Two decorated Army helicopter pilots who flew combat missions in Vietnam and the designer of an engine for World War I aircraft will be inducted in the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame.
Pilots Lynn C. Hooper, a Jonesboro native who rose to the rank of brigadier general; David Wallace of Leachville, who now is a state representative; and the late Jesse Vincent, a Charleston native who was a self-taught engineer who rose to be the top engineer at Packard Motor Co. in Detroit, are members of the hall's 33rd class.
"The kind of talent, resourcefulness, persistence and courage that we find in Arkansas citizens who are members of the aviation industry has always been remarkable," said Dick Holbert, the president of Central Flying Service in Little Rock and a founding member of the Arkansas Aviation Historical Society, which selects the inductees.
Hooper, 76, a 1962 graduate of Arkansas State University in Jonesboro who now is semiretired in Langley, Va., is considered one of the nation's most decorated soldiers of the Vietnam War.
He received two Silver Stars, the nation's third-highest decoration for valor; four Distinguished Flying Crosses; two Bronze Stars and numerous Air Medals.
Two missions highlight Hooper's courage and skill under fire.
On Nov. 8, 1967, he commanded two armed helicopters supporting a U.S. special forces team heavily engaged with enemy forces. While making an attack, one of the helicopters was shot down, according to a biography of Hooper prepared by ASU. He called for the rescue of the downed crew and laid down fire to keep enemy forces away from the rescue site.
After expending all of his ship's ammunition, he continued to protect the downed helicopter crew with personal weapons and smoke grenades, according to the university's account. Only when all rescue personnel had departed did Hooper withdraw from the battle.
Less than three months later, on Jan. 30, 1968, Hooper again was in command of two armed helicopters, which sighted and immediately engaged several enemy machine gun and sniper positions, the university said. Both helicopters sustained several hits from enemy fire but continued to make "daring low-level passes until all ammunition was expended."
Re-armed, his two helicopters engaged a heavy automatic weapons emplacement during which his helicopter was hit and heavily damaged. Hooper acquired another helicopter and returned to combat, where he evacuated a critically wounded soldier under fire and then returned to continue his assault against enemy forces, the university said.
Wallace, 69, who was born in Leachville and is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, is a retired Army lieutenant colonel.
He is the recipient of three Distinguished Flying Crosses for his actions as a pilot of a Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter during a combat tour in Vietnam in 1972.
The medal is awarded to aviators and aircrew for "heroism or extraordinary achievement during aerial flight," according to the Distinguished Flying Cross Society, which also said the medal is the only one that is "conferred by all five military services, in all wars and campaigns from World War I to the present."
For one cross, Wallace "distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions while serving as a mission commander and pilot of Cobra gunship" on an Aug. 10, 1972, reconnaissance mission in which his helicopter "encountered intense" anti-aircraft fire, according to other news accounts detailing his medal citations.
Several rounds struck his helicopter, severely wounding his co-pilot who then slumped over the helicopter controls. Wallace didn't regain control of the Cobra until it was 200 feet above the ground. With flight controls damaged and no hydraulic or electrical power, Wallace flew the helicopter to an area where the injured pilot was evacuated to a medical facility, thus saving his life.
Vincent, who was born in 1880 and died in 1962 at the age of 82, studied engineering in his spare time through a correspondence course on his family farm in the 1890s, according to Hemmings, which is an online marketplace for collector cars.
He produced patents while working for the Burroughs Adding Machine Co. in Detroit before becoming acting chief engineer for the Hudson Motor Car Co. in 1910. He joined Packard in 1912.
It is with that company that "Vincent achieved immortality for his role in creation of the Liberty V-12 aircraft engine during World War I," according to Hemmings.
When the United States joined the war effort, the federal government reached out to Vincent and other engine designers. He was commissioned a U.S. Army officer and supervised creation of an engine development site before leading the effort to design the Liberty engine, which was a 12-cylinder, water-cooled engine with a displacement of 1,649 cubic inches that could produce 400 horsepower.
It saw combat in powering the Airco DH.4, a British two-seat biplane bomber, and its U.S. equivalent, the DH-4.
"The Liberty's success, and influence on all sorts of later engine designs, is a storybook tale," according to Hemmings' online biography of Vincent. "It also gave Vincent an undying reputation as a genius, though not without the breath of scandal.
"According to archival materials at the Smithsonian Institution, Vincent was accused by investigators of steering federal funds to Packard, in which he was a major stockholder, while leading the Liberty effort."
Vincent was never prosecuted and left the Army as a full colonel with an honorable discharge, according to the biography.
Vincent remained at Packard as head of engineering until his retirement in 1946.
The ceremony will be held from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Ron Robinson Theatre, 100 Rock St., in Little Rock. Tickets are $50 per person. They can be purchased online at www.arkavhs.com or by contacting Kris Irvin-Herron at cpaviator@aol.com.
Proceeds from the event will fund five $2,000 scholarships for deserving students studying aviation at Ozarka Community College in Melbourne or Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, the only schools in Arkansas that offer associate or undergraduate degrees for students preparing to be pilots.
Metro on 10/17/2016