Al’s passion for flight began as a young boy growing up in West Orange NJ. Born in 1920, he
pestered his dad to take him to local airports to see the airplanes. As an adult, Al was a fixture
at Hanover Airport in Morris County, NJ. He built and restored his own planes in the basement
of the family home in East Hanover.
High blood pressure kept Al from serving with the Air Force during WWII. He enlisted instead in
the Marine Corps and following the surrender of Japan, Al’s 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine
Division was deployed to Nagasaki in September 1945 as part of the occupation. There Al had
the unenviable task of destroying Japanese aircraft. After the war, Al graduated from Seton Hall
University (’47), met his future bride, Helen Kearns at Uncle Louie’s in West Orange, and
worked for the aviation company, Curtiss-Wright.
Al has spent a lifetime building experimental aircraft and enjoying flight — first in New Jersey
and later in Hernando County Florida, following his retirement in 1990. Al is a long-time
member of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), and loyal attendee of EAA’s annual flyin
in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.