Remembering aviators who died in 2018

AOPA remembers 25 standouts—including safety specialists, authors, astronauts, aircraft manufacturers, military veterans, airshow performers, and a beloved airport dog.

Thomas Ellis, one of a handful of surviving Tuskegee Airmen, served as an administrative clerk in the all-black U.S. Army Air Forces unit, which recorded 15,533 sorties, according to the San Antonio News Express. The unit flew distinctive red-tail P–51 Mustangs and counted "112 aerial kills, 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Presidential Unit Citations." The former sergeant major died in San Antonio Jan. 2. He was 97.

Piper, the border collie that was well-known for his wildlife patrol antics, toothy smile, and oversized goggles, died Jan. 3. The nine-year-old canine at the Cherry Capital Airport in Michigan had built more than 1 million “likes” in the three years since handler and owner Brian Edwards posted their first social media update. He was celebrated by fans from across the globe.

John W. Young, whose career as an astronaut spanned “three generations of space flight,” and included two trips to the moon, a moon walk, and flying as commander of the first mission of the space shuttle, died Jan. 5 at his Houston home. He was 87.

Ray Maule, the eldest son of Maule Air founder B.D. Maule and June Maule, and one of numerous family members who worked at the company's aircraft manufacturing facility in Moultrie, Georgia, died Jan. 7. He was 83.

Noted aviation safety expert Archie Trammell, who served from 1981 to 1983 as the executive director of AOPA’s Air Safety Foundation, died Feb. 5 at his Mansfield, Texas, home. He was 89. Trammell, a mechanic and a member of the U.S. Coast Guard who earned his wings in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, was remembered for his weather expertise, communication skills, and dedication to safety.

Earle Benjamin Blomeyer learned to fly before AOPA was formed and was the last of the association’s first 250 members to make his final flight. Blomeyer died Feb. 8 in Atlanta, at age 102. He was the last living link to the launch of what has become the largest general aviation organization in the world, having joined in 1939 at the urging of a friend. He became member 242 and was the star attraction at a 2014 gathering at Philadelphia’s Wings Field to celebrate the association’s seventy-fifth anniversary.

Pilot Frances “Fran” Bera accumulated more than 25,000 flight hours, ferried surplus military aircraft after World War II, set a world altitude record, and taught and examined pilots for more than seven decades. The Smithsonian recognized the Californian as the “first woman to fly a helicopter with no tail rotor,” and it’s believed that she was one of only a handful of female flight examiners in the early 1960s. Bera died Feb. 10 in San Diego at age 94.

Tuskegee Airman Floyd Carter Sr., a decorated war veteran and a New York Police Department detective for 27 years, was recognized by the 47th Precinct as “a true American hero” when he died March 8 at age 95. The New York Daily News noted that Carter “led the first squadron of supply-laden airplanes into Berlin during the famed Cold War airlift of 1948-49.” Carter also piloted aircraft during the Korean and Vietnam wars and served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve where he attained the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Georgia resident Elgin Wells was equally at home flying an aerobatic aircraft as he was leading a jazz band, according to his friends after the Gwinnett Daily Post reported that Wells died in an April 25 crash during airshow preparations in central China. Wells was well-known in the aviation community for his beloved aircraft Starjammer, a homebuilt aerobatic masterpiece that contained more than 250 LEDs and a pounding 4,000-watt stereo system.

Aviation writer, publisher, and safety advocate Richard L. Collins was familiar to thousands of flight students who learned about aviation through his series of Air Facts articles and videos. His prolific publishing career took him to AOPA Pilot, Flying, and many others. Collins wrote 12 popular books, many of them concentrating on instrument flight, aviation weather, and accident profiles. He served as an expert witness in several legal cases involving aviation accidents, owned many GA airplanes over the years, and amassed more than 20,000 flying hours. Collins died on April 29 at age 84.

Pat Napolitano and the Beech D–17 Staggerwing he called Queenie were quite a couple. The irrepressible, obsessive, detail-oriented pilot and mechanic doted on the Beechcraft biplane and outfitted the fabric-covered model from aviation’s Golden Age with a modern panel of Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics products. Napolitano perished in the airplane the evening of May 25 in New Mexico, en route to Fresno, California, from the instrument maker’s Wichita, Kansas, headquarters.

Astronaut Alan Bean, the Wheeler, Texas, son of a scientist who became a U.S. Navy aviator and a NASA astronaut, and walked on the moon, died May 26 at age 86. After he retired from the space agency, Bean became known for his canvas art paintings, many of which featured otherworldly scenes inspired from his lunar explorations and celestial orbits. Bean was smitten by aviation at an early age. The Navy pilot flew 27 aircraft types and accumulated more than 7,145 hours of flight time, 1,672 hours in space, and “more than 10 hours of spacewalks on the moon and in Earth orbit,” according to NASA. He went on to a storied art career where his paintings with lunar artifacts fetched tens of thousands of dollars.

