Richmond, Virginia

Inducted in 1986, William M. Davenport, Sr., started flying in the late 1930’s and taught flying at the University of Virginia until the outbreak of WWII.  He joined the U.S. Navy during WWII and flew PBMs and PB2Y3R Corranado flying boats.  After WWII, Davenport became the president of Long Island Airlines, a commuter airline flying amphibians out of downtown New York. Called back to active duty during the Berlin Airlift, he was selected to be one of the pilots for the Secretary of the Navy, flying a Douglas DC-4.  After leaving the Navy for the second time, Davenport founded Davenport Airlines, a Richmond-based charter operations specializing in aerial pipeline and power line patrol.  After selling his business in 1976, he founded Aviation Specialists, Inc., a contract-flying firm that did everything form aerial photography to aerial advertising.