LOUIS V. O'BRIEN WWII fighter pilot. He was a member of the
486th Squadron, 352nd fighter group stationed in Bodney England in 1945.
His rank was 1st Lieutenant.
Louis had a lot of flight time in P40's in the states while stationed in Florida in
what was know as 'Overseas Replacement Training' Lt. O'Brien over 100 hours in P40's in between Nov 1944 to Feb 1945!
Thanks to all our veterans!
THOMAS A. CAMPO was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. He was a graduate of the USAF Jet Fighter School at Williams AFB, Arizona and the Advanced All-Weather Interceptor Program at Moody AFB, Georgia. He attained the rank of Captain and served on active duty from 1951 to 1956. Capt. Campo served under Major Daniel "Chappie" James, a Tuskegee Airman from WW2 who became the first African-American Squadron Commander ( 437th Fighter Interceptor Squadron) in the integrated United States Air Force and ultimately a Four-Star General assigned to the Pentagon. Capt. Campo's initial flight training was in the T-6 Texan after which he transitioned into the T-33 jet trainer. Some of the operational jets in which he qualified were the F-80 Shooting Star and the F-94C Starfire. His assignment to the 437th FIS included duty as the Squadron Engineering Test Pilot. After completing active duty, he went to work for Grumman where he became Assistant to the Vice President of the Integrated Logistics Support Department and Director of Product Training. This latter position included responsibility for the flight training of all customer pilots and aircrew members as well as the maintenance training of all support personnel. Of particular note was the training of the Apollo astronauts who flew Grumman’s Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) to the moon.
The top left photo shows Campo on the right in front of the F-94C with his Radar Intercept Officer, Lt. Kevin Maher. The top center photo shows Campo on the far left with other pilots at the USAF Fighter School in front of the T-33. The photos of Campo standing next to and on the wing of the T-6 (top right and middle left) were taken on the day he checked out in the aircraft. The photos in the middle right and bottom left are of Campo landing his F-94C at Otis AFB. The bottom right photo is Campo in front of his T-33 jet trainer. Photos and information were provided by Steve and Judy Campo.
