Veteran in crisis? Dial 988 then press 1 · Text 838255 Next observance: Navy Birthday · October 13
Honoring American TroopsMedal of Honor Archive

Valor / achievement

Notable recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross

Heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight.

About this decoration

400 notable recipients

Names link to Wikipedia; ★ MoH marks people who also received the Medal of Honor (links to their profile here).

NameLifeBranchWar
George H. W. Bush1924–2018United States NavyWorld War II
John McCain1936–2018United States NavyVietnam War
Amelia Earhart1897–1939
Buzz Aldrin1930United States Air ForceKorean War
Douglas MacArthur ★ MoH1880–1964Philippine ArmyWorld War I
Clark Gable1901–1960World War II
James Stewart1908–1997United States Army Air CorpsWorld War II
Charles Lindbergh ★ MoH1902–1974United States Air Force
Michael Collins1930–2021United States Air Force
John Glenn1921–2016United States Marine CorpsWorld War II
Joseph McCarthy1908–1957United States Marine CorpsWorld War II
Alan Shepard1923–1998United States NavyWorld War II
Jim Lovell1928–2025United States Navy
Gene Roddenberry1921–1991World War II
Frank Borman1928–2023United States Air Force
Eugene Cernan1934–2017United States Navy
Richard E. Byrd ★ MoH1888–1957United States NavyWorld War I
Chuck Yeager1923–2020United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Pete Conrad1930–1999United States Navy
John Young1930–2018United States Navy
Gus Grissom1926–1967United States Air ForceKorean War
Italo Balbo1896–1940Royal Italian Air ForceWorld War I
Eileen Collins1956United States Air Force
David Scott1932United States Air Force
Scott Carpenter1925–2013United States NavyKorean War
Wally Schirra1923–2007United States NavyWorld War II
George McGovern1922–2012United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Norman Schwarzkopf Jr.1934–2012United States ArmyVietnam War
Alexander Haig1924–2010United States ArmyVietnam War
Thomas P. Stafford1930–2024United States Air Force
Charles Bolden1946United States Marine CorpsVietnam War
Robert Jordan1948–2007United States NavyVietnam War
Francis Gary Powers1929–1977United States Air Force
Gordon Cooper1927–2004United States Air Force
Mark Kelly1964United States Navy
Paul Tibbets1915–2007United States Army Air CorpsWorld War II
Richard F. Gordon1929–2017United States Navy
Henry H. Arnold1886–1950aviationWorld War I
Dick Scobee1939–1986United States Air ForceVietnam War
Scott Kelly1964United States Navy
Michael J. Smith1945–1986United States NavyVietnam War
James McDivitt1929–2022United States Air ForceKorean War
Robert Crippen1937United States Navy
Curtis LeMay1906–1990Ohio National GuardWorld War II
Joseph Kittinger1928–2022United States Air ForceVietnam War
Jacqueline Cochran1906–1980United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Joe Engle1932–2024United States Air Force
Donn F. Eisele1930–1987United States Air Force
Ted Stevens1923–2010United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Jimmy Doolittle ★ MoH1896–1993United States Air ForceWorld War I
Wolfgang Reitherman1909–1985United States Air ForceWorld War II
Lloyd Bentsen1921–2006United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Scott Altman1959United States Navy
Dan Caine1968United States Air Force
Lauri Törni1919–1965Finnish ArmyWorld War II
Hugh Thompson Jr.1943–2006United States NavyVietnam War
Alan G. Poindexter1961–2012United States Navy
Richard H. Truly1937–2024United States Navy
Steven Lindsey1960United States Air Force
Louis Zamperini1917–2014United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Lee Archambault1960United States Air Force
