16, 1956 in the mid-air explosion of a B-52 bomber near Tracy, California–the first ever operational loss of that aircraft. At the time of his death he was Deputy Commander of the 93rd Bomb Wing.

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 to today’s NASA spacesuit, credited with saving the lives of many WWII fighter pilots.

He soloed in 1936 and received his commercial pilot’s license in 1937. He dropped out of college to enlist, and was commissioned as a Naval Aviator in January 1941.

Foote joined Chance-Vought in October, 1942, and became the fifth test pilot to fly the F4U-1 Corsair. One of his proudest moments was personally instructing Charles Lindbergh in the Corsair, and having a private dinner with Mr. Lindbergh that evening.

In 1943 he joined General Motors and became Chief Experimental Test Pilot on the FM-2 “Wildcat” fighter. Foote flew comparative evaluation flight tests on 15 different fighters including the Japanese Zero, British Spitfire, Mosquito, and Firefly, as well as the Bell P-59, the first jet fighter built in the United States.

Dick’s passion for flying did not abate after the war. He participated in the 1949 Cleveland Air Races, piloted his own P-51 “Mustang” in the 1970 Cape May, NJ Air Races and the Reno, NV Air Races with his North American AT-6.

In 1954 he moved his family to Nassau and flew for one year as captain-pilot on a Grumman Goose amphibian seaplane ferrying passengers throughout the islands for Bahamas Airways, then a division of BOAC.

In 1978 he formed Warplanes International Airshows, a group of pilot owners of WWII fighters, bombers and trainers that performed one of first choreographed re-enactments of famous air battles of WWII at air shows in the eastern US and Canada.

By the time he was 85, he was living in Port Orange, FL where he regularly flew his privately owned FM-2 Wildcat, Bushby Midget Mustang, Cessna 210 and Piper Cheyenne aircraft. Dick passed away at the age of 89 on January 17, 2009.

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 other actions he sank a heavy cruiser and a cargo ship; he is also credited with destroying 11 aircraft on the ground and damaging 14 others. By the end of the war he had also earned a Distinguished Flying Cross and numerous Air Medals. Before retiring he served on NATO staff and commanded a fighter squadron. He was also one of the first naval aviators to land on the deck of a carrier. His citation will be accepted by his widow Jane.

Edmund D. “Ted” Fuller III (1934-2021)

Fuller is the President’s Award recipient, given to a Rhode Islander involved with aviation who made his primary mark in another field. Fuller’s visionary entrepreneurship in the hospitality industry, combined with his extensive philanthropy, are the bases for this award. He founded and operated Gregg’s Taverns and Restaurants, and for decades was a force in the RI Hospitality Association. Flying was a lifelong passion, and he owned several different private aircraft. Born and raised in Pawtucket, he graduated from St Raphael Academy and lived in Warwick. Johnson & Wales awarded Fuller an Honorary Doctorate in 2003.

Watch the 2022 Induction Dinner Segment:

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.  In addition to designing seaplanes for the Navy,  Gallaudet Aircraft produced D-2s for the Army Air Service, assembled Curtiss flying boats and refurbished a number of DH-4s after the war. Before its demise in 1924, Gallaudet had developed designs of almost every conceivable type; seaplanes, landplanes, biplanes, monoplanes, triplanes, fighters, bombers, reconnaissance, airliners and mail planes. Gallaudet Aircraft’s factory in East Greenwich was the first purpose-built aircraft factory in America; the company was merged into Consolidated Aircraft in 1923, and is considered the earliest aviation predecessor to General Dynamics.

Gallaudet’s grandson lives in Colorado, and said that before his death in 1945 Edson was working on plans for a jet that would go 1500mph.

Vice Admiral Peter Garvin, US Navy, is President of the National Defense University in Washington, DC. An Annapolis grad, he is a career Naval Aviator who served until August, 2024 as President of the US Naval War College in Newport. 

“It is an honor to serve my teammates. It is the shared mission, the family feel, the nobility of the cause that binds us. I place a huge investment in paying it forward for junior officers and Sailors. Don’t just talk about mentorship, but be active…always.”
-Pete Garvin

Antoine Gazda was an Austrian count, a race car driver, and a World War I fighter ace (on the losing side), but he spent World War II in Providence, living in suite 1009 of the Biltmore Hotel. The work he performed here in Rhode Island was considered so crucial to the Allied war effort that he was guarded 24 hours per day by the military, and the door to the suite next door was bricked up and plastered over.

Prior to the war, Gazda sold 22mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannon to the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians, the English, and the Americans. When Hitler conquered France the Germany Army cut off delivery of the Oerlikon guns to Britain.  Desperate for the gun but unable to produce it themselves, the British sent Gazda to the United States to set up shop. Gazda arrived in Providence in 1940 carrying one of the world’s most guarded secrets — the blueprints for the gun. By the end of World War II, nearly every vessel in the Allied fleet — up to and including the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth – carried Gazda’s antiaircraft guns.

Gazda’s first love was aviation, however. He experimented with fuel tank gliders to be towed behind bombers to extend their range, and he was fascinated by the helicopter concept. He hired three designers from Sikorsky to work on a project he called the Gazda “Helicospeeder”. This single motor and torque aircraft, incorporating several radical and unique features now commonplace in helicopter design, was developed and built in Rhode Island between 1943 and 1945.

Domenic Giarrusso has spent his life in aviation. At 101 years old (at the time of this writing), he served as an Army Air Corps flight engineer and mechanic in North Africa and Italy during World War II. After the war, he worked as an aircraft mechanic and supervisor at the Naval Air Rework Facility at Quonset Point until the base closed in 1973. He was born in Providence on January 30, 1923, the fourth of eight children. He will be 102 years old in January, 2025.

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 on assignment with VX-2. His citation will be accepted by his widow Marjorie.

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 State College, graduating in 1939 with a degree in Physical Education. Despite his slight
stature (5-10, 124 lbs according to his enlistment papers) Gladding threw the javelin for the outdoor track team, which was undefeated his senior year. Gladding took firsts in several intercollegiate meets, and the team also won the New England Intercollegiate championship. Walter also played intramural basketball, baseball and table tennis. He had an interest in drama, and was active in the RI State College Players. He played the role of the Prince of Morocco in the Merchant of Venice. He was also a member of Alpha Pi Alpha fraternity.

Gladding’s URI graduation picture, 1939.

Gladding pursued advanced courses in social work at Tuskegee Institute, then went to Cincinnati to complete the field work neccessary for his masters degree. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Fort Thomas in Newport, KY in September, 1942. Gladding was an aviation cadet in Class 43-H, along with fellow Rhode Islanders William Hill and Charles Adams. Only Hill survived the rigorous training to become a fighter pilot, however. Gladding pursued another course to earn his wings [navigator, engineer or bombardier?], and was commissioned in December 1944. According to 1945 newspaper accounts, he came back to Tuskegee once again as an instructor, and was stationed there at the time of his death.

In one of the tragic and random incidents of the war, LT Gladding was shot and killed while he was on leave in
Lynchburg, VA on June 5, 1945. He was on his way home to Providence with his wife, Virginia Coles Gladding, to
attend a friend’s wedding. The couple had stopped to spend part of his 18 day leave at the home of his wife’s parents in Lynchburg. Gladding went alone that morning to Happy Land Lake, an amusement park and small resort a few miles outside the city.

According to witnesses, he got into an argument, then a fight with 44-year-old Cassell Beverly, who was also black.
Beverly pulled out a .45 caliber revolver and shot Gladding in the abdomen. Acccording to contemporary news
reports, Gladding died at Lynchburg General Hospital 40 minutes after being shot. Twelve witnesses confirmed Gladding was unarmed at the time of the shooting.

After evading capture for 72 hours, Beverly turned himself into the police. He was released under $5000 bond. Searches through the Lynchburg newspapers revealed no further information about the fate of Gladding’s assailant.
A military escort brought Walter’s body home to Providence, accompanied also by his wife. The funeral was held June 11, 1945 from the Church of the Savior on North Main Street. His body is buried in Spring Vale Cemetery in East Providence. Every Veterans Day, the members of the Lts. Armstrong-Gladding American Legion Post
conduct a memorial service at his grave.

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 the RAF. After being commissioned in the USAAC, he joined 4th Fighter Group and became one of the war’s top aces, claiming 18 victories in the air and 18 planes destroyed on the ground.

Godfrey was the wingman of the famous Capt. Don S Gentile.  The Gentile-Godfrey combination was so effective the Göring is said to have sworn he’d give up two squadrons for their capture. Major Godfrey was shot down 8 miles northeast of Nordhausen, Germany, when he was hit by his wingman’s gunfire and bellied in.  He spent several months in a prison camp, but managed to escape just before the end of the war. After the war Major Godfrey took up residence in Coventry, went into the lace business and served as a  R.I. State Senator.  Godfrey was stricken with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and passed away in 1958 at the age of 36.

Induction was accepted by his son, Robert Godfrey.

Newport-born Michael Gold (1920-) was a B-17 navigator with the 447^th 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 added burden of being not just a bomber crewman, but also a Jewish bomber crewman. Following the Battle of the Bulge, he and other Jewish flyers as well as a few Tuskegee Airmen, were put into a ‘ghetto’ barracks. It was here that Michael experienced his greatest anxiety and fear.

Fast forward more than 50 years; Michael Gold, a practicing obstetrician for 40 years, was diagnosed with PTSD relating to his WWII experiences and captivity. He becomes one of three subjects of a book, Soldier From The War Returning, by Thomas Childers, which belies the myth that the “Greatest Generation” was immune to post-traumatic stress issues.

Since his retirement in 1999 he has been attending P.T.S.D. meetings at the Veterans Administration with other WWII veterans. He was selected to train to become a facilitator to work with veterans from all wars. Now 91, he continues to meet with the Korean Veterans PTSD group weekly under the supervision of a V.A. therapist.

Captain Adolphus W. Gorton, US Navy (Ret), (1897-1989), was born January 29, 1897 in Pawtuxet, a direct descendant of the Gortons who founded the City of Warwick. He graduated from Moses Brown and entered Dartmouth in 1916, but left to join the American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps in France. He sailed abroad on May 5, 1917, and with Section 61, participated in the second battle of Verdun.

In November, 1917 he was operated on for appendicitis—one of the lucky few in those days to survive the procedure. He was invalided home. After his recovery, he enlisted in the Navy at Newport on February 11, 1918 and was accepted for flight training. He earned his wings and commission on October 25, 1918. With the war ending, he volunteered for the aerial mail service. On February 5, 1919, he earned a special commendation from the Secretary of the Navy for laying stretched out on the wing of an airplane for two hours and thirty minutes, holding open the throttle of the engine of the crippled plane while his assistant pilot flew two hundred miles, carrying mail between Hampton Roads and Washington. By 1922 he had become a member of the Navy air race team. In October, 1922 he won the Curtiss Marine Trophy Race for seaplanes. On August 8, 1923, while preparing for the Schneider Cup races in England, he broke two aviation speed records in one day.

In addition to his racing, Gorton was a member of the crew that set seven endurance and distance records with a seaplane in 1928. In 1929 he became the first pilot to ever dock with an airship. In December, 1929, he resigned from the Navy to become chief pilot for Curtis Publishing Company, flying their new Ford tri-motor. He was called back into the Navy in March 1941 and served as squadron commander at NAS Jacksonville, then in 1942 as the first CO of NAS Banana River (later Patrick AFB). He became CO of NAS Puunene, Hawaii in 1944, and CO of Johnson Island in the Pacific in 1945. Gorton retired as a Captain in 1949. He died September 28, 1989 at Merritt Island, FL at age 92.

Major General William A. Gorton US Air Force (Ret) (1933- ) was born in Providence in 1933. He entered the Air Force as an aviation cadet in February 1954, and earned his wings and commission in June 1955. He flew F-100 Super Sabre fighters in France and Germany in the late 1950s. He returned to George Air Force Base, CA as an F-104 flight commander in October 1961.

In August 1965 he went to Vietnam where he flew 171 combat missions as a forward air controller. On his return he completed a number of staff assignments and earned his BA from the University of Nebraska in 1968. While attending Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB he also earned an MA from Auburn in 1969. He took command of the 602nd Tactical Air Control Wing at Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas, in June 1976. In August 1977 he was named deputy assistant chief of staff, operations, at Tactical Air Command headquarters. He held this position until August 1978 when he became commander of the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing, Homestead Air Force Base, FL General Gorton is a command pilot with more than 4,500 flying hours. He has flown every fighter from the F86 through the F-16. His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star Medal, and the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters.

His last assignment was commander of 16th Air Force, headquartered at Torrejon Air Base, Spain, with responsibility for U.S. Air Forces located in Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey. He was promoted to major general Oct. 1, 1982, and retired 1 October 1, 1985. He now lives in St. George, Utah.

Charles Gordon Greenhalgh (1895-1977) was born into a Pawtucket manufacturing family. Greenhalgh lived on Walcott Street and attended Pawtucket public schools before graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire in 1914. He attended Yale University for three years.

In 1916 the Yale Aeronautical Club was formed, and while there is no evidence young Charles ever joined it, he was doubtlessly influenced by it. The New York press dubbed them the “Millionaires’ Unit.”

Early in 1917, Greenhalgh and a number of Yale classmates left school to fight with the Allies, prior to US involvement. He sailed for France after joining the American Field Service, which supplied drivers for the American ambulances used to carry the wounded French soldiers back from the front. The enlistment period was for six months and the drivers were part of the French Foreign Legion. After completing that tour, he joined the US Army in Paris in October, 1917, and signed up for aviation training. He went up for his flight the next day. After about five hours of dual controls, he flew solo for 25 hours, earning his French Brevet (license).

After completing advanced and gunnery training, he was sent in August, 1918 to the 28th Pursuit Squadron assembling at St. Mihiel. The nucleus of this group was the old Lafayette Escadrille which had been taken over from the French by the American forces. Their first missions were to try and slow the German retreat from the St. Mihiel salient. The 28th went on to the Argonne sector “which was very active, with probably the best German squadrons on the other side of the line and our losses became high.” He was still in this area when the war ended.

