Foil: 27 Panel: 1 Column: 2 Line: 3

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Sponsor

Honored by:
Mr. Richard A. Foote

- 1928 - Got the "itch" to fly from "ground-balancing" gliders at German glider camp on the ocean sand dunes at Wellfleet, Cape Cod, MA
1936 - First solo flight Brainard Field, Hartford, CT
1938 - Attended Parks Air College, received pilot license

1940 - Enlisted in US Navy
1941 - Received Naval Aviator commission at Pensacola, FL January 7 1941 -Assigned to USS Louisville as pilot of Curtis SOC-1 "Seagull" catapult-launched scout observation aircraft. Sailed for Honolulu March 1.
1941 - December 7, located 900 miles from Oahu (enroute Midway)
1941 - December 13, made water landing in Pearl Harbor ahead of ship, viewed tragic devastation of Pacific Fleet
1942 - June flew first fighter, Army Air Corps Curtis P-36 in "familiarization flight" to prepare for defense of Aleutian Islands, AK. Unusual duty for Navy pilot

1942 - Joined Chance-Vought in October as fifth test pilot for F4U-1 Corsair fighter
1943 - Joined General Motors as production test pilot for FM-1 and FM-2 Wildcat fighter aircraft. Became Chief Experimental Test Pilot
1944 - Was one of first pilots to ride the original "human centrifuge" at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN to test effects of G forces.
1944 - At Mayo Clinic flew specially equipped Douglas A-24 (Dauntless Dive Bomber) to register first set of data recorded in airborne flight on effectiveness of new David Clark "G-suit". Conducted first series of Wildcat installed G-suit tests.
1944 - October, attended U.S. Navy-sponsored flight test symposium at Patuxent River Naval Air Station as General Motors representative. Flew comparative evaluation flight tests of most US fighter aircraft current at the time as well as a captured Japanese Zero fighter and the British Spitfire, Fairey Firefly and Mosquito. In addition, he had the rare opportunity to fly the first US jet fighter, the Bell P-59
1946 - Entered his Curtis CW-22B Falcon (Navy SNC-1) in the Cleveland Air
Races female pilot race. Due to engine trouble did not race
1954 - Moved family to Nassau and flew for one year as pilot on Grumman Goose for Bahamas Airways
1966 - Raced own SNJ at Cleveland Air Races
1972 - Raced own P-51D Mustang in the Cape May Air Races
1978 - Formed Warplanes International Airshows, group of pilot owners of WWII fighter, bombers and trainers that performs one of first choreographed re-enactments of famous air battles of WWII at air shows in the eastern US and Canada.
1979 - Flew as co-pilot on Grumman HU-16 Albatross in mission to Haiti and surrounding Caribbean islands to collect samples for the "Living Reef" exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. This historic model ecosystem, opened in 1980, was the world's first public coral reef ecosystem and the first to maintain fragile reef-building corals in captivity.
2004 - At age 85, resides at Spruce Creek Air Park where he flies his privately owned FM-2, Bushby Midget Mustang, Cessna 210 and Piper Cheyenne aircraft