Claire Lee Chennault1893–1958aviationWorld War I
Christopher Ferguson1961United States Navy
George D. Zamka1962United States Marine Corps
C. Gordon Fullerton1936–2013United States Air Force
Tim Holt1919–1973World War II
Sabu Dastagir1924–1963World War II
Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.1915–1944United States NavyWorld War II
Robert L. Gibson1946United States NavyVietnam War
Dale Gardner1948–2014United States Navy
Ronald J. Garan1961United States Air Force
Frank L. Culbertson1949United States Navy
Frederick D. Gregory1941United States Air ForceVietnam War
James C. Adamson1946Vietnam War
Stephen Frick1964United States Navy
Carl Andrew Spaatz1891–1974United States Air ForceWorld War I
Jack Valenti1921–2007World War II
Richard O. Covey1946United States Air ForceVietnam War
Karol J. Bobko1937–2023United States Air Force
Brewster H. Shaw1945United States Air Force
Andrew M. Allen1955United States Marine Corps
Gregory H. Johnson1962United States Air Force
Donald E. Williams1942–2016United States Navy
John Shalikashvili1936–2011United States ArmyVietnam War
James Stockdale ★ MoH1923–2005United States NavyVietnam War
Michael Coats1946United States NavyVietnam War
Wiley Post1898–1935
Loren Shriver1944United States Air Force
John Casper1943United States Air ForceVietnam War
Frederick Hauck1941–2025United States NavyVietnam War
Daniel Brandenstein1943United States NavyVietnam War
John E. Blaha1942United States Air ForceVietnam War
Dominic L. Pudwill Gorie1957United States Navy
Steven R. Nagel1946–2014United States Air Force
Richard Bong ★ MoH1920–1945United States ArmyWorld War II
Joseph Albert Walker1921–1966World War II
Robert L. Stewart1942United States ArmyVietnam War
Kenneth D. Cameron1949United States Marine CorpsVietnam War
Ronald J. Grabe1945United States Air ForceVietnam War
Mike Mullane1945United States Air ForceVietnam War
Jim Gibbons1944Nevada Air National GuardVietnam War
Robert F. Overmyer1936–1996United States Marine Corps
Eugene Burton Ely1886–1911United States Navy
Bruce E. Melnick1949
John Oliver Creighton1943United States Navy
David M. Walker1944–2001United States Navy
Jim Wetherbee1952United States Navy
Brent W. Jett1958United States Navy
S. David Griggs1939–1989United States NavyVietnam War
Byron K. Lichtenberg1948United States Air ForceVietnam War
Brian Duffy1953United States Air Force
Jeffrey Ashby1954United States Navy
Guy Gardner1948United States Air Force
Kevin P. Chilton1954United States Air Force
John Ehrlichman1925–1999World War II
Theodore Van Kirk1921–2014United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Jeremiah Denton1924–2014United States NavyVietnam War
Sherwood C. Spring1944Vietnam War
Bryan D. O'Connor1946United States Marine Corps
Michael A. Baker1953United States Navy
Jim Wright1922–2015World War II
Wayne Morris1914–1959United States NavyWorld War II
Charles L. Veach1944–1995United States Air ForceVietnam War
Mark C. Lee1952United States Air Force
Terrence W. Wilcutt1949United States Marine Corps
Duane G. Carey1957United States Air Force
Walton H. Walker1889–1950United States ArmyWorld War I
Lewis Hyde Brereton1890–1967United States ArmyWorld War I
Sam Johnson1930–2020United States Air ForceVietnam War
Richard Bowman Myers1942United States Air ForceVietnam War
Farid Simaika1907–1943
Donald R. McMonagle1952United States Air Force
Robert D. Cabana1949United States Marine Corps
Stephen S. Oswald1951United States Navy
Richard N. Richards1946United States Navy
Edward J. Ruppelt1923–1960United States Air ForceWorld War II
Edward O'Hare ★ MoH1914–1943United States NavyWorld War II