Greenhalgh returned to the family mill business and was active in local politics during the FDR administration. He served as a Director of RI Hospital Trust Co. for many years. When the mills were sold in 1960 he managed investments and became known as a major philanthropist, supporting hundreds of charities.

Long-time Wakefield resident LCDR John “Jack” Greenwell, USN (Ret) (1922–2011) earned the Navy Cross, our nation’s second-highest military decoration, for dive-bombing and sinking a Japanese cruiser in April, 1945.

Although he was born and raised in the Philadelphia area, Greenwell lived in Rhode Island for the better part of his life. He was a standout high school baseball player who spent a few months in the Philadelphia Phillies farm system before joining the Navy in 1941. As an aviation cadet, he played on the same baseball team as Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky and a number of other major leaguers who went into the service.

He was commissioned as a Naval Aviator April 1, 1944, and served aboard the USS Yorktown, the USS Lexington, and the USS Leyte.  He was awarded numerous medals and citations in addition to the Navy Cross, to include the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart, and five Air Medals. After the war, he was stationed at Charlestown, RI and then at NAS Quonset Point. While there he met Justine Shaw Paasche from Providence.  They married in 1947, and Jack spent the rest of his life in Rhode Island. He worked as a sales representative for Red Devil Tools covering New England and New York, and rejoined the Naval Reserve in 1951. He continued flying as a reservist until 1965, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

Griffith in China, 1944

LTC Charles E. Griffith, USAAF (1916-1944), Griffith was a fighter pilot who fought in the Aleutian Islands campaign of 1942/3, came to China in mid-1944 and joined the 76th Fighter Squadron of the famed 23rd Fighter Group.

Born in North Dakota, he was a 1935 Hope High School graduate and all-state athlete who went on to RI State College, where he started the school’s wrestling program. He was an intercollegiate champion for three years before his graduation in 1939.

He joined the Army Air Corps and was commissioned at Maxwell Field before the war. In Alaska he flew P-39 Aircobras with the 42nd Fighter Squadron. He led the first strafing attack on Kiska Island in September of 1942, earning his first Air Medal. Griffith returned to the US to train new pilots at Henderson Field in Tampa. He saw his first action in China on May 6, 1944. Eleven days later he assumed command of the 76th.

He and his wingman were killed when they crashed at Luliang air base while doing a victory roll on return from a mission on December 18, 1944. He had flown 103 combat missions and had four confirmed kills.

“He distinguished himself as a fighter pilot in China during the period: May 4, 1944 to September 10, 1944. The courage and determination exhibited by Lt. Col. Griffith reflect great credit upon himself and are consonant with the finest traditions of the United States Army Air Forces.”
–Distinguished Flying Cross citation, 1944

Theodore Phinney Grosvenor (1897-1985), was born in Providence, the scion of one of the first families of Rhode Island, operators of the Grosvenordale Mills.

After graduating in 1916 from St. George’s School in Newport, he entered Harvard that fall, joining ROTC. He enlisted in the Navy on March 23, 1917, with the intention of going into aviation. He earned his wings in December, 1917, and was assigned to the US Naval Air Station at Killingholme, England. For the most part he crewed H-16 Flying Boats, patrolling the sea lanes for enemy surface ships, submarines, planes and dirigibles. He returned to the family textile business after the war, then became an investment banker after the mills were sold.

He returned to service during WWII, first patrolling for German subs in the Caribbean. He was then transferred to Hawaii where he commanded a Carrier Aircraft Service Unit, maintained most types of combat aircraft, receiving new planes, training personnel in their duties and commissioning men and planes as squadrons. He resigned from the Naval Reserve on November 1, 1949 as a Commander.

After World War II, Ted returned to Newport where he continued to fly and sail until poor eyesight curtailed those activities. He took up art–sculpture in particular–and made many fine pieces for friends and family. He was active in the community and played an important role in establishing the Newport County Boys and Girls Club.

Long-time North Kingstown resident William Grosvenor Jr. (1920-1980) was born in Providence and attended St. Mark’s School in Southborough, MA. He entered Harvard to study geography and geology with the class of 1942, listing his home address as Ruggles Avenue in Newport. Fascinated with both sailing and flying, he serviced airplanes for W. E. Wiggins Airways and earned his private pilot’s license at Norwood airport.

He left college in November, 1940, to enlist in the Army Air Corps. He received his wings and was commissioned on July 12, 1941. Two weeks later he joined the 22nd Pursuit Squadron in Puerto Rico, training on the P-36 and P-40. Three days after Pearl Harbor he was assigned to the 51st Fighter Squadron in Panama, flying security patrols over the Panama Canal.

In November 1942 he arrived in China where he flew 132 missions (286 combat hours) under General Chennault with the 75th Pursuit Squadron, the “Flying Tiger Sharks”. (This was the group that took over from the AVG, or Flying Tigers.) On this tour he had 5 confirmed kills and 3 probables.

He returned to the US, and with another ace helped form the Air Commandos. He returned to combat with the 2nd Air Commando Group in 1944, serving as Squadron Commander and flying more another 60 missions (273 combat hours) in the  India/Burma/Thailand area. He added 2 confirmed kills and several more probables. Bill was awarded many medals for valor and outstanding service, including the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross (3 clusters), Bronze Star, and Air Medal (4 clusters).

During his flying career he survived three air crashes, and was the first pilot to survive while ejecting upside down from a P-40. On another occasion he was rescued by the OSS in China. He continued to serve in the Reserve after the war, eventually attaining the rank of LTC. He worked for Sealol Corporation in Warwick, for more than 30 years, seldom speaking of his combat achievements. He died in a boating accident at the age of 60 in 1980.

Providence-born Donald “Bud” Guilfoyle, USAF (Ret) (1918-2011) graduated from Central High School and lived in East Greenwich for more than 60 years. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in May, 1942 and soon became an aviation cadet. He earned his wings in June, 1943, and after advanced training in Panama, he was assigned to the 86th Fighter Squadron in Naples, Italy flying the P-47 Thunderbolt. He flew 99 combat missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters.

On April 12, 1945, Guilfoyle piloted one of the 150 P-47s making a fly-over for the Hyde Park funeral of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Guilfoyle joined the Rhode Island Air National Guard, 143rd Air Wing on a part time basis in 1948, and then in 1957 became the full time air technician/base civil engineer. He retired as a Colonel (State Brigadier General) in 1974. He was a charter member and lifetime member of the P-47 Thunderbolt Association. He was also a member of the Order of Daedalians.

World War II ace Bill Halton (1917-1952)  – one of the most decorated fliers to ever hail from Rhode Island – was born on July 17, 1917, in Providence. By the time he was killed in action in Korea, he had earned the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal with 17 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Croix de Guerre with Star and numerous campaign ribbons.

He enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Army Air Forces on August 18, 1941, and was commissioned and awarded his pilot wings on March 7, 1942. After completing P-47 Thunderbolt training, then-Captain Halton was assigned to the 328th Fighter Squadron of the 352nd Fighter Group in England, scoring his first aerial victory in February 1944. He transitioned to P-51 Mustangs and transferred to the 487th Fighter Squadron, was promoted to Major and took command of that unit in November 1944.

In September 1945, at the age of 28, he became Commander of the 352nd Fighter Group. While flying with the 328th FS and the 487th FS, Col. Halton was credited with shooting down 10.5 enemy aircraft and strafing 2 more on the ground. He was released from active duty in March of 1946, but returned on July 5, 1946. When the Korean War broke out, he returned to combat again flying the  F-51 Mustang with the 67th Fighter Bomber Squadron of the 18th Fighter Bomber Group. In September 1951 he was given command of the 136th Fighter-Bomber Group, moving the unit from Japan to Taegu AB, South Korea. His unit primarily flew interdiction missions against North Korean rail transportation.

In March, 1952, he became Deputy Commander of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing, with specific instructions not to fly in combat. However, Colonel Halton made a special request to fly additional missions in order to show that the Mustang could successfully operate in jet combat zones without fighter-interceptor cover. He earned the DSC on one such mission in April, 1952. On May 21, 1952, his aircraft was shot down on a low-level bombing run by a combination of ground fire and MIG interceptors. He was declared MIA, and his remains have never been recovered.

Douglas Powell Hunter (1920-2014) was born in Providence in 1920 and graduated from Hope High School in 1939.  He joined ROTC at Rhode Island State College. His older brother Bill, a B-17 bomber pilot in Europe, encouraged him to apply to the Army Air Forces. He did so, earning his wings in August of 1944.

He was assigned to China the following year, and with the cessation of hostilities, his unit was transferred to Shanghai in October, 1945. They transported Chinese troops to reoccupy Japanese-held areas in eastern China. Starting in January, 1946, the unit provided air transportation for General George C. Marshall’s Executive Headquarters. The Marshall Mission was a diplomatic attempt to negotiate the Communist Party of China and the Nationalists (Kuomintang) into a unified government. In March, 1946 his transport squadron was reassigned to Peiping in order to better support the Marshall Mission. In February 1947, exasperated with the failure of the negotiations, Marshall left China. Hunter continued to fly in China until April 10, 1947 when his squadron was deactivated. He was offered the chance to stay in China to fly for the newly created China Air Transport, airlifting supplies and food into war-ravaged regions, but he declined and chose to return to the US.  After a career in sales, the longtime East Greenwich resident died March 28, 2014 at the age of 93.

Air Force Lieutenant General Jim Keck, former Vice Commander of the Strategic Air Command, and his son Tom Keck, also a retired Air Force Lieutenant General and former commander of the famous 8th Air Force. Both were born in Providence; the senior Keck graduated from Cranston High School and attended Brown University for a year before graduating from West Point in 1943. He completed two combat tours as a B-24 pilot with the 8th Air Force in Europe, and eventually retired from the Air Force in 1977.

Tom Keck graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1969, and flew numerous  B-52 missions over North Vietnam—some in the same aircraft his father had commanded. He retired from the Air Force in 2002 and now works for Raytheon in Tucson, AZ.

The Kecks are also the only father-and-son Mach 3+ team in the world, having both flown at more than three times the speed of sound in the SR-71 Blackbird.

Air Force Lieutenant General Jim Keck, former Vice Commander of the Strategic Air Command, and his son Tom Keck, also a retired Air Force Lieutenant General and former commander of the famous 8th Air Force. Both were born in Providence; the senior Keck graduated from Cranston High School and attended Brown University for a year before graduating from West Point in 1943. He completed two combat tours as a B-24 pilot with the 8th Air Force in Europe, and eventually retired from the Air Force in 1977.

Tom Keck graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1969, and flew numerous  B-52 missions over North Vietnam—some in the same aircraft his father had commanded. He retired from the Air Force in 2002 and now works for Raytheon in Tucson, AZ.

The Kecks are also the only father-and-son Mach 3+ team in the world, having both flown at more than three times the speed of sound in the SR-71 Blackbird.

Lieutenant Commander Paul Gurnon, USN (Ret.) may be the only living Rhode Islander to have a geographical feature named after him. In recognition of his overall service in Antarctica, the US Geologic Survey named a section of Marie Byrd Land after him – Gurnon Peninsula. Gurnon enlisted in the Navy before Pearl Harbor in 1941, and spent much of his career at Quonset Point. The Wakefield resident was one of the last enlisted pilots in the Navy when he was commissioned as an officer in 1961. In August of 1967 LT Gurnon was transferred to VX6, the unique Antarctic Support Squadron for Navy Operation “Deep Freeze”. He retired from the Navy in 1971.

Gerald T. Hanley, Sr. (1884-1950) is considered the founder of the Rhode Island Air National Guard. Then-1st Lt. Hanley of Battery A, Coast Artillery, in the RI state militia used his own Curtiss hydro-aeroplane to provide basic aeronautics instruction to members of his battery well before the US entry into World War I.

Early flier Harry Atwood gave Gerald and his wife an airplane ride in 1912, which hooked them on flying. Gerald went to the Curtiss factory at Hammondsport, NY and bought a flying boat in 1913. By 1915, he was an officer in the RI National Guard, using his own flying boat to bring the state’s militia into the aviation age.

Despite his flying proficiency and experience, Hanley went to France in World War I on horseback, with Battery A, Rhode Island Field Artillery, an element of the 26th “Yankee” Division. After the war he bought a surplus Navy Curtiss seaplane at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and had it shipped to the Gallaudet factory in Warwick where it was made ready for flight. The For several years  the Hanley seaplane was a fixture in Narragansett Bay.

William C. Harris (1906-1963)

As an early transport pilot and commercial aviation executive, Harris led the American Airlines operations in Providence from inception in 1936 until he retired in 1962. He learned to fly at Harvard University in the late 1920s, and went to work for Curtiss-Wright Flying Service in Boston, piloting a Ford Trimotor to and from Nantucket. Before joining American in 1935 he was a sales representative selling the helicopter forerunner known as Pitcairn Autogiros. Born in Falmouth, MA, he was a long-time Barrington, RI resident.

Watch the 2022 Induction Dinner Segment:

Captain James R. Henderson USN (Ret) (1924 – 2010) retired from Quonset Point Naval Air Station in 1975 after a 32-year Navy career that started in 1942 and spanned three wars. He flew more than 10 different aircraft and served in torpedo and anti-submarine squadrons on 12 different aircraft carriers. He served as Landing Signal Officer (LSO) with VS-31, Flag Secretary to the Admiral of Carrier Division 20, Commanding Officer of VS-32, Executive Officer of Command Air Group-54 (CAG-54), Joint Chiefs of Staff Action Officer for the Office of Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon, and Director of Naval JROTC for the First Naval District. As Air Group Commander he oversaw all training and operational readiness of three air squadrons, 600 personnel and 50 aircraft. He also participated in the 1965 Gemini 5 space capsule recovery carrying Astronauts Alan Shepard and Pete Conrad. He continued to enjoy flying in North Kingstown and Florida after his retirement. He was also a founding member of the National Naval Aviation Museum Foundation in Pensacola, Florida. His family still lives in North Kingstown and West Warwick.

