Florene Miller Watson, one of only 25 women to qualify for the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), later known as the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs), became fascinated with planes at the age of 8. By age 19, she had completed flight...
Ed Rector was just 10 years old when an older brother advised “get into aviation, that’s going to be the coming thing.” Growing up in Marshall, North Carolina, Rector, at age 12, gleaned knowledge from pulp aviation magazines such as Battle Aces ....
The “Old Man” of MiG Killers over North Vietnam, Brigadier General Robin Olds is one of history’s most colorful aces. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1922, he is the son of Army Air Force Major General Robert Olds, a World War I combat pilot and aide to the...
An innovative, aggressive fighter pilot in both theaters of World War II, Thomas L. “Tommy” Hayes was born in Portland, Oregon on 31 March 1917. Raised in the era of Lindbergh and Arnold, his love affair with flying began in 1936, when a Soviet aircraft,...
It took less than three months of World War II action for Robert J. “Bob” Goebel to become a Double Ace flying the North American P-51 Mustang. Goebel, the youngest of seven children, was born and raised in Racine, Wisconsin. At age 19, he entered the U.S....
Kenneth H. Dahlberg’s amazing life has taken him from the farmlands of Wisconsin to the skies over Europe as a World War II triple ace and on to a hugely successful career as a business entrepreneur. Dahlberg was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1917 but grew up...
Connie Bowlin is one of the most accomplished female aviators in the world today. She grew up in Kernersville, North Carolina, and took an early interest in mechanical things, from her dad’s home built riding mower to his big rig truck. As a teenager, she not...
Lee A. “Buddy” Archer, Jr., is a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, a group of black pilots who compiled an outstanding record of performance during World War II. He was born on 6 September 1919. As a child, Archer developed the passion to become a pilot...
Clarence “Bud” E. Anderson is a true aviator, triple ace, and test pilot. His military career spanned more than thirty years of distinguished service. He accumulated more than 7,000 flying hours, flying in two wars. Born in Oakland, California Bud learned to fly in...
