Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame Announces 2023 Honorees

The group includes a WWII bomber pilot who was an original pilot in the RI National Guard in 1939; a father/son team who flew combat missions in WWII and Vietnam, respectively; and two Army helicopter pilots, also Vietnam combat veterans. The Hall of Fame will also honor a Providence native and World War I Royal Flying Corps pilot who later became a prominent RI auto dealer, as well as the former Navy pilot who became the first manager of the Quonset Industrial Park.

 The RI Aviation Hall of Fame will induct seven new members and honor three others with special recognition awards as part of their 21st class of honorees. The ceremony and dinner will take place at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center in Cranston Saturday evening, November 18th. Reception is at 5:30PM; dinner and awards will follow.

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend this dinner. Tickets cost $65 each and can be obtained by emailing riahof@aol.com, or logging in to our website at www.riahof.org. For further information, please call 401-831-8696.

Honorees are selected by an ad hoc committee representing several aviation groups. The committee includes all previous inductees, such as Robert Crandall, former chairman of American Airlines; Jennifer Murray, the first woman to fly a helicopter around the world; and Apollo 8 Astronaut Bill Anders.

Short bios of each honoree are attached. Lynn “Skip” Carter is still living.  The other awards are posthumous.

East Providence Awardees include attendees of East Providence High School.

Lieutenant Colonel Lynn Carter, US Air Force, Retired (1919-2014)
B-26 and B-25 bomber pilot; 69 combat missions WWII; awarded Distinguished Flying Cross, French Croix de Guerre and seven Air Medals. Graduated Brown University postwar; lived in East Providence while working in the Defense Products Division of Brown & Sharpe 1954-1962. Carter served in the Air Force Reserve until retirement, including a P-47 fighter squadron assignment at Niagara Falls during the Korean War. Steel industry executive.

Lieutenant Commander Lynn “Skip” Carter II, US Navy, Retired (1946-)
Skip spent his boyhood in East Providence and attended East Providence High School before going to the US Naval Academy with the Class of 1968. As a Naval Aviator he flew numerous carrier-based combat missions over Vietnam, earning multiple Strike/Flight Air Medals and three Commendation Medals with combat “V”. Carter is a graduate of Naval Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun). After leaving the Navy, he flew 747s around the world for Atlas Air until mandatory retirement at age 60.

Horace A. Scott (1926-2020)
Scott left East Providence high School to join the Navy when he turned 17. He flew from Guam as an enlisted engineer and aerial gunner aboard PBY patrol planes. After working as a civilian mechanic at NAS Quonset, Scott learned to fly on his own to qualify for the Eastern Airlines flight engineer position. A 30 year career followed as first officer and captain, during which he flew the Constellation, DC-9, B-727 and L-1011. Scott accrued more than 30,000 hours flight time. He lived in Cumberland and North Kingstown.

About RI Aviation Hall of Fame
Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame (RIAHOF) is a volunteer driven and tax-exempt non-profit group dedicated to identifying, honoring and perpetuating the memory of those individuals who have contributed to Rhode Island's rich aviation history.

Since 2003 we have inducted 106 individuals and one entire family (the Allen family of balloonists/aeronauts). We have also given 53 special recognition awards while also recognizing the four WWII WASP (Women Air Service Pilots) from RI and the 20+ Tuskegee Airmen hailing from this state.

Few people know just how rich and varied our aviation history is, and just how many wonderfully skilled and talented contributors to the aerial age have been born in Rhode Island, were educated here, lived here for a portion of their lives or performed some great aviation-related act or service here.