Otto Hermann (c. 1870-1930): Otto Hermann was an auto stuntman who held a 1907 patent for a double loop-the-loop automobile-stunt ramp. He moved to Providence from Atlantic City, and started building his own biplane in the summer of 1909, described in a Journal article as “the first one to be tried out on testing grounds in this state”. This may have flown as early as March of 1910, although he described his first attempt at Pawtucket Driving Park as “hopping along like a rabbit”. Deciding the engine was not powerful enough for the weight of the craft, he went back to the drawing boards, removed one wheel and made other weight-saving changes. His engine was a product of the RI Rotary Engine Company plant on Gilmore Street, not far from the Dexter Training Ground. There is no doubt Hermann had flown successfully by early 1911; the June, 1911 issue of Aeronautics  confirmed that Hermann had built and flown his 12hp biplane.

Later in life he was a key player in creating a municipal airport for the village of Canastota, New York. In 1927 he established his Century Rotary Motor Corporation factory there. Mr. Hermann held a 1925 patent on a rotary engine that he called  a “semi-Diesel.” Among its numerous innovations were an induction  system that can only be called an early attempt at fuel injection. He envisioned a new method of atomizing fuel and controlling an internal combustion engine, and he  apparently forged that dream into very real metal, despite the fact that even advanced scientists at the time knew very little about the dynamics of  combustion and the behavior of gases. He created a corporation to manufacture, test, and market the device,  established a working factory, and he employed a considerable number of skilled  machinists and other workers.  He built, exhibited, and demonstrated several  test models at the Canastota factory and trade shows in Syracuse in 1928 and  1929, and he opened negotiations with the Navy to test the engine for possible government contracts.

Douglas Black, Reference Librarian at the Alvin Sherman Library at Fort Lauderdale’s Nova Southeastern University, has researched Hermann’s life. Black writes, “He was an extremely creative, talented, and determined man, and there’s certainly no question that  he did design, build, and fly an airplane while living in Rhode Island–and he  might have been the first person to do so.  To have done so in 1910-1911 is no  small achievement. Although he was neither a Rhode Islander nor even a U.S. citizen by birth, he  contributed greatly to the aviation community in Rhode Island during the years  he lived there.  If nothing else, he certainly served to inspire others to achieve great heights, both literally and figuratively.”

2/LT William E. Hill (1923- 1943) was a Tuskegee Airman and Fighter Pilot. Narragansett native Hill, described by the Providence Journal as the first black pilot from Rhode Island in the Army Air Forces, was killed November 22, 1943 during a training mission over Lake Huron.

Lieutenant Hill was serving with the 302nd Fighter Squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group, undergoing the final advanced training required before their planned deployment into combat in January, 1944. According to a contemporary newspaper account, Hill was reported missing after he jumped from a disabled P-39Q Airacobra about three miles offshore. His body was never recovered. He was 20 years old when he died.

William Hill was born in Virginia on July 21, 1923. His parents were residents of Narragansett, and his father ran an auto repair shop called the Surf Garage. He went to Narragansett grammar school, and graduated with the class of 1941 from South Kingstown High School.

He worked at the Wakefield Branch Lumber Company and Fort Green before he entered the service in September 1942. According to his intake papers from Westover Field, MA, he was six feet tall and weighed 162 pounds.

According to his sister Gloria Hill Spears (who still lives in Narragansett), William had tried previously to get into the aviation cadet program but was turned down. He persisted, however, going so far as to write a personal letter to President Roosevelt. The persistence paid off; he was finally accepted into the flight program in December. 1942. He was sent to Tuskegee, and graduated with Class 43-H on August 30, 1943. Gloria attended his graduation.

Hill received his wings and commission, and was sent to Selfridge Field in Michigan for the next phase of his training. Oscoda was a satellite field to Selfridge. His demise was described in the official accident report narrative as follows:

“On the morning of 22 November 1943 at approximately 0900 Eastern War Time, 2nd Lt William Edward Hill of the 302nd Fighter Squadron, flying on a (5) ship aerial gunnery mission, was seen to parachute into Lake Huron after his plane caught fire three (3) to five (5) miles east of Harrisville, Mich., fourteen miles north of Oscoda, Mich. Lt. Hill was not seen to clear himself of his parachute before the plane struck the water and the parachute sank about one minute after landing.”

His body was never recovered.

Edouard Jacques (1921-2013) was born in West Warwick, graduated from West Warwick High School and
joined the National Guard in 1940 at the age of 19. In 1943 he became an Aviation Cadet and trained as a B-24 bombardier, earning his wings in Lincoln, NE in 1944. He married the love of his life, Marie Rose Defosse, in Nebraska shortly thereafter.

Ed and his crew were assigned to the 752nd Squadron of the 458th Bomb Group, flying out of Norwich, England. After flying twelve missions he requested a transfer to a lead crew. Ed flew missions to most major targets, including Cologne, Metz, Coblenz, Hamburg and Berlin. His first mission as a lead bombardier was on Christmas Day, 1944 and he also flew the last missions flown by the 8th Air Force.

On April 25, 1945, he flew his 30th and final mission to Bad Reichenhall, a town a few miles from Berchtesgaden. He earned a Distinguished Flying Cross as lead bombardier on a mission to Leiphein, Germany on March 19, 1945. He also earned the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters.

After Germanyʼs surrender, LT Jacques volunteered to continue combat flying over Japan. He went on a thirty-day furlough to be with Marie before going to the Pacific, and during that time the war with Japan ended. After leaving the service, he worked for Metropolitan Life Insurance until his retirement. He was a Coventry Town Councilman and became Council President. On February 6, 2013, Ed was awarded the Rhode Island Star for his meritorious service to the United States during World War II.

Edward Albert Johnson (1885-1949) was born in Newport, RI in January of 1885. He developed an interest in aeronautics and spent May-October, 1915, at the Curtiss school in Buffalo. He first soloed in 1915 and received Pilot License No. 32. He joined the Curtiss Aeroplane Company and became its representative in England.

After the US joined the war he became a civilian instructor operating at various airfields around the country. He finished out the war as a test pilot at McCook Field in Ohio. In 1918 Al helped to lay out the first air mail routes, and was one of the group of pilots who flew that momentous opening day mail route from New York to Chicago.

In late 1919, he founded the Johnson Airplane & Supply Company in Dayton, Ohio. He sold aircraft parts and manufactured three planes that he helped design. By 1921 he was operating a flying service, carrying passengers and making air mail deliveries. He also taught aspiring pilots to fly. He was a prime mover in promoting the growth of commercial aviation in Dayton, which started in 1921 with a small, 70-acre flying field that was moved to a 320-acre site in Vandalia in 1928 that has grown into the 4,500-acre James M. Cox Dayton International Airport.

The combination of a destructive hangar fire, the great Depression, and the 1934 government takeover of air mail service spelled the doom for his company. Nevertheless, Al Johnson was a true pioneer of aviation who did not quit commercial flying until 1937 after 22 years in the air. He was a charter member of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences and The Early Birds. In World War II he served in a technical capacity at Wright-Patterson field. He died July 14, 1949, in an auto accident in San Diego.

COL Russell Johnson (1926-2014), affectionately referred to as “Mr. Army National Guard Aviation”, took his first flight with his dad in 1929 and earned his private pilot license in 1943. He would eventually become one of the most experienced aviators in Rhode Island Army Aviation history. He was both a fixed and rotary wing instructor pilot with more than 9,000 military flight hours and 12,000 total hours flight time. He saw combat during WWII as a 19-year-old infantryman, and earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart during the Battle of Leyte. His Rhode Island Army Aviation career spanned three decades, starting in 1954 as an Aviation Officer with the 43rd Division Artillery at Hillsgrove and concluding in 1977 as the State Aviation Officer at Quonset Point. Russell was Flight Activity Commander at Hillsgrove from 1956 until 1974, and then became the first Rhode Island State Aviation Officer and Army Aviation Support Facility Commander. Though he retired federally at the rank of colonel he was promoted to brigadier general in the Rhode Island Army National Guard shortly before his retirement in 1977. Then-Governor J. Joseph Garrahy declared January 7, 1978 as Russell J. Johnson Day in Rhode Island.

Harry M. Jones (1890-1973)

Described in a 1912 Providence Journal article as Rhode Island’s “1st home grown aviator”, Jones managed the very first air show ever held in Rhode Island that same year. He was also the first (and last) person ever to land a plane on the Boston Common. Jones was best known, however, for his role as the pilot of the first-ever air parcel post flight (January, 1913). He carried a cargo of baked beans (consigned to state governors and other officials) from Boston to Providence to New York. After that historic flight Jones became a well-known figure on the barnstorming circuit. During WWI he was a test pilot and then a civilian instructor for Army pilots, earning a commission as a lieutenant (later captain) in the US Army Reserve. In 1919 he moved to Maine, where he became arguably the most visible New England aviator in the 1920s. He served as Maine’s State Aviation Commissioner in the 1930s, and eventually became an Inspector for the Civil Aeronautics Administration.

John J. Kapstein (1918-2016) is the only American buried in Moscow’s in Novodevichy Cemetery, roughly the Russian equivalent of Arlington National Cemetery. A native of Providence, he graduated from Hope High School and enlisted in the 103rd Field Artillery of the RI National Guard in 1934 by lying about his age. He eventually became a highly decorated World War II bomber pilot. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, eight Air Medals, the French Croix de Guerre, and the Russian medal of the Great Patriotic War, all related to his combat missions flying the B-26 Martin Marauder in the Mediterranean Theater. His final assignment was the Office of the Inspector General of the Army Air Forces at West Point. After the war Kapstein helped train pilots and acquire aircraft for the newly created country of Israel. Kapstein later became a force in East-West business, entertainment, and cultural trade during the depths of the Cold War; he received the Russian Order of Friendship in October, 2009, from the Russian Ambassador to France. He died in Italy in 2016 in his 99th year.

Major Melvin Kimball is a World War II P-40 ace who was born in Providence and grew up in Greystone. He graduated from Hope High School in 1935, where he was a state champion wrestler. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1939, excelling in football and track.

Kimball was one of the original pilots who secretly boarded the aircraft carrier USS Ranger at Quonset Point in early 1942, then flew their P-40s off the flight deck to land in Africa, the first leg of their journey to China.

Kimball and his fellow China Air Service pilots flew with Chennault and the American Volunteer Group, better known as the “Flying Tigers” until July 4, 1942, when they officially took over the AVG duties. In early 1943, Kimball was involved in one of the most dramatic rescue efforts of the war, one that was featured in True Comics.

During his service, he earned the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart and several Air Medals for gallantry in addition to his designation as an ace. Kimball died in Riverside in 2004.

Arthur Lasker was a World War II fighter pilot with the US Army Air Force. When the U.S. dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9th, 1945, many believed the war was
over. Arthur E. Lasker, a young pilot from New York who was serving with the 36th Fighter Squadron, 8th Fighter Group certainly thought so. He had left his studies at NYU in 1942, a year short of his degree, and he was ready to get back home to pick up his peacetime life.

The joy he and his buddies felt was short-lived. On August 9th the 75 P38s of the 8th Fighter Group were ordered
to Ie Shima, a tiny island a couple of miles off Okinawa coast. On arrival, their CO, Army Air Force ace Emmett “Cyclone” Davis, was ordered to Okinawa for a headquarters briefing. He returned with sobering news: the group was to load every airplane that could fly with napalm, and do a low level high-speed fire bombing attack on Kumamoto, a Japanese city on the island of Kyushu about 100 miles southeast of Nagasaki.Their main target was a weapons manufacturing plant.

At daybreak on 10 August, 62 Lightnings flew up toward the Japanese mainland. The instructions were simple; follow their CO Davis, a Utah farm boy who had been one of the few US fighter pilots to get into the air during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Lasker, a flight leader on the mission, did not know the attack plan except to “follow the leader.” The original plan was for the pilots to fly up the coast south to north, pass the city on their right, turn in to shore, go down through a mountain pass and bomb Kumamoto from the north going south.

As Davis later said, “For some reason or another I got the strangest feeling that I really should turn early and go in
and attack from the south going north.” He waggled his wings when the city came into sight to signal a change of direction and led his squadron inland. Since the orders had been to “follow the leader”, the maneuver went off without a hitch. As they completed the turn the pilots saw the sky ahead of them turn black with antiaircraft fire, right at the altitude at which they would have crossed the beach If they had continued on their planned course the planes would have flown directly into the flak. That last-minute change of direction allowed the squadron to dive down virtually unopposed and complete a devastating raid on the weapons plant and surrounding area. As Davis recalled, “Fire bombing is much more effective if you can deliver it at a low level and at high speeds; it sets on fire everything it touches…when you drop them from fighters as we did you really destroy a lot…”

The group successfully complete the mission without the loss of a single plane. That was Lasker’s final mission. Japan threw in the towel three days later and on August 15th the news of the unconditional surrender was announced. Since Lasker had been a relatively late arrival in the combat zone, he spent most of 1946 assigned to Occupation Forces at Fukuoka and Ashiya Field on Kyushu, Japan.

Lasker, a 1939 graduate of Curtis High School on Staten Island, had entered NYU Commerce that same year and left
in 1942 to go to war. After receiving his orders to head home, he picked up his studies and graduated in 1947. He went on to NYU Law School, married and began a family of three daughters. He eventually became a municipal court judge.

Lasker moved to Bristol in 2005 and appreciates the fact that RI is the only state that still celebrates Victory Day.
There is really no way to determine the real impact of that final mission. However, Japan had not surrendered before that raid and did so immediately afterwards. As Cyclone Davis said, “I kind of smile when I tell my story that the two big bombs got their attention, and my P38s brought them to the surrender table.”

“My last mission in WWII was without a doubt the most important mission that my buddies and I ever flew.”
-Arthur Lasker

Leger was probably the first Rhode Islander lost in the European Theater during WWII. Trained as a gunner, he deployed to Palestine. Within two weeks of his arrival he was dead. Staff Sergeant Rene A. Leger was killed on August 9, 1942, when his Palestine-based B-24 went down during a raid against Rommel’s supply line in North Africa. He was likely the first Air Corps crew member from RI to lose his life in the European Theater during WWII. He is buried in the perfectly manicured grounds of the 27-acre North Africa American Cemetery in Tunisia.

