Foil: 17 Panel: 3 Column: 3 Line: 80

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

Eli "Avis" Hertz is the one of the Irwin H Hertz's sons. He was bitten by the aviation bug early in life, being raised in the right seat flying with Dad. Eli was always the one to tune the radios; work the fuel calculation's and help with the navigation. One late afternoon when the sunlight precluded Dad from seeing the color of the VASI lights, Eli landed the airplane (Cherokee Six) with no flight lessons in his logbook. He had watched Dad land so many times he simply did what Dad had done and put it on the deck.
After college, Eli responded to the dream of aviation that coursed through his system by joining U. S. Navy with a contract for Navy flight school. Living out Dad's dream, Eli carrier qualified in T-2C's and TA-4J's and earned his Naval Wings of Gold in October of 1982 with his Dad (Irwin) there to pin on his wings. He went on to fly A-7E's and deployed in the Sixth and Seventh fleet embarked in USS Saratoga. His love and passion for aviation drew him deeper into the technology and he was accepted and graduated from USN Postgraduate school with a Masters of Science in Aerospace Engineering and from U. S. Naval Test Pilot School as a certified Naval Test Pilot. Eli was a Naval Test Pilot for the A-7E and F/A-18 testing weapons and weapons system both at Patuxent River, MD and China Lake , CA. Eli also deployed in the F/A-18 Hornet embarked in USS Roosevelt and flew over Iraq and Bosnia. He accrued over 3000 hours, 512 carrier arrested landings and flew over 24 different types of aircraft.
Through his military aviation career, Eli held the same passion for aviation that he learned from his father in the right seat of a Cherokee Six, and never forgot the lessons learned. After 21 years as a Naval Aviator, Eli retired from active duty and at his retirement ceremony from the Navy in 2001, Eli returned a set of Navy's Wings of Gold to his father in appreciation for the passion and lessons that Irwin had passed along.