By John “Bear” Moseley, CGAA Historian
The Coast Guard Aviation Pilots (APs) had a very positive effect on Coast Guard aviation and contributed greatly to our heritage. There were a total of 223 Coast Guard Aviation Pilots with the first three completing training in 1917 and the last six earning their wings in 1946. Twenty-three were killed in crashes while serving as APs. During World War II forty percent of Coast Guard aviators were APs. All but the last classes to come through Pensacola had been commissioned but when the Reduction-In-Force occurred after the war many reverted to enlisted status. By 1952 all had again been offered officer status but six declined. As I came on board these gentlemen were senior duty officers, the operation officers, and the execs and I like the others learned a great deal from them. I have attached a list of the APs alphabetical by years. As you read through it name after name jumps out at you and your familiarity with the person and/or the name will bear out their contributions. When I was a nugget at Biloxi in 1957 I had the privilege of knowing Freddy Guild. He was one of the APs commissioned again in 1952. He not only was a good friend but he saved my butt. He took me over to the Pensacola area where the swells came through the pass, at times quite high, and taught me how to start the take off with no flaps( non-standard – not in the Handbook) and as the Goat came up on a wave top just shy of take off speed rapidly place the flaps down to 30 degrees which would “pop” the plane out of the water and then very carefully with the throttles against the stops –keep it there. Four months later I put a Goat into the Gulf and picked up two. It was a case of go in or they would drown. I had no JATO on board. I used the procedure that Fred had taught me and we made it back off. Could not have done it without Fred. Coast Guard aviation would not be what it is today if it had not been for the Aviation Pilots.
Bear
Editor’s Note: Coast Guard Aviator #743 and historian John “Bear” Moseley of the Coast Guard Aviation Association provided the following list of the Coast Guard’s enlisted pilots to the Historian’s Office for publication. “Bear” also provides a poignant introduction to this important list. Enlisted pilots in the naval services were referred to as Aviation Pilots and three of the Coast Guard’s first aviators trained at Pensacola in the same class with Elmer Stone, one of the service’s most famous aviator and the namesake of a NSC cutter. These first three: Charles T. Thrun, Walter S. Anderson, and Leonard M. Melka, led the way for other enlisted men to earn their wings, a program that continued producing pilots until 1946. After the training ceased, many Coast Guard aviation pilots continued to serve, including perhaps the most famous, ADCM (AP) John Pershing Greathouse, who served until his retirement from active duty in 1979 after amassing more than 15,000 flight hours. Our thanks to “Bear” for providing us with this list (listed alphabetically by the year of graduation).
Pilot List
ANDERSON, Walter S. 1917
MELKA, Leonard M. 1917
THRUN, Charles T. 1917
ALLEN, Carl H. 1935
BANKER, Russell S. 1935
COLLINS, Harry 1935
CONDREY, Clyde H. 1935
DUELL, Robert D. 1935
DURHAM, William N. 1935
FENDLAY, Robert W. 1935
HARRIS, Charles H. 1935
KLEISCH, August (n) 1935
LOGAN, Harry W. 1935
MCGOVERN, Gerald E. 1935
MCWILLIAMS, Theodore (n) 1935
ORNDORFF, James R. 1935
PRESTON, Edward T. 1935
RIGGS, James L. 1935
SCHWEINING, Fred E. 1935
SMITH, Virgil 1935
TOLLY, Vernon C. 1935
WEBER, Joe R. 1935
BLISH, Howard J. 1936
BOWERS, Maurice L. 1938
PERRY, Loren V. 1938
RADAN, John 1938
CALHOON, James C. 1940
CUPPLES, Andrew J. 1940
DAMERON. Ben B. 1940
ECKELS, Harry H. 1940
GRAY, Wilfred C. 1940
PERKINS, Alien F. 1940
BENNETT, Harold E. 1941
BRASWELL, Wheeler M. 1941
CANION, Kenneth L. 1941
GRAHAM, Stewart R, 1941
HERSEY, Paul F. 1941
KELLOGG, Glen I. Jr. 1941
SOLARI, William J. 1941
STONEROCK, Leonard L. 1941
WERNER, Joseph G. 1941
BILDERBACK, Kenneth M. 1942
BOLTON, Walter C. 1942