Hoyt Vandenberg1899–1954United States Air ForceWorld War II
Paul Picerni1922–2011World War II
George Patton IV1923–2004United States ArmyVietnam War
Joe F. Edwards1958United States Navy
Steve Pearce1947United States Air Force
Charles J. Precourt1955United States Air Force
Roy D. Bridges Jr.1943United States Air Force
Richard A. Searfoss1956–2018United States Air Force
Terence T. Henricks1952United States Air Force
William F. Readdy1952United States Navy
Carl J. Meade1950United States Air Force
James Dunbar1930–2018
Ira Clarence Eaker1896–1987United States Air ForceWorld War II
Robin Olds1922–2007United States Air ForceWorld War II
Michael Durant1961United States Army
David Leestma1949United States Navy
George Kenney1889–1977United States Air ForceWorld War I
Nathan Farragut Twining1897–1982United States Air ForceWorld War I
Richard Halsey Best1910–2001United States NavyWorld War II
Brendan Byrne1924–2018World War II
Robert C. Springer1942United States Marine CorpsVietnam War
Robert Michael White1924–2010United States Air ForceKorean War
Kent Rominger1956United States Navy
Patrick J. Hurley1883–1963United States ArmyWorld War I
Gabby Gabreski1919–2002United States Air ForceWorld War II
Frank Kurtz1911–1996United States Air ForceWorld War II
Johnnie Johnson1915–2001British ArmyWorld War II
Bernt Balchen1899–1973United States Air ForceWorld War II
William Hathaway1924–2013World War II
Thomas Hinman Moorer1912–2004United States NavyWorld War II
Benjamin A. Gilman1922–2016United States Army Air CorpsWorld War II
Dieter Dengler1938–2001United States NavyVietnam War
Leonard Boswell1934–2018United States ArmyVietnam War
Joe Foss1915–2003United States Air ForceWorld War II
David L. Goldfein1959United States Air ForceGulf War
Howard Cannon1912–2002United States Air Force
Frank Maxwell Andrews1884–1943United States ArmyWorld War I
Hermann Köhl1888–1938World War I
Edward Almond1892–1979United States ArmyWorld War I
Bud Anderson1922–2024United States Air ForceWorld War II
Thomas McGuire ★ MoH1920–1945United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
George Scratchley Brown1918–1978United States Air ForceWorld War II
Thomas B. Hayward1924–2022United States NavyWorld War II
Joseph Ralston1943United States Air ForceVietnam War
Stephen Coonts1946United States NavyVietnam War
Arseny Vorozheykin1914–2001Soviet Air ForcesWinter War
Rudolf Anderson1927–1962United States Air ForceKorean War
André Coyne1891–1960French Air ForceWorld War I
Frederick Ashworth1912–2005United States NavyWorld War II
Bernard W. Rogers1921–2008United States ArmyWorld War II
David C. Jones1921–2013United States Air ForceWorld War II
James L. Holloway III1922–2019United States NavyWorld War II
Alvin S. White1918–2006United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Brett King1920–1999World War II
Joe Kernan1946–2020United States NavyVietnam War
Jesse L. Brown1926–1950United States NavyKorean War
Mark Welsh1953United States Air ForceGulf War
Kermit Beahan1918–1989United States Air ForceWorld War II
John F. Bolt1921–2004United States Marine CorpsWorld War II
C. Wade McClusky1902–1976United States NavyWorld War II
Dominic Salvatore Gentile1920–1951United States Air ForceWorld War II
Frank Kendall Everest Jr.1920–2004United States Air ForceWorld War II
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.1912–2002United States Air ForceWorld War II
Dan Rowan1922–1987World War II
Haywood S. Hansell1903–1988United States Air ForceWorld War II
Jacob Beser1921–1992United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Witold Urbanowicz1908–1996Polish Air Force (1918-1939)World War II
