Foil: 54 Panel: 1 Column: 1 Line: 26

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Sponsor

Honored by:
Holly Cruser

Cdr Peter Cruser, USN (ret), had fifty years of involvement in aviation. Pete’s a graduate of The Ohio State University- mechanical engineering. He served 20 years as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy. He completed two Viet Nam combat cruises flying F-4 Phantoms from USS Enterprise (1969) and USS America (1970). Pete is a graduate of the USN Test Pilot School- engineering test pilot. At the Patuxent River Naval Air Test Center he performed Test, Development and Evaluation work on F-4 Phantom, F-8 Crusader and F-14 Tomcat engine/airframe prototypes, including the airborne water ingestion test program for the F-14/TF-30 development. Pete completed two Mediterranean cruises flying F-14’s from USS America (1977-78), totaling over 500 carrier landings. During his 20 year navy career he also served as F-14 instructor pilot and high performance demo airshow pilot. He’s a graduate of the Naval Aviation Safety School, Armed Forces Staff College, Navy conventional/nuclear weapons course and was Anti-air Warfare Officer on the staffs of Commander Second Fleet, Atlantic area USN/USAF/USA/USMC Joint Task Force, NATO Striking Fleet Atlantic and the Tactical Training Group Atlantic. Cdr Cruser was awarded the meritorious service medal, 5 strike/flight air medals, the navy commendation medal with combat V and various unit and service medals. Following his Navy retirement he was a pilot for Trans World Airlines and retired (again) as Captain from American Airlines. He then flew as Mission Pilot for the Civil Air Patrol. Pete accumulated over 13,000 flight hours in two dozen plus types of aircraft. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.