CASSEL, Henry G. 1942
MCCORMICK, Joseph T. 1942
OSTERBERG, Ralph E. 1942
PFEIFFER, Henry J. 1942
SMITH, Paul S. 1942
THOMPSON, Marvin T. 1942
WALKER, James C. 1942
WEBER, John A, 1942
WHITE, Henry C. 1942
ADAMSON, Robert (n) 1943
AHLSWEDE, Arthur C. 1943
BIGELOW, Palmer V. 1943
BOTELER, James C. 1943
BUTLER, Ralph W. 1943
BYRD, Carroll R. 1943
BYRNS, James 1943
CAUSLEY, Clyde M. 1943
CEVENE, Jerome 0. 1943
CHASE, Walter M. 1943
CHILDERS, Earl S. 1943
CHITWOOD, Winton D. 1943
CHRISTENSEN, Vern D. 1943
CLARK, Francis O. 1943
COFFEE, William H. 1943
COLER, Charles L. 1943
COLMER, Charles C. 1943
COX, Harley B. 1943
DAUGHENBAUGH, Don 1943
DEFREEST, David W. 1943
DOUGLAS, Ralph O. 1943
EDDY, Sedgwick R. 1943
EDGMON, Alfred A. 1943
ETHERIDGE, Ralph L. 1943
EVANS, Joseph P. 1943
FERGUSON, Alien M. 1943
FERRIN, Glen D. 1943
FLANAGAN, Albert E. 1943
FLESSAS, James P. 1943
GERSHOWITZ, David 1943
GOLDHAMMER, Walter 1943
GREATHOUSE, John P. 1943
GREGORY, Robert L. 1943
GUIDROZ, Herman P. 1943
GUST, Louis A. 1943
GWNN, Oliver H. J. 1943
HANDLEY, Melvin H. 1943
HAZEL, Gordon S. 1943
HEDRICK, Ernest D. 1943
HOWELL, Charles. R. 1943
HQXMEYER, Kenneth. 1943
HUGHES, Phillip E. 1943
HUXTABLE, Richard L. 1943
JONES, Chester A. 1943
KELLER, Joseph (n) 1943
KNOLL, Arthur N. Jr. 1943
KROPF, Elba P. 1943
KDRTZ, Frank J. 1943
LAMPING, Joseph J. 1943
LAWLIS, Robert L. 1943
LEDBETTER, Hobart C. 1943
LOCKWOOD, Charles 1943
MATTALIANO, Peter F. 1943
MERRITT, Fred T. 1943
MIKES, Ernest A. 1943
MILES, Emerson W. 1943
MILLER, Raymond M. 1943
MUELLER, Charles E. 1943
MUYSKENS, Earl H. 1943
NAGLE, Harold S. 1943
NESMITH, James 1943
NOOTEBOOM, Peter 1943
NYSTROM, Donald A. 1943
PHILLIPS, Jimmie V. 1943
POPE, Robert R. 1943
RAUMER, Frederick H. 1943
REA, Gus M. 1943
REDFIELD, John C. 1943
ROBE, William E. 1943
ROLLER, Robert J. 1943
ROZIER, Walter 1943
SEIDL, James C. 1943
SIVILS, Talmadge H. 1943
SKARDA, Everett A. 1943
SMITH, Robert W. 1943
SMITH, Stanley S. 1943
SUTTON, Victor W. 1943
TIPPS, Thomas V. 1943
TYGART, Benjamin L. 1943
VUKIC, John C. 1943
WALLACE, William C. 1943
WARD, Ellis P. 1943
WEBB, Max A. 1943
WEBER, Joseph M. 1943
WEITZEL, Christian A. 1943
WEST, Jesse F. 1943
WOLFE, Seymore 1943
WOOLLEY, Harold W. 1943
WRIGHT, Frank B. 1943
YEARTA, Samuel H. 1943
YOUNG, Edward B. 1943
ATCHINSON, Warren E. 1944
ATTEBURY, Oley E. 1944
BALLARD, Walter 1944
BARKER, Giles E. 1944
BAZDARICH, Anthony F. 1944
BRACKEN, Robert E. 1944
BURKE, Dudley W. 1944
CHRISLIP, Dorsey P. Jr. 1944
COBAUGH, Donald (n) 1944
COOPER, William K. 1944
COTTRELL, Robert 1944
CROSS, Kenneth E. 1944
DARWIN, John C. Jr. 1944
BLAUVELT, Stephen Y. 1944
DAVIS, Gerald M. 1944
FELT, Leland G. 1944
FLANNERY, Maurice J. 1944
FLATT, LeRoy (n) 1944
FORD, John D. 1944
GALLAGHER, Robert E. 1944
GLISSON, William M. 1944
GRIFFIN, Marvin 1944
GUILD, Frederick M. 1944
HAAGENSON, Sidney 1944
HALE, Earl F. 1944
HINTON, Allyn J. 1944
HOLLIFIELD, James E. 1944
JOHNSON, John B. 1944
KENT, Lloyd L. 1944
KIEFFER, James W, 1944
KIPKA, Van R. 1944
KITZ, Robert L. 1944
KROGMANN, Carl F. 1944
LINDSEY, Earnest S. 1944
LURKING, Henry 1944
MANN, Fred 1944
MASSEY, Young M. 1944
MCCULLOUGH, John A. 1944
MCDUFFEE, Harold B. 1944
MCMURRAY, Sam F. 1944
MITCHELL, Robert C. 1944
ROLL, Clayton E. 1944
SCHWARTZ 1944
SKRABLE, Burmah H. 1944
TAYLQR, Walter 1944
TEITGE, Jack B. 1944
THURMAN, Alvin B. 1944
UNDERWOOD, Dale R. 1944
VOGEL, Clifford V. 1944
WALKER, Edward E. 1944
WATT, Milo 1944
WEBER, Carl 1944
WEBER, Roy 1944
WILLIS, Hardy M. 1944
WILSON, Fred E. 1944
ZAVIC, Harry J. 1944
BISSEY, Robert M. 1945
DODSON, Herman P. 1945
EARL, Jack C. 1945
FLECK, Vernon C. 1945
FRASER, Donald R. 1945
KESTELL, Fabian J. 1945
KNIGHT, Luther C. 1945
LANDER, LeRoy F. 1945
LAW, Jerry 1945
LEONG, Marshall 1945
LIEFERMAN, Benjamin 1945
MEANS, Alien 1945
OAKES, Rax 1945
OLSEN, John A. 1945
RIVETTS, Howard 1945
ROGERS 1945
TATE, Thomas J. 1945
WEEMS, Benjamin F. 1945
WIRSCHING, Norman J. 1945
FARLEY, Eugene P. 1946
FRANCK, Kenneth H. 1946
GEWIG, Richard F. 1946
HUBERT, Lavine 1946
MCGLINNIS 1946
ROBY, Samuel 1946
