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...
Robert G. “Wilbur” Wright scored the first single mission triple victory by a U.S. Air Force pilot since the Korean War. Born in 1962 in Portsmouth, Ohio, he developed a love for military jet fighters at an early age. Accepted to the United States Air...
Robert F. Titus flew over 500 combat missions in two wars. Born in New Jersey in 1926, Titus attended high school and college in Virginia, and in 1945 joined the U.S. Army. As a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, he was a squad leader and attained the rank of...
In 1973, Americans welcomed home their returning Vietnam prisoners of war (POWs). Among those released heroes walked then-Colonel James Robinson “Robbie” Risner. During 33 years of service, he fought in three wars and twice received the Air Force’s...
Alan R. Mulally brought together a worldwide team of engineers and companies that, “working together,” changed the way airplanes are designed and built. Born in 1945, Mulally grew up in Kansas and had a childhood love of drawing and a youthful fascination...
Thorsteinn Jonsson is Iceland’s only ace! Born in Reykjavik in 1921, his father was Icelandic and his mother was English. He grew up in Iceland but as a young child traveled to England often for visits. Jonnson was an adventurous and high-spirited lad and at age...
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),...
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...
Herschel “Herky” Green is a triple ace credited with 18 aerial victories in World War II. Green was born and grew up in rural western Kentucky. When two ” barnstormers” made an emergency landing near his school, the five-year-old invited them...
Robert L. “Hoot” Gibson logged more than 36 days in space during five shuttle missions! Born in Cooperstown, New York, in 1946, he considers Lakewood, California his hometown. After graduation from California Polytechnic University with a degree in...
Ronald R. Fogleman, a native of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, began his Air Force career by earning an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy. After graduating in 1963, he earned his pilot wings at Vance AFB, Oklahoma, and then became a Cessna T-37...
During the Vietnam War, Frederick E. Ferguson earned our nation’s highest military award, the Congressional Medal of Honor! Born on 18 August 1939 in a small Texas town called Pilot Point, you might think he was destined to be an aviator. However, after...
Giora Even is Israel’s leading ace with 17 victories! Born in 1938 as Giora Epstein, he grew up in the traditional frontier-farmer lifestyle of his home, Kibbutz Negba. An avid aviation enthusiast as a young boy, he poured over flying books and studied the...
Donald D. Engen has excelled in almost every aspect of the field of aviation. Born in 1924, he was fascinated with aviation as a youngster. In the fourth grade, he announced to his parents that he wanted to be a naval officer and go to sea. Engen entered the Naval...
Pat Epps directed the spectacular recovery of a WW II fighter buried beneath 256 feet of the Greenland ice cap. He is a native of Athens, Georgia, and the youngest son of Ben T. Epps, Georgia aviation pioneer. At age three his father was killed in an airplane crash,...
Colonel Archie Glen Donahue is a United States Marine Corps Ace credited with 14 confirmed aerial victories in World War II. Colonel Donahue was born on October 24, 1917.in Casper, Wyoming. Donahue dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot early in his childhood. Donahue...
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...
Earl Brown began military flying at the dawn of the jet age. Born in the Bronx, New York, he grew up in Englewood, New Jersey. He first dreamed of being a pilot after reading about the “Tuskegee Airmen” in two major black weekly newspapers he delivered...
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...
Russell Bannock saved the lives of many Londoners during World War II by downing 19 of Hitler’s “secret weapons,” the V-1 “buzz bomb.” Bannock was born in November 1919 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. was Canada’s...
