Lt. Walter T. Stewart led the 93rd Bomb Group against the Ploesti oil refineries during Operation Tidal Wave. The Ploesti raid was the most decorated mission of World War II. Stewart was born in Benjamin, Utah, in 1917. During World War II he was a B-24 pilot, flying...
After flying more than 100 combat missions against F-86 Sabres, Ken Rowe survived the Korean War to deliver an intact MiG-15 fighter to the United States Air Force. Ken Rowe was 17 years old when he entered the North Korean Naval Academy. At that time he was known as...
Dolphin D. “Dolph” Overton, III shot down five communist fighter aircraft to become an ace in only four days during the Korean War. born in Andrews, South Carolina, he began flying at a young age and had had soloed in a Piper J-3 Cub by age 16. He attended The Citadel...
Alfred “Paul” Metz has the distinction of being the only pilot to have made the first flight and subsequent flight tests of both Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) designs offered to the USAF as the future air superiority fighter. Metz was born in...
Chief Warrant Officer Five (CW5) Lance McElhiney has been instrumental in developing attack helicopter operations for the U.S. Army while imbuing a warrior ethos in countless Army aviators. McElhiney was born in Peoria, Illinois in 1946. He graduated from high school...
Eugene F. “Gene” Kranz is one of America’s great space exploration pioneers. He was born on 17 August 1933 in Toledo, Ohio. As a child he always had a strong fascination with flight and the possibilities of space travel. After studying math, science...
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...
Colonel (ret.) Charles B. “Chuck” DeBellevue is America’s top ace of the Vietnam War and the last ace to serve on active duty in the United States Air Force. Colonel DeBellvue was first selected as an Eagle by Air Command and Staff College’s...
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...
Kenneth H. Dahlberg’s amazing life has taken him from the farmlands of Wisconsin to the skies over Europe as a World War II triple ace and on to a hugely successful career as a business entrepreneur. Dahlberg was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1917 but grew up...
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...
Captain Roscoe C. Brown, Jr. commanded the 100th Fighter Squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group and downed the most advanced enemy aircraft of World War II, the Me-262. After his graduation from Springfield College in 1943, Brown enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an...
Brigadier General Harry C. “Heinie” Aderholt commanded the 56th Air Commando Wing, Nakhon Phanom AB, Thailand. His composite wing of legacy propeller aircraft included the AT-28, A-1E, A-26, UC-123B, U-6A, and U-10, as well as combat controllers. Flying at...
