Clive Robertson Caldwell enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) the day after war was declared in 1939, and, by the end of the war, he had become known as “Killer ” Caldwell, Australia’s highest scoring ace. Born in 1910, he was 3 years...
After his fifth aerial victory, achieved on 31 May 1918, Douglas Campbell became the first American-trained ace during World War I. Born in 1896, he joined the aviation section of the Signal Corps shortly after graduating from Harvard University in mid-1917. Following...
Colonel Kim N. Campbell was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. At a very young age, she had a strong passion for wanting to fly and at 12 years old, she aspired to make her dream a reality and joined the Civil Air Patrol. By the age of 16, she had accomplished her first solo...
John “Cap” Capellupo is a key figure in the development, sales, and operational success of the McDonnell Douglas F-18 Hornet, the worlds most advanced jet fighter. He was born in 1934 in Minnesota and grew up in Centralia, Illinois. As a youth he developed...
Robert Cardenas made history as one of America’s premiere test pilots, a combat leader in both bombers and fighters, and as the first Commander of the Air Force Special Operations Force. Born in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico in 1920, he started his aviation career by...
The Marine Corps’ first ace, Marion E. Carl, was awarded the Navy Cross for ” extraordinary heroism” during his very first combat mission. Upon graduating from college in 1938, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. Due to...
Colonel John Carney, lovingly known as “Coach” throughout the Special Operations community, is a living legend within Special Operations. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona. The “Coach” launched his Air Force career at the US Air...
Herbert “Gene” Carter is a veteran World War II fighter pilot and a member of the original cadre of the Tuskegee Airman. Carter and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen shattered the widely held myth that blacks were not capable of serving their country in the arena...
Selected for his valor and gallantry in combat, SMSgt Thomas E. Case is one of three Airmen since 9/11 to receive two Silver Stars, the nation’s third highest award, twice for valor and gallantry in combat while supporting ground force operations in Iraq in 2003 and...
Dean Caswell is a combat veteran of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam conflict, who accumulated more than 8,000 flight hours in fighter aircraft. Colonel Caswell is best known for his aggressive fighting spirit and skilled airmanship displayed in the...
In May 1953, Dick Catledge formed the first official USAF aerobatic team. He put some of the Air Force’s best pilots into the F-84G, and organized a unit known as the ” Thunderbirds.” Born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, Catledge grew up in Memphis, Tennessee,...
Eugene A. Cernan left his mark on history during three historic missions in space. Having flown to the moon not once, but twice, he also holds the distinction of being the second American to walk in space and the last human to leave his footprints on the lunar...
Leonard Cheshire is one of Great Britain’s most decorated wartime bomber pilots and, today, one of the world’s premier humanitarians. Educated in law at Oxford, he learned to fly with the university’s air squadron before graduating on the eve of...
In May 1996, during a severe snowstorm atop Mount Everest, Madan “K. C.” Khatri Chhetri acquired international acclaim by achieving the highest helicopter rescue in world history. Born in 1955 in Pokhara, Nepal; K. C. was fascinated with flying throughout...
General Kevin P. Chilton dedicated 34.5 years to the United States Air Force. He retired from his last assignment as the Commander, U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, where he was responsible for the plans and operations for all U.S. forces...
James G. (Snake) Clark, born in Carney, New Jersey, is a 1973 graduate of the Catholic University of America Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) and who served as a USAF officer and F-4 pilot, retiring at the rank of colonel in 2001. He has been...
Captain Cook Cleland was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1916. Upon graduation from the University of Missouri in 1940, he joined the Navy and received the gold wings of a naval aviator shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He served in his first wartime assignment...
Charles G. “Chick” Cleveland was born in 1927 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1945. Graduating in 1949, he chose to become an aviator and earned his pilot wings at Williams AFB, Arizona. He was...
Pierre Clostermann, the leading French ace in World War II, left home in 1941 at the age of 19 to join the Free French Air Force in Britain. In January 1943, he was assigned as a sergeant pilot flying the Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX fighter with the newly formed No....
While watching gunships on television during the Vietnam War, Richard A. “Commander ” Cody was fascinated with helicopters and decided to make a career flying them. When he graduated from the Military Academy in 1972, the impending peace treaty with...
Richard “Dick” Cole was Jimmy Doolittle’s copilot on the first bomber to launch from the USS Hornet, during the famous Tokyo Raid. Born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1915, Dick Cole enlisted in the Army on 22 November 1940. He was accepted into the Army Air...