Walter Grauman1922–2015World War II
Daniel James, Jr.1920–1978United States Air ForceWorld War II
Leighton W. Smith, Jr.1939–2023United States NavyVietnam War
Iven Carl Kincheloe1928–1958United States Air ForceKorean War
Donald Grant Nutter1915–1962
Marshall B. Webb1961United States Air Force
John B. Coulter1891–1983World War I
Richard E. Cole1915–2019United States Air ForceWorld War II
Bob Hoover1922–2016United States Air ForceWorld War II
Forrest Silas Petersen1922–1990United States NavyWorld War II
Alexander Vraciu1918–2015United States NavyWorld War II
Jerry Coleman1924–2014United States Marine CorpsWorld War II
Lee Archer1919–2010United States Air ForceWorld War II
Bruce Perry Crandall ★ MoH1933–2026United States ArmyWorld War II
Thomas S. Power1905–1970United States Air ForceWorld War II
Cal Worthington1920–2013United States Army Air CorpsWorld War II
Charles McGee1919–2022United States Air ForceWorld War II
Dick Rutan1938–2024United States Air ForceVietnam War
Dennis Reimer1939United States ArmyVietnam War
Merrill McPeak1936United States Air ForceVietnam War
John Galvin1929–2015United States ArmyVietnam War
William John Knight1929–2004United States Air ForceVietnam War
Alexander Butterfield1926–2026United States Air ForceVietnam War
Michael E. Ryan1941United States Air ForceVietnam War
Chuck Horner1936United States Air ForceVietnam War
Mary Jennings Hegar1976United States Air ForceWar in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
Bruce Alger1918–2015
Aubrey Fitch1883–1978United States NavyWorld War I
William E. DePuy1919–1992United States ArmyWorld War II
William Randolph Lovelace II1907–1965World War II
Bud Day ★ MoH1925–2013United States Air ForceWorld War II
Robert Lee Scott Jr.1908–2006United States Air ForceWorld War II
George W. Casey, Sr.1922–1970United States ArmyWorld War II
David Hackworth1930–2005United States ArmyWorld War II
Samuel C. Phillips1921–1990United States Air ForceWorld War II
Ben Kuroki1917–2015World War II
Frederick Kroesen1923–2020United States ArmyWorld War II
Robert Aitken Rushworth1924–1993United States Air ForceWorld War II
Arthur Chin1913–1997World War II
John Arthur Love1916–2002World War II
Elliott Roosevelt1910–1990World War II
John Dale Ryan1915–1983United States Air ForceWorld War II
David McCampbell ★ MoH1910–1996United States NavyWorld War II
Bolesław Gładych1918–2011Polish Air Force (1918-1939)World War II
Charles F. Blair, Jr.1909–1978United States Air ForceWorld War II
Everett Alvarez, Jr.1937United States NavyVietnam War
Richard E. Cavazos1929–2017United States ArmyVietnam War
Bryan D. Brown1948United States ArmyVietnam War
John R. Dailey1934United States Marine CorpsVietnam War
Louis Beam1946Vietnam War
Wayne A. Downing1940–2007United States ArmyVietnam War
Morton Deutsch1920–2017
Bruce Sundlun1920–2011United States Army Air Forces
Roscoe Turner1895–1970
George Brett1886–1963United States ArmyWorld War I
George E. Stratemeyer1890–1969United States Air ForceWorld War I
William H. Blanchard1916–1966United States Air ForceWorld War II
Robert M. Hanson ★ MoH1920–1944United States Marine CorpsWorld War II
Joe M. Kilgore1918–1999World War II
John Paul Hammerschmidt1922–2015World War II
Robert Rosenthal1917–2007United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Harold Charles Gatty1903–1957World War II
George Welch1918–1954United States Air ForceWorld War II
Joseph C. McConnell1922–1954United States Air ForceWorld War II
James H. Howard ★ MoH1913–1995United States Air ForceWorld War II
John David Vanderhoof1922–2013United States NavyWorld War II