Serge Dassault, chairman of the Dassault Group based in France, was 93 when died on May 28. Dassault remained in charge of Dassault Aviation—manufacturers of the Falcon line of business jets and the Mirage and Rafale lines of military fighters—until 2000, when he turned 75. His father, Marcel Dassault, founded the company in 1929 and in early World War II was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp for refusing to cooperate with occupying German forces. Dassault took over the aircraft manufacturing business after his father died in 1986 and went on to become one of France’s wealthiest industrialists in the process.

North American SNJ–2 pilot Ken Johansen, a seasoned warbird operator and a member of the Geico Skytypers Air Show team for more than a decade, died when his aircraft crashed in Melville, New York, shortly after departing Long Island's Republic Airport for a training mission May 30. Johansen caught the aviation bug early in life from his father, Bob, who was a longtime member and instructor for the Geico team. The younger Johansen was a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and a professional airline pilot. Based in Farmingdale, New York, the Geico Skytypers Air Show Team has performed at airshows for more than 30 years.

Hang glider pilot Dan Buchanan, a wheelchair-bound aviator with more than 3,000 logged hours, was killed during a weekend airshow crash at Idaho’s Mountain Home Air Base on June 2. The 62-year-old licensed pyrotechnician from Dayton, Nevada, was known for combining his flight skills with an aerial dance of pilotage, music, and fire performed both in daylight and at night.

A U.S. senator, two-time presidential candidate, veteran Navy officer, and prisoner of war, John McCain was many things. He was also a pilot, and his legacy and contributions to aviation will last for generations to come. The GA community lost an ally and friend on Aug. 25 when McCain died at age 81.

Stan Brock, the author, television personality, pilot, and founder of Remote Area Medical, the humanitarian organization renowned for flying GA aircraft to assist communities hit by natural disasters and other emergencies, died Aug. 29 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was 82.

Air traffic controller and Secrets from the Tower author Bob Richards talked to thousands of pilots crossing through his busy Class B airspace, first as a controller working Chicago Executive Airport and later from his post at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Jetwhine’s Robert Mark remembers Richards as a guy who was not only quick with a smile, but one who was called upon by TV networks for his expertise in ATC and other aviation issues. He was 61 when he died in August.

FlightSafety International Chairman Bruce N. Whitman, an aviation industry figure for more than 50 years, pilot, military veteran, and supporter of service members past and present, died Oct. 10. He was 85. Whitman’s death at his home was announced by his company, a premier professional aviation training organization that provides more than 1.4 million hours of training annually to pilots and other aviation professionals. The U.S. Air Force veteran was noted for his service to other veterans. Whitman also served on many aviation boards.

Jon Thocker, a Cincinnati-based pilot who flew with the Redline Airshows aerobatic team, died Oct. 12 when his airplane crashed in Culpeper, Virginia. Thocker was retired from worldwide cargo service DHL. He was an enthusiastic RV pilot who had built 10 aircraft, and quipped that he had “empty hangar syndrome.” He partnered with Ken Rieder for Redline Airshows and was known for his spectacular nighttime performances.

Microsoft co-founder and aircraft collector Paul Allen was remembered by officials at his Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum as "an incredible man who did so many wonderful things for our community and for the world.” Allen, who teamed up with Bill Gates to popularize personal computers, was 65 when he died Oct. 15 of complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to a statement posted on the website of his investment company, Vulcan Inc.

Todd McNamee, the director of airports for Ventura County, California, died Nov. 1. He was 52. The Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University alumnus had worked for the county since 2001. He was named director of the county’s two airports in Camarillo and Oxnard in 2005, overseeing a staff of 34 employees, and a $60 million budget. McNamee, praised as a “pilot’s pilot” with a passion for people, was instrumental in hosting the 2017 AOPA Camarillo Fly-In.

Jack Elliott Schapiro, a journalist and pilot who told GA’s “colorful and exciting” story in a weekly column in a New Jersey newspaper for 38 years and was twice honored by AOPA for his lifetime of service to GA, was 94 when he died Nov. 20. Writing under the byline Jack Elliott, his column, Wings Over Jersey, appeared each Sunday in the Newark-Star Ledger from 1963 to 2001. He also wrote articles for AOPA Pilot and numerous other aviation publications and was an AOPA member for more than 60 years.

George H. W. Bush began a lifetime of public service as a Navy pilot and went on to serve as our forty-first president. The Washington Post reported that Bush was “the last veteran of World War II to serve as president, he was a consummate public servant and a statesman who helped guide the nation and the world out of a four-decade Cold War that had carried the threat of nuclear annihilation.” The nation mourned his loss on Nov. 30 and offered a salute to this icon of his generation.

Southwestern U.S.-based aviators are mourning the loss of Cutter Aviation leader William “Bill” R. Cutter who died Dec. 11 at age 86. Cutter’s family established a fixed-base operation at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in 1928 and in the ensuing decades expanded its network of FBOs throughout the Southwest and into California. Cutter was an accomplished pilot with fixed-wing, helicopter, and lighter-than-air ratings. A Cutter Aviation tribute noted he received several aviation industry achievement awards including a “Man of the Year” honor by Beechcraft.