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 […]
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.
Robert (Bob) J. Yarnall Sr., USN, Ret. (1924-2015) graduated from boot camp at Norfolk Naval Station in 1941 and was an aerial gunner in WWII and an aviation machinist at Quonset.
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 […]
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 […]
Retired Air Force Colonel Joseph Zinno designed, built and flew America’s first human-powered aircraft, and is a flying veteran of three wars (WWII, Korea and Vietnam).
The Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame (RIAHOF) is pleased to announce that Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Boston (TECO-Boston) was a 2015 RIAHOF Dinner Sponsor. One of our permanent exhibits aboard the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (permanent home for the RI Aviation Hall of Fame) will be a memorial to all those […]
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 […]
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 […]