The twenty-third annual RI Aviation Hall of Fame Class of Honorees will be recognized at our annual dinner on Saturday, November 22, 2025 at The Scottish Rite Center, 2115 Broad St, Cranston, RI. 2025 Guest of Honor ***Unable to attend due to the birth of his great-grandchild! ****Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Enoch “Woody” Woodhouse, […]
In 2007, the RI Aviation Hall of Fame provided Special Recognition awards to the men and women of the 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment of the Rhode Island Army National Guard, which was named the Outstanding Army National Guard Aviation Unit of the Year nationwide for 2005. Flying in the Iraqi theater for virtually the […]
Col. John F . “Jack” Barrett, US Air Force, Retired (1912-1997) WWII recon, patrol and bomber pilot. Named CO of the 152nd Fighter Squadron, RI Air National Guard in 1949. Born in New Hampshire, he moved to RI in 1912 and graduated from St. Andrew’s Technical School in Barrington. After two years in the Merchant Marine, […]
Carpenter earned seven Air Medals flying light observation aircraft in Vietnam. He joined the RI Army National Guard in 1969, serving for the next 35 years. By retirement he had flown some 3700 flight hours, 800 of which were combat hours. His lifetime of service to Army Aviation resulted in the award of the order […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Maurais flew helicopter gunships in Vietnam in 1966-67. He accrued 440 combat hours flying with an innovative aerial rocket artillery unit. Having served as a mechanic after enlisting in 1956, he reenlisted in order to fly. After Vietnam he worked as a commercial helicopter pilot and joined the RI Army National Guard. When he retired […]
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 […]