John Dale Price

John Dale Price was born May 18, 1892 in Augusta, Arkansas,an admiral in the United States Navy, set many records as a naval aviator. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1916[1] along with his friend Spig Wead.. In 1920, he was designated as a naval aviator.[1]

Lieutenants Wead and Price set five world records for Class C seaplanes with a Curtiss CS-2 biplane on June 22–23, 1924 encompassing distance, speed and distance. Lieutenant Price is also credited with making the first planned night landing on a US aircraft carrier, on the USS Langley (CV-1) in a TS fighter biplane on April 8, 1925.

 On January 31, 1944, Price led a squadron of eighteen Coronado bombers in an attack on Japanese positions on Wake Island, flying just twenty-five feet above the Pacific Ocean in order to surprise the enemy. After that successful bombing mission, he led three more against Wake, becoming the only flag officer to win a Distinguished Flying Cross during the war. His citation stated that “he brilliantly conceived, planned, and successfully executed four strikes utilizing Coronado patrol bombers against enemy installations on Wake Island.…The outstanding results of these attacks greatly contributed to the success of the major operations” against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater.

During World War II, he commanded Fleet Air Wing One as a rear admiral being awarded the Navy Cross for his leadership against enemy forces at Okinawa. After the war, he served as commander of the Naval Air Forces in the Pacific from 1947 until 1948 and Vice Chief of Naval Operations for Air from 1948 until 1950. He was promoted to four star rank upon retirement.

He died in 1957 at the Naval Hospital in San Diego and is interred in Arlington National Cemetery.