Rene was born in Pawtucket on May 12, 1920, third of five children. Their father Andre, born in France in 1897, came from a family of lac workers in Calais. The family emigrated to America in 1913.

Raised in Providence, Harold Edminston Lemont, Jr. (1920-2003) was an aeronautical engineer and inventor who graduated from Moses Brown School, and Rhode Island State College (now URI).

He specialized in helicopter design and was a prolific inventor, developing more than 30 helicopter rotor systems. His Reverse Velocity Rotor, designed in the 60’s, is still the fastest rotor system in existence.

His work is displayed in aeronautical museums across the country, including the National Air and Space Museum. The Gazda Helicospeeder, which he designed while he was still in his early 20’s, is on display at the Hiller Aviation Museum in northern California. He received commendations from NASA for his work in hydraulics.

Mr. Lemont was co-founder of the American Helicopter Society and was an active member for sixty years. During this time, he worked for many major aircraft companies, including Bell, Jacobs, Gazda, Hiller, Piasecki, Sikorsky, and Hughes, many of whom today continue to build on his work. After retiring from Sikorsky, he founded Lemont Aircraft Corporation and worked on new products and applications of advanced aerodynamic mechanical technologies.

Tiverton native LTC James Webber Lent, Jr. USMC (Ret) had the distinction of serving three combat tours in Viet Nam, flying three different aircraft with distinctly different missions. During these three tours, Jim flew a total of 842 combat missions and 949 combat hours, an accomplishment surpassed by only a select few US military aviators. Lent graduated from De La Salle Academy in Newport and Holy Cross College. Lent was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in 1960, and designated a Naval Aviator the following year. In his first Vietnam tour (1964-65) he flew the H-34 helicopter in support and medevac missions out of Danang. From April, 1968 – May, 1969 he flew the A-4 Skyhawk attack jet with VMA-311 out of Chu Lai, providing close air support for marines on the ground. In 1972 he flew the F-4J Phantom II fighter/attack jet in combat. During his 21-year career, Jim amassed a total of 3,482 flight hours flying 18 different aircraft. He also completed 123 day and night carrier landings. Lent’s combat awards include three Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Bronze Stars with Combat V, and forty-two Air Medals, with one meritorious single mission gold star. After leaving the service he earned his JD and a Master of Law Degree in International Business and Taxation. He continues to practice in Pensacola, FL where he now resides.

Lieutenant Colonel John M. Lepry US Air Force (Ret) (1917-2003), a Warwick resident, flew 101 combat missions in a P-47 Thunderbolt over Italy, France and Germany in 1944 and 1945. He was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross, five single action Air Medals and the Soldier’s Medal.

He was born July 17, 1917 and graduated from Warwick High School in June, 1934. Before WWII he worked as a clerk in the Warwick post office. He enlisted in the Aviation Cadet program in 1942 and earned his wings in 1944. In June, 1944, he arrived in Italy and was assigned to the 86th Fighter Group, 526th Squadron, which was based in Corsica and was equipped with P-47s. The Group’s primary mission was to cut off supplies to enemy forces. He took part in the destruction of bridges, railroads, trains, trucks, ammunition dumps, and anything that moved on the highway. He also flew many close support missions. In January, 1945, the 86th Fighter Group moved to France where they flew the same types of missions into Germany. He flew 101 missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 3 clusters. But he was perhaps most proud of the Soldier’s Medal awarded for his part in the rescue of eight elderly and infirm people during a flood in Grossetto, Italy.

Released from active duty in December, 1945, he enrolled at Providence College and graduated with the class of 1950. He taught English and social studies in the Warwick School system until he retired in June, 1979. He became a member of the 152nd Fighter Squadron, Rhode Island Air National Guard when it was formed in 1948. He remained with the Guard, transitioning to transport aircraft, until he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1972.

LT George S. Lima (1919-2011), a Tuskegee Airman, was born April 4, 1919, son of Cape Verdean immigrant
parents who settled in Fall River. His father worked in a mill, while his mother and other family members ran a boarding house and a grocery store. When the Depression hit in the early 1930s, the family moved to New
York in an attempt to find jobs. While there, George went to junior high school with a fellow named Charles “A-Train” Dryden, who later gained renown as a Tuskegee fighter pilot who wrote a book about his experiences.

Lima returned to Fall River, graduated from Durfee High School and received a scholarship to play football at North
Carolina A&T in Greensboro. He trained as a private pilot while he was in college, and learned to fly in a two-seater. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in February 1942, shortly after WWII broke out. Although accepted as an aviation cadet in Class 42-I, he did not complete pilot training, and was sent instead to the Army Air Corps Administration School OCS in Miami. He then went to Lowery Field in Denver, Colorado, to learn aerial photography.

He returned to Tuskegee Army Air Field as base photography officer, where he recorded the Tuskegee experience for posterity. His album includes photographs of Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., who became the first black general in the Air Force; LTC Charles “A-Train” Dryden, Lima’s boyhood friend from New York and the author of “Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman”; jazz singer Lena Horne; the Mills Brothers; and heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis.
(An amateur boxer, Lima reportedly got into the ring with Louis and sparred a few rounds when Louis visited the Tuskegee airfield.)

Mr. Lima was also a Photography Officer for the 477 Bombardment Group. After his discharge in 1946, Lima and
his new wife and daughter returned to Fall River. He went to Brown University, where he played football and helped found the University’s chapter of Omega Psi Phi, a black fraternity. He studied sociology, and received his BA degree in 1948.

Concerned about job discrimination and other civil rights issues, he became president of his local union and then worked as a full-time labor organizer for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.
Lima’s union work eventually took him to Washington, D.C., where he became an administrator for such federal programs as the War on Poverty and VISTA. He worked for many years in the Office of Economic Opportunity, culminating his federal career as State Director of OEO for the State of Rhode Island. Back in Providence, he served as president of the local NAACP.

Mr. Lima also entered politics, serving two terms in the RI General Assembly as the Representative for District 83 in East Providence. Mr. Lima, a civil rights activist, has been affiliated with many organizations pursuing social justice, especially Cape Verdean advocacy groups. In retirement he continued to be an active participant in civil
rights, political and community issues. He was founder and the CEO of the Black Air Foundation, dedicated to empowering minority youths through education and training. He also helped launched the Lambert-Lima Flying Squadron Cadet Program, to attract local children into aviation. Mr. Lima died in 2011.

Providence native Ogden R. Lindsley Jr. (1922-2004) moved to North Kingstown at the age of 14 and graduated from North Kingstown High School in 1939. He entered Brown University in 1940, majoring in Engineering.

In January 1942 he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He trained as a flight engineer and as a door gunner, and was based in Italy with the 15th Air Force, 98th Bomb Group. His B-24 went down in the mountains of Albania on July 22, 1944. On his 22nd birthday, Lindsley and his crew were captured by the Germans and moved through camps in Yugoslavia to Stalag Luft IV in Poland. From January to April 1945, he was on a forced march from Stalag Luft IV to Hamburg. He escaped in April, weighing only 114 pounds.

He returned to Brown and earned degrees with highest honors in experimental psychology and histochemistry in 1948. He received a Master of Science from Brown in experimental psychology in 1950 and a doctorate in psychology from Harvard in 1957 under the direction of B.F. Skinner. He was director of the Behavior Research Laboratory of Harvard Medical School from 1953 to 1965. In 1965 he joined Kansas University Medical Center as a professor, director of educational research and a research associate in Bureau of Child Research. He was professor of educational administration in KU’s School of Education for 19 years, gaining emeritus status in 1990.

Mr. Lindsley received numerous prizes and awards. He published more than 140 articles, book chapters and books. His work in psychology is recognized worldwide. He made a pledge as a POW that if allowed to escape, he would devote half of his life to helping the world and the other half to having fun-— reasoning that his fallen comrades would have insisted on the latter.

(NOTE: North Kingstown historian Tim Cranston believes Lindsley “had the largest impact upon
the world” of all North Kingstown High School graduates to date.)

Born in Pride’s Crossing, MA, Mary Ann Lippitt (1918-2006) was a descendant of an old and influential Rhode Island family that was very active in Rhode Island business and politics. She was a cousin of the late Senator John Chafee and current Governor Lincoln Chafee.

As a teenager she enrolled in the first Gray Ladies training class and the first nurses aide class for the RI Red Cross.  She took special training at Ft. Devens during World War II for work with psychiatric patients. In 1944 she learned to fly during a visit to Virginia. Mary Ann was soon a skilled aviatrix, and she worked as a flying instructor in Virginia and served in the US air postal service before returning to Rhode Island. She was one of about a dozen women pilots in the state.

In 1946 she formed Lippitt Aviation at Hillsgrove (now T. F. Greene Airport), making her one of the first women
business owners in Rhode Island. A Providence Journal article from 1946 on Miss Lippitt’s new business
reported that “her personality must have been designed to win the friendship and confidence of people who
want to fly.” In those early postwar years, a woman flight instructor was an anomaly, but teaching people how to fly was her greatest enthusiasm, and she accumulated thousands of hours in the air before selling the business
in 1972.

During the 26 years she owned the company, she also operated a charter flight service with a fleet of up to four planes. She also competed at least once in the famous “Powder Puff Derby”, the transcontinental flying races for women pilots. After selling her company, Miss Lippitt devoted herself to charitable and civic causes, including serving as Chairman of the Board of the RI Red Cross, President of the Boards of Bannister House and the Women’s Center, and Board Member of the Providence Public Library, Gordon School, John Hope Settlement House, the Animal Rescue League, Preserve Rhode Island and Community Prep. Brown University recognized her services to the community by awarding her the President’s Medal in 2004.

Miss Lippitt made significant donations to many local charities including the Providence Public Library, which has
named the exhibition hall at the Central Branch in her honor; Brown University where she funded professorships in the Medical School; and Butler Hospital.

RI Army National Guard helicopter and fixed wing pilot; during the Vietnam War he flew clandestine CIA missions in Laos with Air America for six years. After civilian postings to Iran and Saudi Arabia, he finished his career as Maintenance Officer for Army Aviation. He accrued more than 11,000 flight hours over his 43 years of service.

Major General Andrew S. Low, Jr. US Air Force (Ret) (1917-2000)

A Westerly native, Low enlisted in the Rhode Island National Guard in 1936 and graduated from West Point in 1942. He became a multi-engine instructor pilot and flew 16 B-24 missions before being shot down over Germany in 1944. He was liberated in April, 1945 after 273 days of captivity.  Low stayed in the service after the war, serving in many top positions including Strategic Air Command representative at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers Europe. He later commanded the 40th Bombardment Wing, and capped off his military career as director of aerospace programs for the Air Force. In that capacity he drove the first 747 off Boeing’s assembly line. After retiring from the military in 1971, General Low continued his service to his country by teaching at military bases through America and Europe until he retired again in 1987.

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 1985 to 1997 he served as an instructor pilot for the RI Army National Guard, from which he retired as Chief Warrant Officer 5 (CW5). In 1969, he took over as owner/president of Skylanes, Inc, a fixed base operation at North Smithfield Airport started by his father Sabbie, a 2004 honoree of RI Aviation Hall of Fame.

In 2005 the Federal Aviation Administration awarded him the coveted Wright Brothers’ “Master Pilot” Award. Two years later the Aviation Safety Group of Massachusetts presented him with their Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2008 he received Aero Club of New England’s Rhode Island Award. In addition to his various service awards and commendations, Joe earned the Humanitarian Service Medal when he was activated to support relief efforts during the infamous “Blizzard of 1978”.

In Joe’s lifetime, he logged well in excess of 20,000 flight hours, including more than 12,500 in airplanes and more than 7,500 in helicopters. Most of these hours were spent instructing the more than 5,000 students Joe taught to fly.

Sabatino ‘‘Sabbie’’ Ludovici (1910-2001)

Born in Oguila, Italy, this pioneer aviator was also founder and chief flight instructor of Skylanes at North Central Airport. He started flying in 1927, and launched his first flight school at the What Cheer Airport in Pawtucket (later the site of Narragansett Race Track). In 1932 he moved to Smithfield and built his own airport. In 1935 he moved to Mendon, MA and launched Skylanes, which relocated a few years later to its permanent home in Lincoln. Ludovici was a flight instructor in the Navy during World War II, and later joined the Army, serving as a mechanic. In 1969 he also developed the first aerobatics instruction program ever approved by the FAA. For many years Skylanes was the only approved aerobatics school in the country. Ludovici gave flight tests for the FAA for 32 years. By the time he was 78 he had exceeded 45,000 flying hours. He also received the Airman of the Year Award from the Rhode Island Pilots Association.

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 ranging from a two-seat helicopter to the Boeing 727.

Magnan enlisted in the Army on July 26, 1968 and completed the Warrant Officer Rotary Wing Aviator Course the following year. He served in Vietnam with the 57″‘ Assault Helicopter Company in 1969-1970, amassing more than 700 combat flight hours, much of which was in support of highly dangerous and classified Special Forces cross-border operations.

He returned to Rhode Island after his release from active duty, began a civilian career as a private investigator, and joined the RI Guard on January 7, 1971. He has served as the Aircraft Maintenance Officer, a Standardization Instructor Pilot, an Instrument Flight Examiner and Safety Officer, in addition to commanding an aviation detachment.

In 1977 he completed his Fixed Wing Qualification, and in 1984 he earned the Master Aviator Badge. In 2005 he volunteered to deploy in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and he deployed again in August 2008 to Kuwait  as the CO of Detachment 23, Operational Support Airlift Command. He has flown more than fifty different aircraft and holds dual Airline Transport Pilot certificates for Fixed and Rotary Wing aircraft. Tom and his wife of 32 years, Mary Ann, have four children and seven grandchildren.

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 an HU-16B Albatross aircraft took off from Hillsgrove and flew to Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. Those aboard were to participate in a conference for a readiness inspection scheduled for the following month.

Work completed, the group took off from Shaw on Wednesday morning, March 9. The flight home offered a good opportunity to practice low-level navigational training. Something went horribly wrong.
The plane, flying at an altitude of between 500 and 1000 feet, crashed about 4 1/2 miles northeast of Smithfield, Virginia. Witnesses reported the plane appeared to have engine problems; it looked as if the
pilots were trying to crash land in a small clearing in the woods.

