Walter Marty Schirra Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, which was the United States' first effort to put humans into space. On October 3, 1962, he flew the six-orbit, nine-hour, Mercury-Atlas 8 mission, in a spacecraft he nicknamed Sigma 7, becoming the fifth American and ninth human to travel into space. In December 1965, as part of the two-man Gemini program, he achieved the first space rendezvous, station-keeping his Gemini 6A spacecraft within 1 foot (30 cm) of the sister Gemini 7 spacecraft. In October 1968, he commanded Apollo 7, an 11-day low Earth orbit shakedown test of the three-man Apollo Command/Service Module and the first crewed launch for the Apollo program.
John Bennett Herrington is a retired United States Naval Aviator, engineer and former NASA astronaut. In 2002, Herrington became the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to fly in space.
Elmer "Archie" Fowler Stone was a United States naval aviator and a commander in the United States Coast Guard.
The United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, more popularly known as Top Gun, is a United States Navy training program that teaches air combat maneuvering tactics and techniques to selected naval aviators and naval flight officers, who return to their operating units as surrogate instructors.
John Henry Towers CBE was a highly decorated United States Navy four-star admiral and pioneer naval aviator. He made important contributions to the technical and organizational development of naval aviation from its beginnings, eventually serving as Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics (1939–1942). He commanded carrier task forces during World War II, and retired in December 1947. He and Marc Mitscher were the only early Naval Aviation pioneers to survive the hazards of early flight to remain with naval aviation throughout their careers. Towers spent his last years supporting aeronautical research and advising the aviation industry.
Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola, "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United States Navy base located next to Warrington, Florida, a community southwest of the Pensacola city limits. It is best known as the initial primary training base for all U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard officers pursuing designation as naval aviators and naval flight officers, the advanced training base for most naval flight officers, and as the home base for the United States Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the precision-flying team known as the Blue Angels.
Lieutenant Commander Godfrey de Courcelles Chevalier, USN was a pioneering naval aviator of the United States Navy of World War I and the early 1920s.
Alfred Austell Cunningham was an American aviator and a United States Marine Corps officer who became the first Marine Corps aviator and the first director of Marine Corps Aviation. His military career included service in the Spanish–American War, World War I, and U.S. operations in the Caribbean during the 1920s.
A naval aviator is a commissioned officer or warrant officer qualified as a crewed aircraft pilot in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps. United States Coast Guard crewed aircraft pilots are officially designated as "Coast Guard aviators", although they complete the same undergraduate flight training as Navy and Marine Corps crewed aircraft pilots, and are awarded the same aviation breast insignia.
Barbara Ann Allen Rainey was one of the first six female pilots in the U.S. armed forces. Rainey received her wings of gold as the first female to be designated a naval aviator in February 1974 and became the first Navy woman to qualify as a jet pilot. She attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy. She was killed in an aircraft crash in 1982 while performing her duties as a flight instructor.
Captain Jane Skiles O'Dea was one of the first six women to earn their wings as U.S. Navy pilots in 1974, and was the first woman qualified in the C-130 Hercules. She was also the first woman in the U.S. Navy qualified as a flight instructor. She was the first female Navy aviator to achieve command and to be selected for the rank of captain.
Robert L. "Bob" Rasmussen, is a noted military artist; a retired Captain of the United States Navy; a former career naval aviator, primarily in the F-8 Crusader; a former member of the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, and former Director of the National Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola, Florida.
Captain Rosemary Bryant Mariner was an American pilot and one of the first six women to earn their wings as a United States Naval Aviator in 1974. She was the first female military pilot to fly a tactical jet and the first to achieve command of an operational aviation squadron.
Arthur Ray "Hawk" Hawkins was an American naval aviator and flying ace of World War II. He was the United States Navy's tenth leading ace with 14 aerial victories to his credit.
Richard P. "Deke" Bordone (1930-2007) was a highly decorated United States Navy captain and naval aviator.
Lieutenant General Thomas H. Miller, was a United States Marine Corps Naval Aviator and test pilot. Miller saw active combat in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. As a test pilot, he set a World Speed Record in an F4H-1 (F4B) Phantom. He was the first American to fly the Marine Corps' new AV-8A Harrier jet, capable of vertical takeoff and landing, orchestrating its procurement for the Marine Corps and oversee development of the concept during his career. For this effort, Miller was known as "the father of STOVL aviation in the USMC."
James Henry Flatley III, is a retired rear admiral in the United States Navy. A naval aviator, fighter pilot, and test pilot, he is the son of Vice Admiral James H. Flatley.
Henry Croskey Mustin was a pioneering naval aviator who undertook the task of establishing the first Naval Aeronautic Station on the site of the abandoned Navy Yard at Warrington, Florida in 1914. He was designated Navy Air Pilot No. 3 and later Naval Aviator No. 11. Two U.S. Navy destroyers have borne the name Mustin in honor of Captain Mustin and his descendants, three of whom have served as flag officers.
Kenneth Whiting was a United States Navy officer who was a pioneer in submarines and is best known for his lengthy career as a pioneering naval aviator. During World War I, he commanded the first American military force to arrive in Europe for combat. After the war, he was instrumental in development of the aircraft carrier in the United States, where he sometimes is known as the U.S. Navy's "father of the aircraft carrier." He was involved in some way in the design or construction of five of the first six U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, and served as acting commanding officer of the first carrier to enter U.S. Navy service and as executive officer of the first two American carriers. In the earliest days of the U.S. Navy's development of an aircraft carrier force, he led many shipboard innovations still in use aboard carriers today.
Lea Gabrielle is a former U.S. Diplomat who served as the Special Envoy and Coordinator of the Global Engagement Center at the U.S. Department of State from 2019-2021. She formerly served in the United States Navy for twelve years as a combat naval aviator and intelligence officer. As a civilian, she worked as a journalist and correspondent for the Fox News Channel and as a general-assignment reporter for Shepard Smith Reporting. On February 7, 2019, it was announced she would head up the U.S. Department of State's Global Engagement Center (GEC), tasked with countering propaganda from foreign actors such as Russia, China, North Korea, and ISIS. She has served in the position of Special Envoy and Coordinator of the GEC since February 11, 2019.