John P. McConnell1908–1986United States Air ForceWorld War II
Émile Allegret1907–1990Free French Air ForceWorld War II
Steve Pisanos1919–2016Royal Air ForceWorld War II
Charles H. MacDonald1914–2002United States Air ForceWorld War II
Glen Edwards1918–1948World War II
Charles Kettles ★ MoH1930–2019United States ArmyVietnam War
Patrick Henry Brady ★ MoH1936United States ArmyVietnam War
Sam S. Walker1925–2015United States ArmyVietnam War
John P. Jumper1945United States Air ForceVietnam War
Frank E. Petersen1932–2015United States Marine CorpsVietnam War
Fitzhugh L. Fulton1925–2015United States Air ForceCold War
Charles R. Holland1946United States Air ForceVietnam War
Stanford Parris1929–2010United States Air ForceKorean War
Edward Lunn Young1920–2017
Jack C. Taylor1922–2016United States Navy
Bennett Griffin1895–1978
Donald O. Clifton1924–2003
Hansford T. Johnson1936United States Air Force
Lowell Herbert Smith1892–1945United States Army Air ServiceWorld War I
Harold L. George1893–1986United States Air ForceWorld War I
Charles Emery Rosendahl1892–1977United States NavyWorld War I
Tadeusz Sawicz1914–2011Polish Air Force (1918-1939)World War II
Venero Mangano1921–2017World War II
William Keir Carr1923–2020Royal Canadian Air ForceWorld War II
James Philo Hagerstrom1921–1994United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
William G. Farrow1918–1942United States ArmyWorld War II
Louis Edward Curdes1919–1995United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
John Hyland1912–1998United States NavyWorld War II
John Paul Vann1924–1972United States ArmyWorld War II
Joseph Warren Stilwell, Jr.1912–1966United States ArmyWorld War II
Leon W. Johnson ★ MoH1904–1997United States Air ForceWorld War II
Robert Stanford Tuck1916–1987Royal Air ForceWorld War II
George Andrew Davis ★ MoH1920–1952United States Air ForceWorld War II
Alan Christopher Deere1917–1995Royal Air ForceWorld War II
James Sargent Russell1903–1996United States NavyWorld War II
George H. McKee1923–2015United States Air ForceWorld War II
David Lee "Tex" Hill1915–2007United States Air ForceWorld War II
Donald Blakeslee1917–2008United States Air ForceWorld War II
Errol Holmes1905–1960British ArmyWorld War II
Richard Harding Poff1923–2011World War II
Joe M. Jackson ★ MoH1923–2019United States Air ForceWorld War II
James Jabara1923–1966United States Air ForceWorld War II
Bill Bower1917–2011United States Air ForceWorld War II
Robert S. Johnson1920–1998United States Air ForceWorld War II
Earl Hogan1920–2007World War II
Royce Williams ★ MoH1925United States NavyVietnam War
William R. Richardson1929–2023Cold War
Paul F. Gorman1927–2026United States ArmyVietnam War
Ronald Keys1945United States Air ForceVietnam War
Larry D. Welch1934United States Air ForceCold War
Frederick M. Franks, Jr.1936United States ArmyCold War
George Lee Butler1939United States Air ForceCold War
John W. Foss1933–2020United States ArmyCold War
Ralph Eberhart1946United States Air ForceVietnam War
Bo Gritz1939–2026Vietnam War
Gary E. Luck1937–2024United States ArmyVietnam War
Frederick Edgar Ferguson ★ MoH1939United States ArmyVietnam War
Howell M. Estes III1941–2024United States Air ForceVietnam War
Charles F. Wald1948United States Air ForceVietnam War
Crosbie E. Saint1936–2018United States ArmyVietnam War
Donald J. Kutyna1933United States Air ForceVietnam War
Mark P. Fitzgerald1951United States NavyGulf War
Richard A. Cody1950United States ArmyGulf War
Charles A. Gabriel1928–2003United States Air ForceKorean War
Claude AnShin Thomas1947
Don Herbert1917–2007
Joseph W. Prueher1942United States Navy
Thomas A. Bussiere1963United States Air Force
