Leo K. Thorsness flew 92 Republic F-105F “Wild Weasel” missions and was awarded America’s highest military decoration before he was shot down and taken prisoner in North Vietnam. Born in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in 1932, he enlisted in the Air Force in January...
Margaret J. “Maggie” Ringenberg took her first airplane ride at the age of seven from a farmer’s field in rural Indiana. She was called to be a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) in 1943, became a flight instructor in 1945 and has...
General Lloyd W. “Fig” Newton made many contributions to US aviation history, from flying F-4 Phantoms in Vietnam, to being the first African-American Thunderbird pilot, to commanding the Air Education and Training Command. A native of Ridgeland, South...
James P. Muri was born in Carterville, Montana, to a cattle ranching family on 19 October 1918, grew up during the Great Depression and developed a love for football and pole vaulting. In 1936, he graduated from Custer County High School, and immediately enlisted in...
Harold G. “Hal” Moore Jr. graduated from West Point in 1945 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Infantry. He served as a paratrooper for a rifle platoon in Japan. His next assignment was with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, North Carolina....
William T. “Tom” Meredith is the father of today’s US Air Force (AF) civil engineer (CE) forces. He led the development and fielding of Prime Base Emergency Engineer Force (BEEF) and Rapid Engineer Deployable, Heavy Operational Repair Squadron,...
Lawrence E. “Larry” McKay commanded “The Blue Max,” an attack helicopter unit that delivered the decisive blow during the Vietnam War’s Battle of An Locthe first armor battle in which armed helicopters proved their lethality and changed...
Michael I. “Mike” Lampe was born in Bremerton, Washington, on 29 August 1949 and graduated from Kitsap High School in 1968. He completed Air Force basic military training in July 1969 and administrative specialist technical school in October 1969. Upon...
Thomas C. “Tom” Griffin was the navigator on B-25 number nine, the Whirling Dervish , during the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. He was born on 10 July 1917 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and graduated from the University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Arts degree in...
Robert J. “Bob” Gilliland has the distinct honor of being the first man to fly the SR-71 Blackbird aircraft, forever marking his place in history. He was a distinguished Air Force fighter pilot, fighter test pilot and Lockheed Skunk Works test pilot....
Gottfried P. Dulias was born on 25 June 1925 in his family home in Germany during the start of Adolph Hitler’s rise to power. As a young boy, he had a relatively normal upbringing in a well-to-do family in Konigsberg, capital of the former German Province of...
Brigadier General George E. “Bud” Day was first selected as an Eagle by Air Command and Staff College’s Gathering of Eagles in 1992 and subsequently honored in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2013 respectively. He was born in Iowa in...
Eric M. “Winkle” Brown is the British Royal Navy’s most decorated Fleet Air Arm pilot. During his 31-year career, he flew a world-record 487 aircraft types and performed a record-shattering 2,407 carrier landings. Born in 1919 in Edinburgh, Scotland,...
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...
