State Air Guard founder enters Delaware Aviation Hall of Fame

National Guard, Nov 2002 by Gratteri, Len

One of the founding fathers of the Delaware Air Guard was recently recognized for his significant contributions to the state's aviation history.

Retired Brig. Gen. William W Spruance and five other pilots were enshrined in the Delaware Aviation Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the duPont Aviation Facility at New Castle County Airport Oct. 12.

Spruance has served the aviation community for more than 60 years, but his impact extends well beyond Delaware.

In 1940 he helped develop close-air support at Fort Benning, Ga., at the request of his division commander, Gen. George S. Patton.

The two met at the local airport while learning to fly their own airplanes. At the time, air-to-ground communications required commanders to shout from open windows of slow-flying planes. Patton told Spruance to take the lead in devising better communications.

Piloting rented Piper Cub aircraft or his own Culver Cadet, Spruance helped make air-to-ground communications more efficient, using radios , aerial photography, smoke flares and artillery bursts.

At Patton's suggestion, he transferred to the Army Air Corps in 1942. After graduating at the top of his flightschool class, he was assigned to the China-Burma-India theater of operations, where he flew 362 supply missions.

After World War II, Spruance became one of the original members of the Delaware Air National Guard. He worked his way through the ranks to become the state's first Air Guard assistant adjutant general in 1956. He served in that capacity for 20 years.

Spruance is also well known for turning a near-fatal 1961 T-33 airplane crash into a safety crusade. Today, he is a safety expert with more than 1,500 presentations to hundreds of thousands of aviators and support personnel.

For his efforts, the Air Guard's annual safety award a recently dedicated building at the Air National Guard Training and Education Center at McGhee-Tyson Air National Guard Base, Tenn., bears his name.

Spruance served or continues to serve on numerous governing boards of aviation or military support organizations, including the NGAUS. He is also a significant contributor to the National Guard Education Foundation.

-By Maj. Len Gratteri