The two pilots were killed in the crash; Colonel Robert M. Magown, Commander of the 143rd Air Commando Group and Lt Col Edward F. Roberts, Operations Staff Officer, 143rd Air Commando Group. Four others aboard— three guardsmen and an active Air Force advisor—survived with relatively minor injuries. They managed to get out of the passenger compartment just before the plane burst into flames.

Thomas MacLean (1932-2017) exceeded his wildest dreams by becoming a USAF F84 Thunderjet pilot right before the end of the Korean War. The Warwick native joined the RI Air National Guard, where he was active from the early 1960s to the mid 1970s. He initially flew the C-46 Commando and the SA-16A Albatross, as well as the U-10 Helio Courier and other assorted aircraft. He also flew F84 fighter jets out of Connecticut, and was Governor John Chafee’s pilot in the 1960s. From the late 1950s until the early 1980s McLean also flew for  Pan American World Airways. He lived the Jet Age, making the transition from props to jets. When Pan Am pioneered affordable international air travel with the first major order for Boeing 747s, Tom became the youngest captain in Pan Am’s new 747 fleet.

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 2003 to January 2009. In 2005, he took over the responsibility for cleaning up the notorious Abu Ghraib, along with two other prisons in Iraq. An East Providence native, he graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1980 with a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He also received an ROTC commission. He also earned a masters in National Security and Strategic Studies from the US Naval War College in 2000. He earned his aviator wings in 1982 at Fort Rucker, has a Commercial Instrument Rotary Wing rating and has accumulated more than 1700 flight hours.

Retired Air Force Colonel Martha McSally hails from Warwick, and a Distinguished Graduate of the US Air Force Academy who became the first US female fighter pilot to fly combat missions, and the first woman to command an American fighter squadron. In 2001-2002, McSally earned national recognition for filing a lawsuit and successfully overturning a military policy requiring all U.S. servicewomen to wear a Muslim abaya (a long cloak-like garment) and headscarf when off base in Saudi Arabia.

Martha McSally graduated from St. Mary’s Academy – Bay View in 1984 as valedictorian of her class. Following her graduation from the Air Force Academy, she earned a Master’s degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government before proceeding to flight school. She was later assigned to a squadron flying the A-10 Thunderbolt and was deployed to Kuwait. In January 1995, she became the first woman in U.S. history to fly a combat aircraft into enemy territory when she flew her first sortie into Iraq in support of the United Nations no-fly zone enforcement. She later graduated from the Air War College, first in her class of 261 future senior military leaders.

Martha’s last assignment was as a Division Chief at United States Africa Command, responsible for oversight of all U.S. military operations and activities on the continent of Africa, including counter-terrorism and counter-piracy operations. She retired from the Air Force in 2010 after 26 years in uniform as a command pilot with more than 2600 flight hours, including more than 325 combat hours.

After retiring from the Air Force in 2010, McSally served as a Professor of National Security Studies at the George C. Marshall Center in Germany. She resigned her professorship in 2012 to run for Congress from Arizona, losing by less than 1% after an 11-day “long count” of provisional and absentee ballots.

It was one of the tightest elections in the country.

Martha McSally was elected to Congress in 2014. She was appointed as an Arizona US Senator in December, 2018, filling the seat left vacant by Sen. John McCain’s death.

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 escort carriers in the Pacific theater during WW II. For his service LCDR McCollough received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with Silver Star.

Bob and his family came to RI for the first time in 1953; he was stationed at Quonset NAS and served on the USS Wasp, USS Tarawa, and USS Leyte. In 1961 he became the Head Flight Test Officer for the O&R facility at Quonset (later called the Naval Air Rework Facility–NARF), a position he held until his retirement in 1964. He then taught in the North Kingstown public school system for more than 25 years, and was an active member of numerous civic and fraternal organizations in the state.

Throughout his teaching career and after his retirement, McCollough continued to fly. He flew charter and scheduled flights for Newport Aero, and at Quonset Aircraft Services, he tested and delivered the airplanes that QAS serviced. Since Bob was qualified in virtually all civilian light and medium aircraft, he picked up and delivered planes throughout the US and parts of Latin America.

At the time of his death Bob McCollough had a total of 7,680 hours of flight time, approximately 4000 of which was as a Naval Aviator.

John F. “Jack” McGee (1885 -1918), an aviation pioneer, was born in 1885 in Central Falls, but spent most of his life in Pawtucket.  He made his first solo flight in August 1912, and by the end of the year had made a name for himself as an exhibition stunt pilot. Crowds as large as 50,000 people gathered to watch him perform his “dip of death” and other stunts. During the winters he went to Florida and entertained crowds from Palm Beach to St. Petersburg. In 1913, he made front-page headlines by racing an express train from Boston to New York. He was Rhode Island’s most famous early aviator.

At the height of his flying career  McGee was big news in Rhode Island. Hardly a week went by without his name appearing in front page headlines.  As a sad postscript in the “What might have been” category, McGee was the first American to request the entry papers for the British Aero Club’s $50,000 prize to be awarded to the first person to fly across the Atlantic.  World War I intervened, and in 1917, McGee went to work as a test pilot for the Gallaudet Aircraft Corp. He also trained Army aviators to fly at the Gallaudet Training School in Potowomut. On June 11, 1918, lost his life in a crash of one of the seaplanes he was testing.

Induction was accepted by Barbara McGee Turgeon, Jack McGee’s nephew.

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 to come back” because he did a loop during the 1930 solo flight. Undaunted, Melone sent away for an airplane kit and first assembled it in his bedroom. He then disassembled it, carried the parts outside, reassembled and flew it—getting written up in Horatio Alger’s newspaper at the age of 18. Family lore has him buzzing the state house and “crashing” on Spectacle Pond in Cranston, only to fly away again when the police showed up. He allegedly rented an aircraft that he had never flown before, flew it for an hour, then took and passed the test for his commercial license in that aircraft. He enlisted in the 243rd Coast Artillery of the RI National Guard, and by 1940 he was a corporal. He had become a flight instructor prior to WW2, and during the war he served as an Army Air Corps civilian flight instructor at Hawthorne School of Aeronautics in South Carolina. He also taught French cadets at Hawthorne—one of whom eventually became a Concorde pilot. By 1950 he was a commercial pilot examiner for the Civil Aeronautics Administration, and was flying for Allen Airways at Hillsgrove. His work ranged from ferrying Providence Journal-Bulletin photographers to aerial banner towing—a skill at which he became quite adept. After a break in service, Mr. Melone re-entered the RI Air National Guard, serving 16 more years before retiring as a staff sergeant.

Providence native Robert T. Murphy, (1915-1996) was instrumental in the drafting of many federal statutes relating to air safety, air transportation, and related economic issues. He participated in the creation of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), and served on that board for 12 years, acting as Vice Chair for eight years. During his years on the CAB board he had a lot to do with promoting air service to New England in general and Rhode Island in particular. Murphy graduated from LaSalle Academy and Providence College before receiving his LL.B. from Georgetown University Law School in 1940. In 1956 he was chosen as Counsel to the Senate Aviation Subcommittee. During his career as a CAB Governor and Member, Murphy was involved in more than 55 bilateral aviation negotiations, 25 of which were with foreign governments. He served as the U.S. representative to the Conference of International Civil Aviation Organization (CIAO) in Buenos Aires in September 1968.

Jennifer Murray is the first woman to fly a helicopter around the world. The Providence-born Murray was also the first person of either gender to pilot a piston engine helicopter around the world and the first to do it without an autopilot. Perhaps the most astounding aspect of her aerial exploits, however, is the fact that she did not take up flying until 1994 when she was 54 years old. Her husband bought a half share in a helicopter; according to Jennifer, he said “I haven’t got time to learn to fly it, so you’d better.” Murray, who now flies a Bell 407 helicopter, counts Bell Helicopter-Textron as one of her major industry sponsors.

Bell, a wholly owned subsidiary of Providence-based Textron, Incorporated is also the Presenting Sponsor of this year’s induction ceremony. “As a fellow native New Englander and on behalf of all the men and women at Bell Helicopter, I offer my sincere congratulations to Ms. Murray for her tremendous accomplishments in aviation,” said Mr. Mike Blake, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Bell Helicopter’s Commercial Business Unit. “Her induction into the Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame is an honor that has been hard earned and well deserved. Additionally, Ms. Murray has gone a long way in illustrating the capability and versatility of vertical lift technology. We are proud to have her flying a Bell Helicopter.”

MAJ David L. Nuttall, US Army, Retired (1948-

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 her background.

Eunice’s listed home of record upon entering the service was Providence. She graduated with WASP class 43-4 and was later stationed at Newcastle Army Air Base in Wilmington, DE, where she flew with the 2nd Ferrying Group. 

Thanks to the geometric increase in information available on the internet, and the growth of genealogy websites, we have since been able to learn more of Eunice’s story and track down several of her family members. The key to her story was to learn that Oates was her married name; she was brought up in Rhode Island as a Standish. It turns out that she is a direct descendant of Myles Standish of Mayflower and Plymouth Colony fame. Her father was ninth in descent from Captain Standish through the leader’s third son, Josiah.

For many years her father and other family members ran powerful advertising companies, including Standish-Barnes, which dominate local billboard advertising for decades. Eunice was an accomplished singer who studied at Vassar’s College of music, and she spent most of her post war years teaching piano and singing in Memphis. She died there August 3, 1981.

LT George Merlyn Power O’Keefe, RFC (1898-1954)

Victor Pagé was born in 1885 and graduated from Classical High School in Providence in 1904.

Although best known for his accomplishments in the automotive field, he may well have designed and built the first airplane ever to fly in Rhode Island. By 1909 he had already published his first aviation book, and was already working on his first aircraft, a tractor biplane. Late in 1909 he established New England’s first airplane manufacturing facility here in Providence, which was only the third such operation in the United States. He also designed and built the first aluminum propeller used in this country, which is now hanging at the National Air & Space Museum. In 1911 he helped form the Rhode Island Aeronautical Society. During WWI, he received a direct commission and was America’s chief aeronautical engineering officer in France. He was a prolific writer on aeronautical and automotive topics. He died in 1947.

Thomas J. H. Peirce (1888-1956), a Providence native, is one of the most accomplished and least known Rhode Islanders from the first half of the 20th century. After attending Providence public schools, he graduated from the RI School of Design (RISD) in 1907 and became an accomplished designer, architect and engineer.

In 1916 Peirce was one of the first two military aviators in the state (and the first Naval Aviator). Had his RI Naval Militia flying time counted, he would have been among the first 25 men ever to fly for the Navy. He commanded the Aeronautical Section of the RI Naval Militia from the time it acquired its first airplane in early July, 1916. He served as a flight instructor at Pensacola and Hampton Roads, VA and commanded the first Naval Air Station at Squantum MA. Later he was sent to the Panama Canal Zone, where he served as XO until the armistice was signed.  In 1924 he joined the Army National Guard, eventually becoming a Lieutenant Colonel in the 118th Engineers.

In the 1920s and 1930s he resumed his architecture and design business, and was very active in promoting aviation and airport development. A lifelong proponent of aviation, he was secretary of the committee in 1929 that chose Hillsgrove as the site for the Providence Airport. By 1935 he was a member of the State Planning Board, and for several years served as Chief of the State Division of Forests, Parks and Parkways.

In 1939 he moved to Siesta Key, just outside of Sarasota, Florida; but by the time he left Rhode Island, he had left behind an architectural and engineering legacy. He designed many public buildings still in use in the Providence area, and is the holder of at least three patents.

Born in Providence, Perkins  attended Mt. St. Charles Academy, played hockey and was the All-State football quarterback his senior year. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps three months before Pearl Harbor, earned his wings and shipped over to Italy. He flew B-17 bombers with the 353rd Bomb Squadron (Heavy), 301st Bomb Group. On January 30, 1944, on his 43rd mission, Perkins’ plane was mortally damaged. His family was notified of the loss of the aircraft and the presumed deaths of the entire crew. Perkins bailed out, however, and with the help of General Tito’s partisans, the injured and ill flier reached friendly forces after  63 days behind enemy lines. After his discharge he went to work as a pilot for Eastern Airlines, eventually  flying as  Captain and check pilot until his mandatory retirement. For his wartime service he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with several clusters and a Purple Heart.

COL (Retired) William H. Pond USA (1945—)

As an Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam he flew more than 1300 combat hours, earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Bronze Stars and numerous other decorations. Colonel Pond is a Master Army Aviator with more than 7800 hours total flight time. He is a two-time recipient of the Rhode Island Star, primarily for his long and successful tenure as Aviation Safety Officer. A resident of Narragansett, he was born and raised in Massachusetts and holds a BS from Troy State in Alabama.

Watch the 2022 Induction Dinner Segment:

CAPT Charles Frederick Pratte, Jr., U.S. Army Air Forces (1915-1945)

LT Norman Prince (1887-1916) was the 55th American to earn a pilot’s license (1911). Prince is best known as one of the founders of the famed Lafayette Escadrille, the group of American volunteer pilots who flew for France before the US entered World War I. (In the movie “Flyboys”, the character of Briggs Lowry [played by Tyler Labine] is a composite of Norman Prince and several other Escadrille pilots who came from privileged backgrounds.) Prince flew a total of 122 missions in French service, engaging in aerial combat with Germany’s best fliers, and he downed several planes before losing his own life.

On October 12, 1916, returning from a raid, the landing gear of Prince’s airplane struck a cable stretched just above the tree tops. He died three days later. While in the hospital Prince was promoted to lieutenant and decorated with the Legion of Honor. He already held the Médaille Militaire and Croix de Guerre. Prince’s altimeter and a number of other personal items from his Lafayette Escadrille days are currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

His mother was Abigail Norman (Mrs. Frederick Prince) of Newport. The 450 acre Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown was created through a bequest from his aunt in 1949.

Thomas Printer and Lyle Hogg are the pilot and copilot of a commuter plane that caught fire while flying over Rhode Island on February 21, 1982. As flames burned their clothing away, and smoke choked their lungs, Prinster and Hogg remained at the controls  and successfully brought the plane down for a crash landing on the frozen Scituate Reservoir.  Though badly burned themselves, they assisted the passengers from the burning wreckage and led them to safety at the shore. Their actions saved 11 lives.

