The twenty-second annual RI Aviation Hall of Fame Class of Honorees was recognized at our annual dinner on Saturday, November 23, 2024 at The Scottish Rite Center, 2115 Broad St, Cranston, RI.
2024 Guest of Honor
Vice Admiral Peter Garvin, US Navy, President of the National Defense University in Washington, DC. An Annapolis grad, he is a career Naval Aviator who served until August as President, US Naval War College in Newport.
Special Guest
Domenic Giarrusso of Cranston, who served for 28 months as a B-24 flight engineer and mechanic in North Africa and Italy during WWII. He will be 102 years old in January.
In addition to Garvin and Giarrusso, we will recognize two long-time RI Army National Guard Warrant Officers, helicopter pilots who have flown thousands of hours in hot spots all over the world; plus two senior RI Air National Guard pilots killed in a training crash in 1966.
We will also be awarding a Certificate of Recognition to the RI Airport Corporation for the positive impacts of its operations on tourism and the overall economy for the past decade.
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The 2024 Inductees
CW5 Mark De Souza, US Army (1967- )
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.
Robert “Bob” P. Douglas (1930-2023)
Served with an Antisubmarine Warfare Squadron as a Naval Air crewman (Electronics Technician) during the Korean War at Quonset Point. 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.
Staff Sergeant Rene A. Leger, US Army Air Corps (1920-1942)
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. He was killed when his B-24 went down on a raid against a convoy trying to resupply Rommel’s forces in Benghazi, Libya on August 9, 1942.
CW5 (Ret) Joseph A. Lopes, US Army (1937- )
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.
COL Robert M. Magown, US Air Force (1921-1966)
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.
LTCOL Edward F. Roberts, US Air Force (1924-1966)
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. Transferred to RI Guard in 1956, and at the time of his death in 1966 he was Operations Officer of the 143rd Air Commando Group
CMSGT (Ret) Adolph Scolavino, US Air Force (1920-2017)
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. H later flew on B-29s assessing A-bomb testing. He retired from the Air Force in 1969 after 30 years service.
Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame (RIAHOF) is a volunteer driven non-profit group dedicated to identifying, honoring, and perpetuating the memory of those individuals who have contributed to Rhode Island’s rich aviation history.
Few people know just how rich and varied our aviation history is, and just how many wonderfully skilled and talented contributors to the aerial age have been born in Rhode Island, were educated here, lived here for a portion of their lives, or performed some great aviation-related act or service here.
Please help us perpetuate this message!
