Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame

Contact:

Frank Lennon (401) 831-8696

“This year’s honorees once again reflect the depth and diversity of the contributions to aviation made by Rhode Islanders,” said Hall of Fame founder Frank Lennon.

Four of the seven honorees are living, and will attend the event.

Guest speakers at the dinner will be retired Air Force Lieutenant General Jim Keck, former Vice Commander of the Strategic Air Command, and his son Tom Keck, also a retired Air Force Lieutenant General and former commander of the famous 8th Air Force. Both were born in Providence; the senior Keck graduated from Cranston High School and attended Brown University for a year before graduating from West Point in 1943. He completed two combat tours as a B-24 pilot with the 8th Air Force in Europe, and eventually retired from the Air Force in 1977.

Tom Keck graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1969, and flew numerous B-52 missions over North Vietnam—some in the same aircraft his father had commanded. He retired from the Air Force in 2002 and now works for Raytheon in Tucson, AZ.

The Kecks are also the only father-and-son Mach 3+ team in the world, having both flown at more than three times the speed of sound in the SR-71 Blackbird.

Retired Navy Lieutenant Commander Paul Gurnon may be the only living Rhode Islander to have a geographical feature named after him. In recognition of his overall service in Antarctica, the US Geologic Survey named a section of Marie Byrd Land after him – Gurnon Peninsula. Gurnon enlisted in the Navy before Pearl Harbor in 1941, and spent much of his career at Quonset Point. The Wakefield resident was one of the last enlisted pilots in the Navy when he was commissioned as an officer in 1961. In August of 1967 LT Gurnon was transferred to VX6, the unique Antarctic Support Squadron for Navy Operation “Deep Freeze”. He retired from the Navy in 1971.

Aerospace engineer George Chakoian flew 46 combat missions in the Pacific as a radio operator/gunner on a B-24. After graduating from RI School of Design in 1948, he began a technical career that spanned six decades. His specialty was airdrop systems, and he was Project Engineer for a number of projects relating to the airborne delivery of equipment to a war zone. In his engineering career he received patents for an air brake for missiles as well as an air drag apparatus. Listed in Who's Who in American Aviation, Chakoian lives in Lincoln.

Posthumous recognition will go to three other individuals.

Antoine Gazda was an Austrian count, a race car driver, and a World War I fighter ace (on the losing side), but he spent World War II in Providence, living in suite 1009 of the Biltmore Hotel. The work he performed here in Rhode Island was considered so crucial to the Allied war effort that he was guarded 24 hours per day by the military, and the door to the suite next door was bricked up and plastered over. Prior to the war, Gazda sold 22mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannon to the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians, the English, and the Americans. When Hitler conquered France the Germany Army cut off delivery of the Oerlikon guns to Britain. Desperate for the gun but unable to produce it themselves, the British sent Gazda to the United States to set up shop. Gazda arrived in Providence in 1940 carrying one of the world’s most guarded secrets — the blueprints for the gun. By the end of World War II, nearly every vessel in the Allied fleet -- up to and including the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth - carried Gazda’s antiaircraft guns.

Gazda’s first love was aviation, however. He experimented with fuel tank gliders to be towed behind bombers to extend their range, and he was fascinated by the helicopter concept. He hired three designers from Sikorsky to work on a project he called the Gazda "Helicospeeder". This single motor and torque aircraft, incorporating several radical and unique features now commonplace in helicopter design, was developed and built in Rhode Island between 1943 and 1945.

World War II ace William Halton--one of the most decorated fliers to ever hail from Rhode Island-- was born July 17, 1917, in Providence. By the time he was killed in action in Korea, he had earned the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal with 17 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Croix de Guerre with Star and numerous campaign ribbons. He enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Army Air Forces in August of 1941, and was commissioned and awarded his pilot wings on March 7, 1942. Flying the P-47 Thunderbolt and later the P-51 Mustang in Europe, he was credited with shooting down 10.5 enemy aircraft and destroying two more on the ground. When the Korean War broke out, he returned to combat again flying the F-51 Mustang. In September 1951 he was given command of the 136th Fighter-Bomber Group, moving the unit from Japan to South Korea. His unit primarily flew interdiction missions against North Korean rail transportation. In March, 1952, he became Deputy Commander of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing, with specific instructions not to fly in combat. However, Colonel Halton made a special request to fly additional missions in order to show that the Mustang could successfully operate in jet combat zones without fighter-interceptor cover. He earned the DSC on one such mission in April, 1952. The next month, his aircraft was shot down on a low-level bombing run by a combination of ground fire and MIG interceptors. He was declared MIA, and his remains have never been recovered.

Navy veteran of WWII, local and international businessman, aviator, and inventor, R. W. (Dick) Foote was born in Providence in 1919. Foote’s successful business career followed his service as a Naval Aviator and test pilot during World War II. He was also instrumental in the development of the first “anti-blackout” or “pressure suit”, the forerunner to today’s NASA spacesuit, credited with saving the lives of many WWII fighter pilots. He soloed in 1936 and received his commercial pilot’s license in 1937. He dropped out of college to enlist, and was commissioned as a Naval Aviator in January 1941. Foote joined Chance-Vought in October, 1942, and became the fifth test pilot to fly the F4U-1 Corsair. One of his proudest moments was personally instructing Charles Lindbergh in the Corsair, and having a private dinner with Mr. Lindbergh that evening. In 1943 he joined General Motors and became Chief Experimental Test Pilot on the FM-2 “Wildcat” fighter. Foote flew comparative evaluation flight tests on 15 different fighters including the Japanese Zero, British Spitfire, Mosquito, and Firefly, as well as the Bell P-59, the first jet fighter built in the United States. Dick’s passion for flying did not abate after the war. He participated in the 1949 Cleveland Air Races, piloted his own P-51 “Mustang” in the 1970 Cape May, NJ Air Races and the Reno, NV Air Races with his North American AT-6. In 1954 he moved his family to Nassau and flew for one year as captain-pilot on a Grumman Goose amphibian seaplane ferrying passengers throughout the islands for Bahamas Airways, then a division of BOAC. In 1978 he formed Warplanes International Airshows, a group of pilot owners of WWII fighters, bombers and trainers that performed one of first choreographed re-enactments of famous air battles of WWII at air shows in the eastern US and Canada. By the time he was 85, he was living in Port Orange, FL where he regularly flew his privately owned FM-2 Wildcat, Bushby Midget Mustang, Cessna 210 and Piper Cheyenne aircraft. Dick passed away at the age of 89 on January 17, 2009.

"Each year’s induction, and the publicity it receives, generates more recommendations from the public", said Frank Lennon, the Hall's founder. "Many people have written or called to let us know about the role a family member, neighbor or friend may have played in our state's rich aviation history. In fact, six of the seven inductees this year were nominated by friends or relatives who responded to media coverage of our search for nominees," Lennon said. This year alone, more than 40 new nominations came in.

Inductees are chosen by a committee composed of aviation experts, representatives of numerous aviation-related organizations and all previous inductees.

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend the January 24 event. Tickets cost $45 each ($80 per couple) and can be obtained by writing to the Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame, PO Box 845, North Kingstown, RI 02852, or by e-mailing Irina Albee at ialbee@saratogamuseum.org.

For further information, please call 401-398-1000 or 401-831-8696.

Last Updated:
10/28/09