RIAHOF spoke with Prinster in the spring of 2017 to notify him of his selection; sadly, he died August 28, 2018, so we deferred his recognition to 2019.

Lyle Hogg is now president of Piedmont Airlines, and was present at the November, 2019 ceremony which honored them both.

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 in the 1970s, and was also a founding member of EAA Chapter 1363. Over the years he has flown dozens of youngsters in the EAA Young Eagles program.

Perhaps most importantly, the recently retired Executive Editor and Senior Vice President of The Providence Journal tried to bring informed coverage of aviation issues to his readers. In 1982 the Journal won a prestigious Polk Award for a series on commuter airline safety. He and his team also covered the death of John Kennedy, Jr. in the crash off Martha’s Vineyard and the Egypt Air loss off Nantucket. In all these stories the reporting benefited from intelligent sourcing of aviation officials and knowledge of aircraft and their operation.

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 1966 he was Operations Officer of the 143rd Air Commando Group.

On Monday, March 7, 1966 an HU-16B Albatross aircraft took off from Hillsgrove and flew to Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. Those aboard were to participate in a conference for a readiness inspection scheduled for the following month.

Work completed, the group took off from Shaw on Wednesday morning, March 9. The flight home offered a good opportunity to practice low-level navigational training. Something went horribly wrong.
The plane, flying at an altitude of between 500 and 1000 feet, crashed about 4 1/2 miles northeast of Smithfield, Virginia. Witnesses reported the plane appeared to have engine problems; it looked as if the
pilots were trying to crash land in a small clearing in the woods.

The two pilots were killed in the crash; Colonel Robert M. Magown, Commander of the 143rd Air Commando Group and Lt Col Edward F. Roberts, Operations Staff Officer, 143rd Air Commando Group. Four others aboard— three guardsmen and an active Air Force advisor—survived with relatively minor injuries. They managed to get out of the passenger compartment just before the plane burst into flames.

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 winery to build the Quonset naval complex. John worked at the winery as a young man, before graduating from LaSalle Academy in 1941. He joined the Naval Aviation Cadet program in December of 1942 at the age of 19, and received his pilot’s wings in early 1945. Assigned to a torpedo bomber unit, he was preparing for deployment to the Pacific when the war ended. He was discharged in 1946 and managed the family-owned Greenwich Hotel for three years until being recalled to active duty with the outbreak of hostilities in Korea in 1950. He flew high-altitude photo missions over North Korea and Vietnam from the carriers Essex and Oriskany, and decided to make a career as a naval aviator. Among his numerous assignments was a stint as a Navy production test pilot at Douglas Aircraft from 1956 to 1958; while there, he tested the A3D  Skywarrior, the A4D Skyhawk and the F4D Skyray.

By the time he retired in 1970 after 27 years of service, he had accumulated some 3500 hours of flight time, 1500 of  which were in jets. His last assignment was as XO of Quonset Point Naval Air Station. He then launched a successful political career which included one term as a state representative, followed by 8 years (1974-1982) in the RI Senate, where he rose to Deputy Minority Leader. During that period, he became involved with his wife’s family’s business—a small grocery store turned restaurant that became an East Greenwich icon: Pal’s. The Town designated Captain Romano as Grand Marshal of the 2007 Memorial Day parade.

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 her stern until they exploded, sinking the ship. The long-time East Greenwich resident served in Korea, and also commanded a Quonset-based early warning squadron. His many honors included the Navy Cross, 6 Distinguished Flying Crosses, a Bronze Star and 10 Air Medals. His widow Priscilla will accept the citation.

John A. Rutledge Jr. (1943-2012) was born in Westerly and raised beneath the traffic pattern of Westerly Airport. John began flying as a teen and ultimately logged more than 40,000 flight hours, flying more than 30 different types of airplanes. He spent nearly 4.5 years of his life aloft, earning an Air Transport Rating, multi engine commercial privileges and type ratings in a myriad of aircraft along the way. By the time he graduated from high school he had earned his commercial ticket and started making a living as a charter pilot, making countless runs between Westerly and Block Island as well as a host of other northeast destinations. He joined commuter airline pioneer Joe Fugere in 1961 as one of the first pilots for Pilgrim Airlines, flying a Piper Comanche out of Waterford Airport. John stayed with Pilgrim in numerous capacities, rising to chief pilot before striking off on his own in 1979 to form Action Air, a charter outfit he operated until his death.

For 23 years he was a Designated Pilot Examiner and an FAA Accident Prevention Counselor. When the
FAA Safety Team program was introduced John became an enthusiastic team member.In 2009, John was
honored by the Federal Aviation Administration with the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for maintaining
safe operations for 50 years of incident-free flying.

MAJ  Eric ‘Ric’ Sawyer, USA, Retired (1945-2021)

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 been renamed the ‘Scharver Room’. The USMC Reserve Training Center in Johnstown, PA was named for Lt. Scharver, as was a hangar at Marine Corps Air Station, New River, NC. A Barrington HS grad, he is buried in Barrington.

Watch the 2022 Induction Dinner Segment:

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 enlisted in the Navy as an Aviation Cadet, learned to fly at Pensacola NAS and took advanced training in seaplanes in Corpus Christi, Texas. He earned his wings and was commissioned in 1953. Schmid was assigned to Chincoteague , VA where he flew the F6F Hellcat, the F8F Bearcat and the TBM Avenger. He also flew multi engine aircraft such as the UF-1 Albatros seaplane, the Martin PBM-5A Mariner and the PBY Catalina. He towed targets with the Navy version of the B-26) and was also qualified in the F9F-2 Panther jet, the F9F-6 Cougar and the T-33.

When his duty tour ended he returned to to Springfield as an executive pilot for Sangamo Electric Company, whose fleet included a Lodestar, Learstar, and a twin Beech-18. His aviation career then took him to Oklahoma City and then Pittsburgh where he flew Commanders for North American Rockwell. In 1970 he went to Denver with Gates Learjet Corporation, and in 1971 transferred to Connecticut where he became their Eastern Regional Sales Director, earning a Learjet type rating. When Learjet closed their Connecticut office, Albert moved to Air Kaman at Bradley Airport where he developed an Air Taxi department. After Air Kaman closed their Bradley operation in the early 1980s, Schmid began to work with other air taxi operators, helping them to get their certification.

Following the death of his wife in 2000, Albert moved to Rhode Island. For several years he worked with Air Newport, a company started by Regis de Ramel. After an aviation career that spanned more than 54 years, Albert officially retired from flying in 2005 at the age of 78. He continues to promote aviation both in Rhode Island and the New England area. Schmid is an ordained Baptist minister and enjoys providing volunteer services at several Rhode Island Nursing Homes and other churches in the area.

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. He retired from the Air Force in 1969 after 30 years service.

Horace A. Scott (1926-2020)

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 attended the Allen School of Aeronautics where he became an FAA licensed master mechanic. He worked for American Airlines at Idlewild Airport in New York, and as an Air Force civilian contractor and technical rep.

At the age of 38 he transferred to the Army Guard as an aviation maintenance officer and, unusual for someone his age, graduated from flight school in 1970. Shortall was an aeronautics inspector for the RI National Guard and the helicopter pilot for the governor of Rhode Island until 1979. From 1979 to 1990 he was assistant chief of airport operations at TF Green Airport. He retired in 1990, and remained in the Army Reserve until 1991. He holds numerous commercial and instrument ratings, and is also an A&P (aircraft and power plant) master mechanic. He resides in Narragansett.

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 the rank and file.

He graduated from Hope High School and Providence College and joined the Navy. As a young LT (jg) aboard the USS Wasp he flew co-pilot for the air group commander on an anti-submarine hunter aircraft involved in the  recovery of Gemini 6A and Gemini 7, the first space docking capsule. He also flew McDonnell Douglas A-4 jet bombers.

After six years in the Navy, he joined Pan American World Airways in 1968 as a flight engineer. After being furloughed in the 1970 pilot cutbacks, he joined a management training program and rose rapidly through the ranks. He worked in personnel and labor relations at the company’s headquarters in New York and then had “line” responsibilities in Washington and later in London, where he was responsible for Western Europe. He then returned to Pan Am headquarters where he served as senior vice president for human resources, then marketing and sales.

In 1983 he was elected vice chairman of Pan Am’s board. He left Pan Am in 1988 to become president of  Continental Airlines. He was later appointed trustee-in-bankruptcy of Eastern Airlines and moved the company almost to a point of recovery, but was thwarted by the rising fuel prices caused by the Gulf War. With his own capital and other financing support, he started the new Pan Am in 1996. He died unexpectedly of a stroke in 1999 at the age of 58.

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 Providence and enlisted in the Air Corps in 1942. He attended aerial gunnery school at Tyndall Field, Florida, followed by training at the Flexible Gunnery school in Laredo, Texas. He then went to Lowry Air Field near Denver for the armorer’s course, where he learned basic maintenance on all aerial guns, up to 37mm.

Smith was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for “extraordinary achievement in aerial flight”, participating in more than 200 hours of combat flying as an aerial gunner from bases in China between December 1943 and August 1944. His discharge record identifies service in New Guinea, India and Burma in addition to China. He also earned multiple Air Medals and campaign decorations. A welder by trade, he died in Pennsylvania in 2012.

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 in the Army Reserve, and was Rhode Island’s most experienced military aviator. He had earned his wings in 1918 and had been a vocal advocate for aviation development and growth for 20 years. In announcing Smith’s selection, the Providence Journal reported: “Captain Smith, who holds the military rating of Airplane Pilot, Group 1–A  and a transport rating in commercial aviation, has been active for many years in the movement to get an air squadron of its own for the Rhode Island National Guard.”

Paul Smith was educated in the Woonsocket public schools, graduating from Woonsocket High School in 1915. He then attended the University of Vermont, enlisting in the air service after the US entered WWI. He earned his wings just as the war ended.

Between the wars he began his career as a journalist; five years after being hired as a reporter, the Woonsocket Call made him City Editor in 1926. He continued to actively promote aviation development in the state, and in 1930 he formed a company which developed, built and operated the old Woonsocket airport.

Throughout the 1930s he was also active in the campaign to modernize military aviation. He became president of the New England Air Reserve Association, and was elected to the executive board of the national Air Reserve Association. The 152nd was known as Rhode Island’s “Fighting Red Rooster Squadron”. Smith recruited a number of private pilots to join, along with several hundred other men into non-flying categories.

On February 19, 1940 he was promoted to Major, and by November the unit had been called into active federal service. Shortly after Pearl Harbor,  Smith was transferred to Mitchel Field, Long Island to command a target towing squadron. Early in 1942 Smith served on a special commission for recruiting aviation cadets from the nation’s colleges. Later he became deputy air inspector for the first Air Force. Promoted to lieutenant colonel, he was assigned in 1944 as inspector with the 11th Air Force in Alaska. Smith flew many times up and down the Aleutian chain, and at one point he was executive officer at the airbase on Shemya—the base from which bombing raids against northern Japan were being launched.

He was promoted to full colonel and served for a brief period in Texas before his release from active duty. He returned to the Woonsocket Call, and was promoted to managing editor–a job he was to hold until he retired in 1962. His active flying career spanned about 30 years. He flew practically every type of plane except the jet, which came into active service about the time he gave up flying. For some time he was regarded as the dean of aviators in Rhode Island. He was a command pilot and also held a commercial pilots license. He died July 11, 1978, at the age of 81.

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 in Vermont where the plan was to earn his BA degree, then transfer to MIT for his BS. On his Christmas vacation in 1941 he enlisted as an Army aviation cadet. After a delay of several months he was finally sent to the aviation cadet center at Kelly Field, San Antonio, TX.

After earning his wings and commission he went through B-24 combat training in Colorado. He and his crew then picked up a brand-new B-24 in Wichita with orders to fly to the 14th Air Force in Kunming, China. They finally arrived in Kunming in early November 1943. He served in the 374th Bombardment Squadron of the 308th Bombardment Group, flying 75 combat missions. Most were skip bombing attacks against Japanese shipping coming out of Saigon.

When the war ended he was offered a regular Army commission as a Captain and was assigned to McDill Field in Tampa, During the cold war Smith flew classified missions out of Alaska in a B-29 modified for ELINT (electronic intercept) missions. In an understatement, Smith called flying over Soviet airspace performing reconnaissance missions “edgy work”. The B-29s were phased out as the Boeing B-47 came on the scene, This was a long-range, six-engine bomber designed to fly at subsonic speed at high altitude. Its primary mission was to drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union. As the B-47 came on line he was selected to be one of the first to transition. All pilots also had to become rated as navigators, bombardiers and radio operators for this airplane. For the next six years he was one of Curtis LeMay’s ready crews of the Strategic Air Command in Nebraska, sitting on the flight line with a nuclear weapon in his bomb bay.

He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel, and at the time he left the Air Force he had more command time and more flight time in the B-47 than anyone else in the Air Force.

Colonel Sherwood “Woody” Spring, USA (Ret.), was selected as a NASA Astronaut in May 1980.  Born September 3, 1944, in Hartford, Connecticut, he considers Harmony, Rhode Island, to be his hometown. He graduated from Ponaganset High School, Chepachet, in 1963. Colonel Spring graduated from West Point in 1967, served two tours in Vietnam, holds two master of science degrees in Aerospace Engineering, one from the United States Military Academy and one from the University of Arizona.  He also completed Navy Test Pilot school and spent four years as an experiential test pilot.  He has experience in 25 types of airplanes and helicopters logging over 4,000 hours flying time.

While with NASA Colonel Spring’s responsibilities included:  software verification at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory and Flight Simulation Laboratory; Vehicle and satellite integration; Astronaut Office EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) expert; Space Station Construction, EVA maintenance, and design. Woody Spring served as a mission specialist on the 23rd Space Shuttle flight, STS-61B, which flew November 26 through December 3, 1985.  While in orbit aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis, Colonel Spring was responsible for launching three communications satellites and performed two spacewalks (EVA’s) totaling 12 hours outside the orbiter.  The EVA’s investigated Space Station Construction techniques, large structure manipulation and a time and motion study for comparison between Earth training and space performance.  Due to his in orbit construction work Woody Spring is an honorary member of the Steel Workers Union.  With the completion of his flight Colonel Spring logged 165 hours in space.

