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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Ms. Laura Brewer

Royal Clay Reid is a native of North Carolina, spending most of his childhood in Harmony which is located near Statesville. He graduated from Union Grove High School in 1955, and enlisted in the Air Force. He served in the Air Force from June 9, 1955 and was discharged Feb. 27, 1959. He had a course I jet aircraft mechanics at Amarillo AFB Texas from Sept 1955 to Dec 1955, but was stationed at Laredo, Texas for the entire length of his service. He was Airman 1st Class when he was discharged.
After leaving the Air Force, he went to Northrop Institute of Technology in Inglewood, California, enrolling in the Airframe and Powerplant Mechanics course. This fifty week course enabled him to apply for and receive his Federal Aviation Agency Certificate as an A&P mechanic. In September 1961 after completing his training, he got a job as a mechanic at Piedmont Airlines in Winston-Salem, NC. During the 1960s, he used the GI Bill to pay for flying lessons, and received his private pilot’s license. He was an active member of a flying club for several years. He retired in 1995 after 34 years of loyal service, by that time Piedmont Airlines had become US Air.