General Sir John W. Hackett is a highly successful scholar, soldier, educator, and author. Born in Perth, Australia, in 1910, he began his military career in 1931 when he was commissioned to the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars. From 1936 – 1941, Hackett...
TEST PILOT | ASTRONAUT | AIR FORCE COLONEL Col Nick Hague is a 1998 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and earned a Master of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. After graduating...
James G. “Jimmy” Haizlip has long been a legendary figure in aeronautical racing circles. He first learned to fly as a young man with the French during World War I. Although he was among the first American air cadets sent abroad, his outstanding...
Gail S. Halvorsen is best known as the “Berlin Candy Bomber,” “Uncle Wiggly Wings,” or “Der Schokoladen-flieger.” Born in 1920 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Halvorsen was always fascinated by flight. At 18, he soloed for the first time....
Phil “Hands” Handley is credited with the highest speed air-to-air gun kill in the history of aerial combat. Born on 9 April 1935, in Wellington, Texas, he dreamed of becoming an Army Air Corp fighter pilot from the first moment he saw pictures of the...
A “Kiwi” by birth, Ray Hanna was destined to earn wings and fly. At the age of six he and his parents often went out to a grass airfield near Auckland, New Zealand, just to watch the airplanes. Inspired by these trips, Hanna earned his pilot’s...
Major General Haywood S. “Possum” Hansell, Jr. was an original member of the Army Air Corps’ first aerobatic team, and one of America’s primary strategic planners during World War II. He turned down an appointment to West Point and completed...
US ARMY PILOT Chief Warrant Officer Five (CW5) Michael W. Hardy was born in Washington, DC and grew up on Flack Street in Wheaton, MD. After graduating high school, he decided to join the military. He enlisted in the Army in April of 1986 as a 19D, Cavalry Scout....
As squadron commander, Bill Harrell flew on the first long-range, over-water flight in a single-engine jet aircraft, the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. Harrell, the son of a country doctor, was born during October 1920 in Pleasant Hill, Alabama. In 1938, after...
Gen (Ret) Jeffrey Harrigian was selected as an Eagle for his significant contributions to airpower and air combat. Prior to his retirement, he was the commander of United States Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa from May 2020 to June 2022. He concurrently...
Carlyle “Smitty” Harris was born April 11, 1929 in Parkersburg, W. Va. and grew up in Maryland. He enlisted in the United States Air Force on January 2, 1951, before commissioning as a second lieutenant and earning his pilot wings in 1953. In March...
As one of America’s foremost test pilots, Harold Harris played a significant role in the development of both civil and military aviation. Born in 1895, he wet his appetite for flying at age 15 when he attended the first American Aviation Meet at Los Angeles in...
Lt Gen Stayce Harris was selected as an Eagle for her significant contributions to Airpower and Air Mobility. She has more than 2,500 hours in C-130J, KC-135R, C-141B/C, T-38, and T-37. She’s also deployed in numerous operations throughout her 36-year Air Force...
Col (Ret) James Harvey III was selected as an Eagle for his outstanding contributions to airpower. Col Harvey overcame adversity to attain his dream of flying. He was the winner of the military’s first Worldwide Gunnery Meet and the first African American fighter...
James H. Harvey III was one of the original members of the 332nd Fighter Group, the world famous “Tuskegee Airmen.” Harvey was born in Montclair, New Jersey, on 13 July 1923 to James and Cornelia Harvey. His family moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in...
Michael Vincent Hayden is one of America’s great cyber domain leaders. He was born on St. Patrick’s Day, 17 March 1945, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a child he always had a strong fascination with history and research, skills that would serve him well...
Bernice “Bee” Falk Haydu is a veteran pilot of World War II. She earned her wings with the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), the first women to fly American military aircraft. Bee was born on December 15th, 1920 in Bradley Beach, New Jersey. She graduated high...
UH-1 “HUEY” HELICOPTER PILOT/COMMANDER Lt Col (Ret) Marcella “Marcy” Hayes Ng is the nation’s first African American female military pilot and 55th woman to become a pilot in the United States Armed Forces. She was born 24 July 1956 in Mexico, Missouri and graduated...
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,...
Alfred C. “Al” Haynes entered aviation history as the United Airlines Captain who miraculously landed his crippled DC-10 aircraft at Sioux City, IA in 1989, saving 184 lives. Al was born in Paris, Texas on August 31st, 1931 and raised in Dallas. He attended Texas...
Gloria Whitton Heath is soft-spoken and unassuming about her contributions not only to the war effort but also to the incredible strides she helped make in the field of search and rescue. Born 7 May 1922, in New York, she graduated from The Putney School in 1939 and...
Susan J. Helms is an accomplished astronaut with five space flights, logging over 5,064 hours in space. She holds the world’s record for the longest space walk of 8 hours and 56 minutes. Helms was born on 26 February 1958, in Charlotte, North Carolina, but...
John P. “Jock” Henebry helped pioneer low level anti-ship tactics used to destroy an entire Japanese convoy in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Henebry was born in Plainfield, Illinois on 14 February 1918. He earned his private pilot license during his...