Immediately after the Challenger accident, he was assigned as part of the tiger team accident investigation task force. Before his retirement from the Army in 1994, Colonel Spring served as Director of the U.S. Army Space Program Office. He now (2004) holds the position of Associate Director of ALPHATECH, a developer of technology-intensive applications software for government and industry.

SPECIAL HONORS: 1 Distinguished Flying Cross, 2 Army Bronze Stars, 1 Army Meritorious Service Medal, 3 Army Commendations, 9 Army Air Medals, a Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medals, and NASA Space Flight Medal. Recipient, in 1986, of two honorary doctorate degrees; Doctor of Science, and Doctor of Humane Letters.

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 legendary exploits at Westerly High School, where he excelled as a student athlete and later as a coach. This lifelong Westerly resident holds BS and MS degrees in education from URI, and a Doctorate from Boston University.

John has also been inducted into the Westerly High School Athletic Hall of Fame, Rhode Island Coaches Hall of Fame and Rhode Island Interscholastic League Hall of Fame.

Watch the 2022 Induction Dinner Segment:

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 decorated officers in U.S. naval history, having received two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Purple Hearts and four Silver Stars among his 26 combat decorations. He also was the only three-star admiral to wear both aviator’s wings and the Medal of Honor. He is remembered in Rhode Island as the Naval War College president who brought moral philosophy to the Newport campus during his tenure from 1977 to 1979.

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 Lift Command mercy missions. He flew children, combat wounded vets and families free of charge to clinics or hospitals for life-sustaining treatment. A recipient of the FAA’s prestigious Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, he was born in Providence. A longtime resident of Cranston, he graduated from Cranston East High School. He earned his undergraduate degree at Penn’s Wharton School and an MBA from Harvard.

Watch the 2022 Induction Dinner Segment:

Riverside resident Roland E. Stumpff flew for more than 68 years. He was a WWII B-24 bomber pilot who participated in the dangerous raids on the Ploesti oil fields. On his 13th Ploesti mission his aircraft was hit by flak over the target and lost two engines. With a wounded copilot he nursed his B-24 to dead-stick landing. He and his crew were captured and held in a Bulgarian POW camp.

When Bulgaria dropped out of the war in late 1944, he and more than 200 allied POWs eventually made their way to Istanbul and safety. In a little-known footnote to history, he and a handful of others volunteered to go back into Bulgaria with the OSS to identify and round up those guards who had mistreated prisoners. Through this team’s actions, some 135 were brought to justice.

After the war, he continued to fly with several Air National Guard units, including a stint flying F80 fighter jets with the New York Air Guard. He worked for Trans-Ethiopian Airlines, and eventually settled into a career as a mechanical engineer.

Roland added glider flying and soaring to his repertoire before finally folding his wings in 2010. He was a Colonel in the Confederate Air Force, where he worked on (and flew) aircraft that participated in their famous Missing Man formation.

George Sullivan was born in 1934, raised in Newport and graduated from Rogers High School in 1952. In 1954 he was drafted and assigned to the Army’s rotary aircraft maintenance school at Fort Rucker, AL.  His ensuing duty tour took him to Korea where he serviced the Sikorsky H-19 and the Bell H-13 “Sioux.” He was chosen for one of the Army’s three traveling depot-level maintenance teams and was one of a hand full of enlisted, non-pilot personnel qualified to taxi aircraft and stress them to the point of takeoff.

After his returned to Newport in 1958 George pursued an education in aircraft maintenance at  Embry-Riddle Aeronautics University in Miami.  He went to work for Newport Aero  in Middletown. In 1973 he was named Rhode Island Aviation Mechanic of the Year.

In 1978 George began his own aircraft maintenance service. He leased a hanger at the former Quonset Point Naval Air Station, and Quonset Aircraft Services (QAS) was born.  Servicing business class and private recreational aircraft, some of QAS’s customers included former Rhode Island governors Joseph Garrahy and Bruce Sundlun, and singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett.  QAS became an FAA certified airframe and power plant service facility.

In 1997 George decided it was time to retire. He did not sell his business to the highest bidder–he simply bequeathed ownership to his most dedicated and loyal employee. Under another name, that business continues today.

Major Elliot Summer, US Army Air Corps, a Providence native and WWII ace with ten kills to his credit, flew P-38s in the Pacific with the 432^nd Fighter Squadron – which he ended up commanding by the end of the war. His many awards included the Silver Star, 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and 9 Air Medals. He was an aviation consultant for many years after the war before joining the Federal Aviation Administration as the Noise Abatement Officer for the Eastern Region.

Governor Bruce Sundlun (1920-2011) led a long and successful life in business, politics, and the practice of law. Back in 1941, he was a senior at Williams College when the Japanese bombed Pearl harbor. He and most of his classmates volunteered for the service, and since Bruce already had a private pilot’s license he went into the Air Corps. He trained on multi-engine aircraft and eventually became a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot. His plane, Damn Yankee, was shot down December 1, 1943 over Belgium returning from their 13th mission. He evaded capture for more than six months, working with the French Resistance until he escaped to Switzerland in late May, 1944. He stayed in the Reserves after the war, commanding a Troop Carrier Squadron, then a Wing before his retirement as a Colonel.

One aspect of his civilian life of which many of you may be unaware is that he served as President of Executive Jet Aviation for six years.

Unpaid while on the run, Sundlun received back pay amounting to about $8,000. He bought French francs at what he later learned was a remarkably favorable rate. When he later exchanged them for Army script, he wound up with $25,000. Sundlun used the money to buy stock in Boeing, the aircraft company that made Damn Yankee.

LT George Sutcliffe, USAF was born in North Providence and graduated from Mt. Pleasant High in 1940. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps shortly after Pearl Harbor, and graduated from flight school in May 1943. Sutcliffe deployed to Europe with the 368th Fighter Group, flying the P47 Thunderbolt. Prior to D-Day, their mission was escorting bombers; after the landings, they flew close support missions for ground troops. He flew four missions on the day Allied troops stormed ashore in Normandy. A week later, Sutcliffe was involved in one of the wildest air battles of the war, which was the subject of an episode of “Dogfights”, a History Channel series that aired this summer. He was awarded the Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross for his wartime service. He graduated from Bryant College on the GI Bill after World War II, then set up an insurance business in which he is still active. He now lives in Greenville, RI.

Giuseppe (Joseph) Taglione (1898-1976) was born in Brazil, one of 11 children. He came to the US and his family settled in Providence in 1907. He worked as an auto and truck driver, and was bitten by the aviation bug at an early age. In 1920 he made his first flight out of the grass field which later became Hillsgrove airport. The following year he learned to fly in a Curtiss Jenny at Asbury Park, NJ. When he earned his license he became the first Italian pilot in RI. In 1926 he bought his first plane (he owned four in his lifetime).

Along with “early bird” flier Al Potts and others, Taglione helped clear a pasture at Buttonwoods in 1926 to create what became known as the Pothier flying field. In 1927 he went to Denver and took up stunt flying. After coming back he launched a venture called Rhode Island Airways. By 1959 he held the oldest pilot’s license in the state, and received nationwide publicity for giving a 96-year-old woman her first plane ride. For many years he and his wife Maria owned and operated Taglioneʼs Market on Warwick Avenue. He resided in Warwick until his death in 1976. His tombstone is inscribed, “The First Italian Aviator in Rhode Island”.

A long-time Warwick resident, Albert Tavani is credited with bringing the state airport system from its infancy in the 1940s to the full-service network that now exists.

When he retired at the end of 1977, Green Airport was greatly expanded, numerous airlines were serving Rhode Island, and there were five state airports in addition to Green. Tavani, a pilot since 1931, earned his commercial rating in 1938 and became legal adviser to the Division of Aeronautics in 1939. He became a Navy flight instructor in 1942, and in 1945 he was assigned to Torpedo Squadron 150 aboard USS Lake Champlain at NAS Quonset Point. He was on the ship’s shakedown cruise when the war ended. After his discharge he was appointed assistant administrator of aeronautics, and the following year he was named administrator by then-Governor John Pastore.

He was a visionary, making recommendations in the 1960s that prove their worth today. He was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1982 for his “untiring efforts to keep Rhode Island in step with the developing air age.”

Lieutenant Robert Thorpe, US Army Air Corps, a Providence native and Cranston High School grad, was captured and beheaded by the Japanese in 1944. His remains have never been recovered, even though evidence suggests that US authorities have known where he was buried since 1947.

“We are honoring the memory of Lt. Thorpe on behalf of all air crew members still missing in action from all wars,” said Lennon. “Our recognition of Lt. Thorpe will be symbolic. He is a visible, identifiable Rhode Islander, with local family members who still seek closure. If our action lights a fire under the authorities responsible for bringing Thorpe and our other MIAs home, it will be well worth it.”

The citation will be accepted by his brother, Gill Thorpe of North Kingstown.

Financial sponsors of this year’s induction dinner include Lockheed-Martin Information Systems; Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium; the USS Saratoga Museum Founda

WWI pursuit pilot and escaped POW Theose Tillinghast was one of the few Allied flying officers to escape from enemy hands during World War I. A Providence native, he attended Providence Technical High School before graduating from RI State College with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Tillinghast joined Pratt and Whitney Aircraft when he resigned from the Air Corps in 1929. In 1934, he became sales manager for the company. In 1942 he was named President of United Aircraft Service Corporation – a position he held until his retirement in 1958. 

Two months before his retirement, he received the William E. Mitchell Award for his “most outstanding individual contribution to aviation progress”. As the program of April 9, 1958 noted:

“He has ‘followed the engines’, instructing, advi­sing and consulting wherever the air routes led into remote parts of the world.

He went to Hawaii with the Navy’s first complement of aircraft carriers, the Lexington and the Saratoga. He worked closely with Pan American when they began trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific service. He became personal friend and advisor to virtually all the men who head the commercial airlines today. He consulted personally with General James Doolittle and Gener­al Carl Spaatz in Europe during World War II.

Mr. Tillinghast has built not only a world-wide service and field engineering organizations, but a personal reputation for integrity in all prob­lems related to the reliability, durability and economy of aircraft engines, including the re­volutionary change-over to jets.” 

Dewey Turilli (1923- )

So far we can document 15 Tuskegee Airmen from this state, three of whom died during their service:

• 2/LT William E. Hill of Narragansett
• Flight Officer William P. Armstrong of Providence
• 2/LT Walter S. Gladding of Providence

The first black pilot from Rhode Island to graduate from the Tuskegee program was 2/LT William E. Hill of Narragansett, with Class 43-H on August 30, 1943. Hill was killed in a gunnery training accident three months later over Lake Huron.

The only other Rhode Island pilot confirmed to have successfully completed the pilot training program was F/O William Armstrong of Providence, who graduated with Class 44-H.

Armstrong was shot down and killed over Austria on April 1, 1945. (Providence native 2/LT Walter Gladding was in the same pilot class as Hill but did not graduate. He received his commission through another source, and was stationed at Tuskegee as an instructor when he was murdered while on leave in Lynchburg, VA in June, 1945.)

Military aviation has been a major part of Rhode Island’s history, starting with James and Ezra Allen, who flew
observation balloons for the Union Army during the Civil War. Fixed wing involvement started when Gerald Hanley joined the Rhode Island National Guard in 1915. As a lieutenant in Battery A of the Coast Artillery, he used his own flying boat to support training of his unit, bringing the state’s militia into the aerial age.

Rhode Islanders have been involved with Marine Aviation since before World War I. In October 1916, Lt. Alfred A.
Cunningham, Marine Aviator #1 and Naval Aviator #5, was taught to fly the new Burgess-Wright landplane in nearby Marblehead, MA. His instructor was famed Rhode Island aviator Jack McGee.

And, while we do not know for certain who the first Marine pilot from Rhode Island was, we do know that Russell Stearns of Pawtucket, who flew in France with the Lafayette Flying Corps, received a direct commission in June 1918 and was assigned to the 1st Marine Aviation Force in Miami.

In October, 1928 RI Governor Norman S. Case presented a silver loving cup to Marine Lt. Lawson Sanderson, the pilot who developed the concept of dive-bombing. The cup was “engraved, [for the purpose of] adorning a cabinet at Marine US Marine Corps Aviation in Rhode Island.” Sanderson later became a Major General, and in 1945 he accepted the surrender of Wake Island.

With war clouds on the horizon, the Navy built a naval air station at Quonset Point, which opened in 1941. With the start of World War II, Rhode island also became a nexus for training Army Air Corps pilots at Hillsgrove Airport.
Perhaps the strongest link Marine Aviation has to Rhode Island is the fact that the radar for night fighting, as well as aerial night fighting techniques, were developed here during World War II. A unit at NAS Quonset Point, operating under the code name of “Project Affirm”, was the first night fighter development unit, and it developed and tested night fighter equipment for the Navy and the Marine Corps.

Richmond Viall (1896-1973) was born in Providence on June 26, 1896; his father was second-in-command at Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company when it was a global force in the machine tools business. He attended Williams College, but left in 1917 to join the British forces in Canada. He joined the Royal Canadian Flying Corps as an Aviation Cadet. After initial training in Canada he sailed for England in February 1918, and was eventually assigned to 46 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. He flew in combat until the end of the war, being credited with one aerial victory.

On his return, he joined Brown & Sharpe, in which his father had played such a prominent role. He eventually became vice-president, secretary, and director of that firm until he left in 1946 to become chairman of the board of Marshall & Williams Corporation, manufacturers of textile machinery, a position he held until 1965.

He joined the 103rd Field Artillery, RI National Guard in February, 1925, serving until 1935. In September of 1930 he was appointed chairman of the Providence committee of the American Engineering Council, established to help determine ideal airport locations, with particular emphasis on surfaces and drainage. Richmond Viall was close to the Chafee family and had known John Chafee since he was a baby. Viall guided Chafee’s political campaigns for 15 years, through his terms as Governor and as US Senator. Viall was a prominent Republican from a long-established family who had served on numerous Boards of Directors, such as Plantations Bank of Rhode Island, Providence Washington Insurance Company, Providence National Bank and Peoples Savings Bank. His community involvement was also legendary.

