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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Brian Rapp

Fred L. Rapp, USN Ret., was a 1951 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Commander before being medically retired from the Navy in 1966.
From 1952 until his retirement he was a naval aviator, with duty stops with VS-26 and VS-36, Norfolk Naval Air Station; USN Test Pilot School and test pilot in the Flight Test division of USNATC, Patuxent River, Md., from 1959-61, responsible fort the primary flight testing of the Grumman A4-J Skyray, A3-J Vigilante and A2-F Intruder; flag secretary to Rear Adm. E.R. Eastwold, commander, Task Force Alpha, from 1961-62, involved with the NASA Mercury program recovery of astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter; and executive officer of VA-23, Lemoore, Calif., from 1963-65.
LCDR Rapp had graduated from Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Va., in June 1965, and was slated to take command of a fighter squadron at Cecil Field, Fla., before a medical exam as part of his promotion to CMDR. discovered Type II Diabetes. He was medically retired the following January.
Mr. Rapp spent his final 32 years working for North American Rockwell and Systems Engineering Associates in Columbus, Ohio, and Research Engineers, Inc. in Raleigh, North Carolina, before passing in December, 1998 at the age of 71.