Colonel Eileen M. Collins is the first woman space shuttle pilot and the first woman shuttle commander. Collins was born in Elmira, New York, in 1956. Inspired by the exploits of Amelia Earhart and the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II, she earned her...
Kenneth S. Collins, Sr. is an Air Force pioneer who demonstrated great courage in accomplishing missions under exceptionally difficult circumstances. He was born on February 5th, 1929 in Leavenworth, Kansas. Collins commissioned at Vance AFB, Oklahoma in 1952. After...
Jerry D. Collinsworth is one of the few Americans to become an ace flying the Supermarine Spitfire. Born in Dublin, Texas, Collinsworth spent most of his early life in the panhandle oiltown of Borger. After high school, he set a goal to become a military pilot. After...
Ramon Colon-Lopez lives by the quote, “if you want to fly with the eagles, don’t hang around with the turkeys.” Following this maxim, CMSgt Colon-Lopez has rapidly risen through the enlisted ranks. He was born to Vilma and Ramon Colon-Torres on 21...
Every day millions of people around the world take to the skies in Boeing airliners that Philip Condit, as an engineer, manager, and leader helped to give wing! A native of California, Condit was born in 1941 and grew up fascinated by flight. He earned a pilot’s...
Chief Warrant Officer 5 David F. Cooper, a Cincinnati, Ohio area native, volunteered for military service in March 1985. After completing Basic Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he attended the Warrant Officer Basic Course and Army Flight School at Fort...
Col. Ken Cordier was born and raised in Ohio. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Akron, and a master’s degree in business management from Troy State (Alabama). His professional military education includes Squadron...
Rhonda Cornum embarked on a combat search and rescue mission the morning of 27 February 1991 to recover an Air Force pilot shot down over Iraq during Operation DESERT STORM. Tragically, the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter she was aboard crashed as a result of Iraqi...
Born into an Air Force family, Colonel Richard O. Covey wanted to fly since childhood, but he could hardly have known that one day he’d speed away from the earth at more than five miles per second. Covey graduated from the United States Air Force Academy and was...
Violet Thurn Cowden, “Vi”, courageously served her nation during WWII with the Women Airforce Service Pilots (W.A.S.P.). She served from early 1943 until the W.A.S.P. were disbanded in December 1944. As the pilot of nineteen different aircraft including...
Lieutenant General Laurence C. Craigie was the first American military pilot to fly a jet aircraft, the Bell XP-59A. Craigie was born in 1902 and grew up in Concord, New Hampshire. After high school, he was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. When...
Major Jack Randolph Cram (USMC), was the personal pilot of Marine General Roy Geiger’s PBY-5A, the “Blue Goose.” On 15 October 1942, he won the Navy Cross and permanent nickname “Mad Jack” in operations at Guadalcanal. In two previous...
Colonel Bruce Crandall flew over 900 combat missions through two tours of duty in Vietnam, earning the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2007 for bravery and heroism during the Battle of Ia Drang Valley. Born in 1933, Crandall grew up in Olympia, Washington. In 1953,...
Barry F. Crawford was an Air Force Special Tactics Officer and is a recipient of the Air Force Cross; a medal that has only been awarded to seven Airmen since 1975. Crawford is a native of Philadelphia, PA and graduated from the US Air Force Academy in 2003. As a...
Ollie Crawford is one of America’s foremost advocates for a strong and modern United States Air Force! Born in Amarillo, Texas, in 1925, Crawford’s desire to fly was whetted by Army Air Corps aircraft flying over his hometown early in World War II. At age...
Robert L. “Crip” Crippen piloted the first orbital test flight of the space shuttle program. Born in Beaumont, Texas in 1937, Crippen earned a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas in 1960. Following graduation, he received his...
Iris Cumming Critchell’s lifetime achievements include swimming in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, reigning as the U.S. women’s 200-meter breaststroke champion from 1936 to 1939, serving in the Women’s Air Force Service Program (WASP) during World War...
A. Scott Crossfield made aeronautical history and was dubbed the “fastest man alive” by becoming the first person to reach the aviation milestone of Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound). His boyhood dream to follow in the footsteps of aviation giants, such as...
Britain’s John Cunningham gained worldwide recognition as a civilian test pilot and leading Allied night-fighter ace during World War II. After joining the Auxiliary Air Force and learning to fly at age 18, he began working for the de Havilland Aircraft Company...
Navy Lieutenant Randy Cunningham was Americas first pilot ace of the Vietnam War. Born on 8 December 1941, he was commissioned in the US Navy in 1967. Receiving his gold wings the following year, he soon joined VF-96 flying F-4J Phantoms. Assigned to the...