Lou Hennies convinced the Army to develop a special operations helicopter capable of worldwide deployment through air-to-air refueling. Born in Manly, Iowa, in 1935, Hennies grew up in Iowa and graduated from high school in 1953. The next year, he enlisted in the Air...
Honduran Air Force Captain Fernando Soto is credited with the only aerial victories ever recorded by a Central American air force. Soto was born in 1939 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He began his education at the Federico Froebel Elementary School and then went on to high...
Hajo Herrmann was one of the Luftwaffe’s boldest and most innovative air tacticians during World War II. He grew up in the seaport of Kiel, Germany, with an early interest in sailing. Unable to secure a naval commission, he began his military career at an...
Mirosław Hermaszewski was the first and only Polish Cosmonaut. He was born 15 September 1941, in Lipniki, Volhynian Voivodship. After World War II, he moved with his mother, brothers, and sister to Wolow near Wroclaw where he graduated from primary and secondary...
Homer Hickam is the original “Rocket Boy!” Hickam was born in the mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia, in 1943. He watched Sputnik race across the night sky in 1957 along with most of the town’s residents. The satellite’s path pointed to the...
David Lee “Tex” Hill was born on 13 July 1915, in Kwangju, Korea, the son of American missionaries. He grew up in Texas, but returned to the Far East years later as one of the first pilots in General Claire Chennault’s American Volunteer Group (AVG),...
Bruce Hinds made aviation history as the first man to fly the Northrop B-2 Spirit , an aircraft whose unusual design could be traced back 50 years! Hinds was born in 1939 and grew up in Denver, Colorado. A 1961 graduate of the Air Force Academy, he earned his wings at...
As a young officer, “Paddy” Hine had to choose between two loves, flying or golf. Hine was born near Southampton, England, in 1932 and educated at Peter Symonds School in Winchester. As a youth, he excelled in golf and in 1948 became a member of the...
Major General James L. Hobson, Jr. commanded Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), Hurlburt Field, Florida. During his command, AFSOC operated one wing, three flying groups and a Special Tactics Group with more than 100 aircraft and 11,900 personnel assigned...
Daniel Holeczy saw combat with the most famous Hungarian fighter unit during World War II. Born in a small town in Hungary in February 1923, he was expected to follow his father and become a physician. However, a visit to an air show in Budapest kindled his love of...
General Charles R. “Charlie”Holland served as the first Air Force officer in charge of United States Special Operation Command. He was born in West Virginia, and was graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree in...
Bruce Holloway earned his “spurs” as a fighter pilot over China where he shot down 13 Japanese aircraft! Born in 1912, Holloway grew up and attended high school in Knoxville, Tennessee. He studied engineering for two years at the University of Tennessee...
Brig Gen (Ret) Weldon “Blackjack” Honeycutt was selected as an Eagle for his outstanding contributions to Airpower. While serving in the Army, he led tactics development in the Air Mobile concept during the Vietnam Conflict. He also designed, recruited,...
“Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you Bob Hoover, the greatest stick-and-rudder pilot who ever lived.” That airshow introduction from General “Jimmy” Doolittle only scratches the surface of the military and civilian career of someone...
General Charles A. “Chuck” Horner commanded all US and allied air assets during Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM. He led a devastating air war against Iraq that allowed the coalition ground forces to achieve their objectives in just 100 hours of fighting....
On 18 April, 1942 Ed W. Horton, Jr. and 79 other Doolittle Raiders executed the first bombing mission against the Japanese homeland in World War II. Horton served as the engineer and gunner for crew number ten. Master Sergeant Edwin W. Horton Jr. entered the Army in...
James Howard was the only fighter pilot awarded the Medal of Honor in Europe during World War II. Born in China in 1913, he planned to follow his father’s footsteps as a physician; however, he changed his goal and entered naval aviation training in 1937. After...
Dietrich Hrabak, a 125-victory Ace with more than 1000 combat missions, was a key architect in rebuilding the modern German Air Force. He was born 19 December 1914 in a small village near Leipzig, in Saxony. Upon graduation from high school, he hoped to become a...
Bob Hudgens is a nationally recognized leader in civil aviation! Born in 1915 in Luverne, Alabama, Hudgens’ love of flying began at age 15, shortly after hiss family moved to Birmingham. He worked at a drug store, located near final approach to the city’s...
Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., was a naval aviator in the Korean War and recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valiant efforts to rescue his flight lead from a burning aircraft. Born in Fall River, Massachusetts, he attended Phillips Academy in Andover, and...
Pilot William A. “Skeeter” Hudson and radar operator Carl S. Fraser scored the first air victory in the Korean War. They were initially crewed together in 1948 while flying the P-61B Black Widow with the 68th Fighter All-Weather Squadron (FAWS), but soon...
Night fighter ace and air combat leader, Pilot Officer Desmond Hughes entered the Royal Air Force at the outbreak of war in September 1939, after being a member of the Cambridge University Air Squadron. He completed flying training at the RAF College at Cranwell in...
Guy Hunter Jr. grew up on a farm in Moultrie, Georgia. The son of a south Georgia farmer, Hunter enlisted in the United States Marine Corps after graduating from high school and following in the footsteps of family members who had served in World War II. He went...