When Viall died in 1973 at the age of 77, his obituary described him as “a manufacturing executive and civic leader long active in the affairs of the United Way, RI School of Design and local financial circles.”

Chester Wachowicz (1923-2014) was born in Central Falls, RI. He left Cumberland High School in his junior year to help support his family. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, and when the war started he wanted to volunteer.

After getting his father’s permission, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and graduated from Aircraft Electrical Instrument Mechanic School. He joined the 54th Air Service Squadron of the 14th Air Force, first in Calcutta and then on to Kunming, China at the end of 1943. His primary duty was power turret and gunsight repair, but he flew a number of missions as a top turret or tail gunner in the B-25. He also flew out of Yangkai and Chungking. After the war he spent more than 60 years working for the Gilbane Building Company; his last job was the World War II Memorial. He was the only WWII veteran to actually work on the design and construction of the memorial. He lived in North Providence for many years before he died.

The Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame honored the four Rhode Island women who flew as WASP during World War II.  These women are Phyllis Marsden Johnson Paradis, Bea St. Claire Smith Thurston, Ann Kenyon Morse, and Eunice Oates.

The WASP program grew out of efforts led by noted aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran to integrate women into the Army Air Force pilot training program.  In 1943, the U.S. finally permitted the WASP program to go forward as a civilian division of the AAF.  25,000 women applied, 1,830 were accepted, and 1,074 graduated from training and served as non-combat pilots. The women who passed this course entered into the flying corps of the Order of Fifinella.  Walt Disney himself designed the character of Fifinella, a winged and begoggled female gremlin which became the logo of the group.

Assignments included ferrying planes, transporting dignitaries, flying target-tugs, and teaching flight school.  The program was abruptly disbanded in 1944 as the war turned in favor of the Allies and male pilots returned from combat, displacing the women from their jobs.

The WASP were suddenly deactivated on December 20, 1944, and told they had to find their own way home.  This came as a blow to the women led by Cochran who were still trying to push a bill through Congress that would grant WASP the same pay, health, and death benefits as regular military.  Nonetheless, the program alumnae stayed in touch and formed a national organization, which fought to win official veteran status.  It took 33 years, but they won this battle in 1977 and gained full veteran privileges, including access to burial in Arlington National Cemetery.

Mrs. Paradis (then Phyllis Marsden) grew up in Saylesville and attended Pawtucket schools.  She was flying by age 14, earned her civilian license and logged enough flight hours to qualify for the WASP program at age 20.  She loved flying the powerful military craft and had little interest in piloting relatively tame civilian airplanes after the war—although she did take up helicopters when she was in her 50s!

Bea St. Clair Smith was born in New York but settled in Barrington after the war. Mrs. Thurston by then, she taught math at Mt. Pleasant High School in Providence for more than twenty years and raised five children.  She obtained her pilot’s license at age 15 and earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from Penn State. As a Wasp, she flew fighters in Texas and towed targets for gunnery practice. Thurston was one of very few WASP to be able to continue flying after the war;  Charles Babb Company, a well-known aircraft broker of the day, hired her to ferry aircraft across the country.  After moving to Rhode Island, she earned her teaching certificate at Barrington College, and also a Masters degree from Providence College.

Ann Kenyon was one of the few women in the nation who was flying commercially and held a multi-engine license before the war. One of the most experienced fliers among the WASP, she test-flew high-performance aircraft such as Hellcat fighters and Avenger torpedo bombers. She also ferried B-26 Marauders and other multi-engine aircraft.

Despite her aviation prowess, Ann Kenyon Morse was better known locally as an accomplished horsewoman, national skeet champion and prize winning sheep breeder. She is remembered today for her donation of 365 acres of land to the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Services, which formed the basis of the Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge in South Kingstown.  This major donation was characteristic of Mrs. Morse’s passion for animals and environmental causes.

Unfortunately, we know very little about the first Rhode Island WASP, Eunice Oates of Providence. She graduated fairly early in the program (Class 43-4), and was assigned to 2^nd Ferrying Group at Newcastle Army Air Base in Wilmington, Delaware. Later in life she lived in Memphis, where she died in 1981. We would welcome any additional information anyone can provide.

Charlestown resident Lawrence “Larry” Webster, born in Wakefield in 1947, is an award-winning mechanical engineer known in aviation history circles as the “aluminum undertaker” because of his extensive work excavating air crash sites.

He has earned national recognition for his meticulous rebuilding of vintage aircraft, often using hard-to-find parts from the remains of the by now more than 60 wrecks he has collected and stored behind his barn. He also helped launch the Quonset Air Museum, worked to establish a memorial to deceased pilots at the abandoned Charlestown airfield, and is compiling a database of every air crash that has ever occurred in New England.

Larry was valedictorian of his class at CHARIHO High School, and earned his engineering degree from the University of Rhode Island. He volunteered at the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, CT, where he did most of the work restoring a WWII Hellcat fighter. He also helped launch the Quonset Air Museum, worked to establish a memorial to deceased pilots at the abandoned Charlestown airfield, and began compiling a database of every air crash that’s ever occurred in New England.

In 2004 he was named Aviation Historian of the Year by the Northeast Aero Historians, and received a gubernatorial citation in recognition of his “many years of work advancing our knowledge and understanding of aviation in Rhode Island.”

Hugh Willoughby (1856-1939)

Newport resident Hugh Willoughby was was an avid inventor, traveler, aviator, and sportsman. He built his first serious aircraft model in 1894, the same year he organized the Naval Reserve in Rhode Island (he graduated from the Naval War College in 1896).

By 1900 he was a noted aerial photographer, taking pictures of cities such as Paris from balloons. By 1908 he held 14 patents for air ships and aviation devices. In 1908 he was part of Orville Wright’s support team during their very first public flights at Fort Myer, Virginia. By 1909 Willoughby had a “biplane under construction” at Newport. To illustrate how respected he was among early aviators, Willoughby was director of flying at the prestigious Belmont Park, NY air meet (October, 1910). The biplane Glenn Curtiss flew at this event was equipped with Willoughby’s patented double rudders; they soon became standard equipment on biplanes of the day.

The names of other pilots who used Willoughby’s equipment (and counted him as a colleague and friend) read like a Who’s Who of aviation pioneers: the Wright Brothers, Henri Farman, Louis Paulhan, Charles Hamilton,  Ruth Law, Thomas Scott Baldwin, and Roger Jannus. In 1911 he became the first person to fly a seaplane in Rhode Island—one that he designed and built himself. He later launched the Willoughby Aeroplane Company, with facilities in Newport and Sewall’s Point, Florida to build and sell aircraft of his own design. He built and flew the “Swan Triplane” as he approached his 70th birthday. He was a senior official at national air meets until close to his 80th birthday.From the time he began flying at the age of 53 until the time of his death he was  America’s oldest licensed pilot.

Born in 1942, Wakefield native Rick Wilson earned the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, two Single Mission Air Medals, a Navy Commendation Medal and 46 mission Air Medals in Vietnam. He flew more than 900 missions in his 13 months of flying in-country, consisting primarily of recon insertions/extractions as well as medevac. He was 2nd Marine Airwing Aviator of the Year in 1969. After his combat tour he served as an instructor and Public Affairs Officer for MCAS New River. His Marine Corps career was cut short by the death of his first wife at age 28. He had three children (ages 4, 3 and 1), so it was impossible for him to continue on active duty.

After his wife’s death he returned to RI and got involved with the family newspaper business–making good use of the bachelors and masters degrees in English he earned at the University of Wisconsin. He eventually became  publisher of Southern RI Newspapers, and launched the Chariho Times, South County Independent, North East Independent and South County Living Magazine. He subsequently remarried and now has 5 children and 7 grandchildren.

His love of flying came from his mother, Susan Northup Wilson, who was one of the first women in Rhode Island to hold a pilot’s license. His father grew up in Newport and joined the Navy after Pearl Harbor, spending WWII in the South Pacific aboard the aircraft carrier Saratoga. Rick’s aviation career is limited now to flying with friends but he holds a commercial license, instrument license as well as a multi-engine and jet rating. Rick, who attended South Kingstown High School and Portsmouth Priory, still lives in Wakefield.

In September 1943, Jean Teresino Yarnall (1923-2013) was living in Hartford, CT and working for an insurance company. She decided to join the new Navy unit called “Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service”, or WAVES.

She was sworn in on January 12, 1944 and attended a ten week boot camp at Hunter College. She then
volunteered for Link Instrument Training Instructor School (L.I.T.I.S.) in Atlanta, having chosen to train pilots
in cockpit instrumentation and blind flying. After a year at NAS Atlanta, she transferred back to the northeast,
first to Quonset Point and then to the auxiliary field in Groton, CT, where she served until the war ended. She
decided to stay in the Navy and returned to Quonset in 1946, where she attained the rank of Chief in March
of 1947. She met her future husband, Robert Yarnall, an aircraft mechanic and career Navy man, while he
was playing baseball for the Quonset team. They married in November of 1948, and she continued on active
duty until her pregnancy forced her honorable discharge on Feb 2, 1950. The Yarnalls lived in North
Kingstown until 1955, when they moved to the Potowomut section of Warwick/East Greenwich, where they
lived until she died in 2013.

Robert (Bob) J. Yarnall Sr., USN, Ret. (1924-2015) was born on February 11, 1924 in Seattle, Washington. He left high school after two years and decided to join the Navy. He graduated from boot camp at Norfolk Naval Station in 1941 and was assigned to VP-91, a patrol squadron based at Quonset Point. When World War II broke out, he trained in aerial gunnery in California and was sent to Kaneohe Bay near Honolulu. On September 5, 1942, he flew his first combat patrol. On October 27, 1942, he received a commendation for participating in a dive bombing attack at the Battle of Santa Cruz.

After the war ended, he returned to Quonset as an aviation machinist and, in March 1947, played in the All Navy Basketball Tournament at Chicago. He also joined the Quonset Flyers baseball team. In the spring of 1947, Bob met his future wife, the late Jean Marjorie Teresino, a WAVE flight instrument trainer at Quonset. They eloped and married in Baltimore on November 23, 1948.

In February 1949, Bob joined VC-12 and deployed on aircraft carriers, serving in the Mediterranean aboard U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt and aboard U.S.S. Midway in the South China Sea. He next joined VX-6, the Antarctica Development Squadron, reaching the South Pole during Operation Deep Freeze in 1959. Back at Quonset, Bob joined VAW-12, participating in Mediterranean cruises until the spring of 1961. He worked as Chief Aviation Machinist’s Mate for the Naval Aircraft Torpedo Unit (NATU) before his last sea duty in 1967 took him to seven European ports with VS-22 on the U.S.S. Essex. He retired with the rank of Chief in 1968.

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 pilot on flying orders.

He left high school to join the military, was offered the chance to go to flight school, and at the age of 20 he flew his B-17 and its 12-man crew across the Atlantic. He flew 12 missions with the 447th Bomb Group before the war ended.

He was married and the father of two when he joined the RI National Guard in 1967 at age 43. He had not flown for 22 years, but the Vietnam War was on and he heard an Air National Guard radio appeal for veterans. He joined the Army rather than the Air National Guard, but never regretted that choice. He liked the fact that both hands, both feet and both eyes are required every minute to fly helicopters. When his first extension ran out in 1985, he passed all the requirements for flying duty at age 61: the annual flight physical, including a four-mile run; instrument check ride, flight test and a four-hour written exam.

At his retirement, he became the first warrant officer to ever be awarded the Rhode Island Star. He also earned the Legion of Merit and the Meritorious Service Medal in addition to his various service and campaign medals.

Captain (Retired) Peter Young USA (1937-2021) 

A Navy, Army and commercial pilot, Young joined the Army as a mechanic and switched to the Navy to go to flight school. After a tour as a Navy helo pilot, he resigned in 1946 to fly commercially with TWA. He rose to the rank of Captain, flying wide body jets on international routes. In 1975 he joined the RI Army National Guard where he flew both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters until his retirement in 1997. He accrued a total of 18,742 flight hours. Born, raised, and schooled in the Bronx, he attended Wheaton College in IL. He was a long-time East Greenwich, RI resident.

Watch the 2022 Induction Dinner Segment:

Retired Air Force Colonel Joseph Zinno designed, built and flew America’s first human-powered aircraft. The Providence-born Zinno, a flying veteran of three wars (WWII, Korea and Vietnam), also successfully ditched a transport plane off the coast of Japan in 1946 and saved the lives of The Sharon Rogers All Girl Band, a USO troupe that had just completed a 7-month tour of the South Pacific.

For a full, detailed biography (including pictures), in PDF form, please click here.

The 2015 RIAHOF Dinner and Awards Ceremony was held on Saturday, November 21, 2015 @ 6 PM at Scottish Rite Masonic Temple in Cranston, RI.

November 21st awardees have North Kingstown, Portsmouth, Coventry, Warwick, East Greenwich, and Woonsocket connections, and include attendees at Westerly and Woonsocket High Schools, St. Mary’s Academy-Bay View, Providence College and Brown University.

Our Guest of Honor this year was Arizona Congresswoman and retired Air Force Colonel Martha McSally, a Warwick native and Bay View graduate.

In addition to AZ Congresswoman Martha McSally, 2015 honorees include a husband/wife team of Navy Chiefs; a fighter pilot from the First World War; a general aviation pilot with more than 40,000 flight hours; and the man responsible for Coventry High School’s Air Force JROTC program.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PRESS RELEASE (PDF)

2013 RIAHOF Dinner and Awards Ceremony was held on Friday, November 8, 2013.

Honorees for 2013 include a World War II fighter ace who flew with Chennault in China, a Naval Aviator who rose to leadership positions in three airlines, and a well-known philanthropist who was one of the first female flight instructors in the state. November 8th awardees have East Greenwich, North Kingstown, Providence, Newport, Wakefield and Charlestown connections, and include graduates of Moses Brown, Chariho and Hope High Schools, University of Rhode Island and Providence College.