Richard McCoy, Jr.1942–1974
Shane Osborn1974United States Navy
Reed G. Landis1896–1975Royal Air ForceWorld War I
Hubert R. Harmon1892–1957United States Air ForceWorld War I
Muir Stephen Fairchild1894–1950United States Air ForceWorld War I
James Fitzmaurice1898–1965British ArmyWorld War I
Caleb V. Haynes1895–1966United States Air ForceWorld War I
Delos Carleton Emmons1889–1965World War I
Sherman E. Burroughs1903–1992United States NavyWorld War II
Ted W. Lawson1917–1992United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Truman H. Landon1905–1986United States Air ForceWorld War II
Brunon Godlewski1924–1989World War II
John C. Meyer1919–1975United States Air ForceWorld War II
Phil Rasmussen1918–2005United States Air ForceWorld War II
Lucius D. Clay, Jr.1919–1994United States Air ForceWorld War II
John J. Tolson1915–1991United States ArmyWorld War II
John R. Deane, Jr.1919–2013United States ArmyWorld War II
John T. Hayward1908–1999United States NavyWorld War II
Joseph J. Nazzaro1913–1990United States Air ForceWorld War II
Ralph Cheli ★ MoH1919–1944United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Raymond L. Knight ★ MoH1922–1945United States ArmyWorld War II
Richard G. Stilwell1917–1991United States ArmyWorld War II
Robert L. Coffey1918–1949United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Nathan Green Gordon ★ MoH1916–2008United States NavyWorld War II
Newton Henry Mason1918–1942United States NavyWorld War II
Frederick Walker Castle ★ MoH1908–1944United States ArmyWorld War II
George S. Blanchard1920–2006United States ArmyWorld War II
Harry D. Felt1902–1992United States NavyWorld War II
Duane Beeson1921–1947United States Army Air ForcesWorld War II
Eugene E. Lindsey1905–1942United States NavyWorld War II
Melvin Zais1916–1981World War II
Albert Francis Hegenberger1895–1983United States Air ForceWorld War II
Aleda E. Lutz1915–1944United States ArmyWorld War II
Archibald Wilson1921–2014Rhodesian Air ForceWorld War II
Hunter Harris, Jr.1909–1987United States Air ForceWorld War II
James E. Hill1921–1999United States Air ForceWorld War II
James V. Hartinger1925–2000United States Air ForceWorld War II
Kenneth A. Walsh ★ MoH1916–1998United States Marine CorpsWorld War II
Robert K. Morgan1918–2004United States Air ForceWorld War II
Adrian Warburton1918–1944Royal Air ForceWorld War II
Gordon Blake1910–1997United States Air ForceWorld War II
Billy Drake1917–2011Royal Air ForceWorld War II
Charles D. Palmer1902–1999United States ArmyWorld War II
Philip Cochran1910–1979United States Army Air CorpsWorld War II
Henry Buttelmann1929–2019United States Air ForceVietnam War
Michael Dugan1937United States Air ForceVietnam War
Leo K. Thorsness ★ MoH1932–2017United States Air ForceVietnam War
Leon J. LaPorte1946United States ArmyVietnam War
Lloyd W. Newton1942United States Air ForceVietnam War
Nicholas S. H. Krawciw1935–2021United States ArmyVietnam War
Patrick K. Gamble1945United States Air ForceVietnam War
Ronald W. Yates1938United States Air ForceVietnam War
Roscoe Robinson, Jr.1928–1993United States ArmyVietnam War
Walter J. Boyne1929–2020United States Air ForceVietnam War
Wesley L. McDonald1924–2009United States NavyVietnam War
William J. Livsey1931–2016United States ArmyVietnam War
William L. Kirk1932–2017United States Air ForceVietnam War
Winfield W. Scott, Jr.1927–2022United States Air ForceVietnam War
John K. Davis1927–2019United States Marine CorpsVietnam War
Henry Viccellio Jr.1940–2026United States Air ForceCold War
Ronald Fogleman1942United States Air ForceVietnam War
Jerome L. Johnson1935United States NavyVietnam War