Brigadier General (ret.) Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager was the first person to break the sound barrier and went on to become one of the most legendary figures in aeronautical history. Born in 1923 in Myra, West Virginia, Yeager joined the US Army Air Corps at...
As a 19-year-old college student in 1928, Jessie Schultz had no idea she would contribute to the Golden Age of Aviation during the years between the two World Wars. A Kansan, she grew up in Washington State and enjoyed music and gymnastics. On summer break in Ulysses,...
Born in East Chicago, Indiana, Alexander Vraciu became the Navy’s fourth ranking ace during World War II by shooting down 19 Japanese aircraft and destroying 21 more on the ground. After graduation from DePauw University in 1941, he entered naval flight training...
After World War II, Gerhard Thyben, one of the Luftwaffe’s most successful young Aces, immigrated to South America to find “new horizons” in aviation. Thyben was born in Kiel, Germany in 1922 and like many boys developed a great desire to fly. He...
Jack Smith logged more than 12,000 hours in his aviation career, first in the United States Marine Corps (USMC), and later with Air America, Southern Air Transport and Civil Air Transport. Born 4 June 1932, in Sioux City, Iowa, he grew up and then graduated from high...
Vladimir Remek carried Czechoslovakia’s flag into space and became the first cosmonaut from outside the Soviet Union. The son of a Czechoslovak fighter pilot, Remek was born in 1948 in the southern Bohemian city of Ceske Budejovice near the Austrian border. At...
Michael J. Quirk, a member of the famed 56th Fighter Group, “Wolfpack,” became a “double Ace” over Germany. Born in Port Henry, New York, Quirk grew up in Washington D.C. where he attended St. John’s, a military high school. He entered...
Tom Poberezny is a world champion acrobatic pilot and one of the United States’ foremost civil aviation advocates. Born into an “aviation family” in 1946, he is the son of Paul Poberezny, founder of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). The...
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...
A pioneer of the “jet age,” A.M. “Tex” Johnston is one of America’s foremost test pilots. His love of aviation began in 1925, at age 11. In a pasture near his hometown of Emporia, Kansas, he took his first flight in a Hisso-Standard...
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...
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...
In 1801, the United States Navy sloop of war, Enterprise, bombarded a barbary pirate ship in the harbor at Tripoli; in the spring of 1986, Arnie Franklin carried America’s flag across the same harbor during Operation El Dorado Canyon. Born in Franklin, Kentucky...
Harold E. Fischer began his military career as a Navy cadet, was commissioned into the Army, and transferred to the Air Force where he became the United States’ 25th jet Ace. Born in 1925, he grew up as a farm boy in Iowa. In 1944, Fischer became a Navy cadet,...
Lt Col Clyde B. East was first selected by Air Command and Staff College’s Gathering of Eagles in 1986 and subsequently honored in 1994. As America’s highest-ranking reconnaissance ace, Clyde East’s flying career spans World War II, Korea, the Cuban...
In a 38-year career in the Royal Air Force (RAF), Ron Dick flew over 5000 hours in 60 types of aircraft and was recognized as an exceptionally skillful pilot in both fighters and bombers. Born in 1931 in Northumberland, he grew up in London, where he watched as his...
There were many heroes during the long war in Southeast Asia. Patrick Henry Brady, an Army “Dust Off” pilot, received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions. The son of one of Darby’s Rangers from World War II, he was born in...
Georgii Timofeevich Beregovoi credits his proven success as a combat pilot, test pilot, and pilot-cosmonaut to flying skill and good luck! The youngest of three brothers, Beregovoi was born in 1921 and lived in Enakievo, Ukraine. He grew up at a time when Soviet...
