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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Benefactor

Honored by:
Mr. Vincent James Iannuzzi

His Life in Aviation

April 1927, at 16 years old, he began working for Fokker Aircraft near Teterboro Airfield, NJ. On Tri - Motor engine assemblies. Assisted in the re-assembly of engines on the Friendship aircraft that carried Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, to Europe in 1928.

In 1929 he departed Fokker Aircraft and joined the Gates Aircraft Corp. in Flushing Queens NY. In November 1929 he attended training on Wright J5 engines at the Wright Aeronautical Corp. in Patterson NJ. Unfortunately due to the stock market crash Gates went out of business at the end of November.

His first Mechanic's license was issued February 1, 1930 (8160). Later in the year he was asked to join a venture to conduct aerial surveys in remote areas of British Guiana with emphasis on various gold and silver sites for the potential of transporting the minerals to Georgetown 300 miles away on the coast. In preparation the WACO 10 aircraft was fitted with a Curtis OX 5 engine and was completely overhauled which took 2 months over the winter. They also purchased an additional engine, propellers, wheels, and other necessary supplies finally arriving in British Guiana BG on September 1, 1931.

This venture come to a tragic end when people and children came onto a landing strip near Bartica BG to see the only airplane in the country at that time landing. To avoid the crowd the plane was forced to swerve, lost it's flying speed and crashed away from the children. Crash occurred on October 19,1931. This ended the grand expedition and the team departed for the US in early November.

Toward the end of the 1930s, when the US began to rise from the depression, he joined Brewster Manufacturing in Astoria LI NY as a line manager in the production of the Buffalo fighter.

In September 1941 he entered federal service with the USAAF and was assigned as a QAQC acceptance officer during production of B26 bombers at the Glen L. Martin manufacturing plant in Middle River, MD. He also conducted quality control courses for personnel engaged in operations at the plant.

In June 1945 he was assigned to the Air Material Command AMC Procurement office at 70 Church St. Manhattan NY serving on numerous aviation projects.

In January 1955 he was reassigned to Wiesbaden Germany as the first of three overseas assignments including AMC HQ in Chataroue, France, and south eastern England. He was instrumental in establishing aircraft maintenance and refurbishment agreements with Savioa Marchetti manufacturers in Italy and in N. Africa just outside Wheelus AFB. In England he participated in the establishment of the ballistic missile program at the S. Ruislip USAF air base. He returned to AMC offices in NY in July 1960 functioning as a senior procurement officer traveling on assignments through the eastern US until he retired from federal service in 1972.