When Jim Goldfinch talks airplanes with his niece’s husband, they each bring a wealth of experience to the discussion, and a fondness for the U.S. Navy comes through. James B. Goldfinch, of Conway, S.C., was an Aviation Machinists Mate during and immediately following the Second World War. His niece is married to U. S. Navy Vice Admiral Joe Dyer, Commander of the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), the organization that engineers, acquires, tests, and supports aircraft and air weapons for the U.S. Navy.

Goldfinch and Dyer got together recently in front of a World War II Navy F-6F Hellcat at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Pensacola, FL, and had a chance to catch up. Goldfinch remembered his days in the U.S. Navy, much of which was spent in Vero Beach, Florida, training pilots on the care and maintenance of the Hellcat Navy fighter. As a Machinist Mate for the Hellcat during World War II, Goldfinch said pilots came through Vero Beach every 12 weeks. “We would train them: show the how to service the planes, check them out, check the magnetos, and get them in the air,” Goldfinch said. “It’s been more than 50 years, but I believe I could get in and start one up today.

The pace was such that some of the plane engines never cooled off. One pilot would fly for about 4 hours, and then the next pilot would fly. “We put three engines in one airplane during one 18 month period,” Goldfinch said.

Dyer knows a little bit about aircraft maintenance. As an Aeronautical Engineering Duty Officer (AEDO), he has spent a good portion of his career concerned with keeping the Navy’s aircraft flying. His command, NAVAIR, includes three depot facilities that provide maintenance to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps fleet of aircraft, that help assure that the Navy inventory continues to have all the airpower it needs.

Mr. Goldfinch traveled extensively in the Pacific theater immediately following the end of WWII, stopping for brief assignments in Japan, Okinawa, Pearl Harbor, and Hong Kong. The stop in Hong Kong provided a change from his regular machinist mate duties when he was assigned to be the driver for the commanding officer of the USS Tangiers, a seaplane tender to which he was then assigned. “The experience in Hong Kong was interesting. I got to meet the U.S. Consul General and several other important people while I was driving for Captain Quackenbush. The Captain was also a photographer, and later was in charge of organizing the photography for the Navy of the atomic bomb explosion on Eniwetok Island.”

After specializing in Hellcats for the first part of his career, Goldfinch worked on PBM Seaplanes in the pacific, keeping them in top shape as they delivered cargo and mail, and provided troop transport after the war. “The PBMs had a small auxillary power unit that provided them extra power during takeoffs and landings—a safety mechanism. While the flight was airborne, those units could be hooked up to a kind of hot plate arrangement and provide the crew with hot meals while they were flying,” Goldfinch said.

Innovations in flight are something Vice Admiral Dyer knows about too. NAVAIR is home to an array of innovative aircraft programs and systems, including unmanned aircraft and weapons systems that keep today’s Naval Aviators at the forefront of technology and planning for the future. Dyer has challenged NAVAIR personnel to keep the fleet Sailors and Marines charged with fighting the nation’s battles in the forefront of their thoughts. One of Dyer’s primary directives to his people is to move from being “customer focused” to being “Fleet Driven.”

Innovations are not only important in developing aircraft and weapons systems, but also in the processes that enable those systems to be built. NAVAIR is leading the way into the future with a number of programs that will dramatically modernize NAVAIR’s business practices, the command’s administrative support, and is one of the first commands to implement the new Navy/Marine Corps Intranet, a system that will reconfigure computer systems throughout Navy and Marine Corps. NAVAIR is also at the forefront in developing simulator and training systems that will serve the Navy and the other services well into the coming decades.

Goldfinch said he has watched Dyer’s career with interest.

“I was always interested in aviation, especially in Naval aviation, and when Joe married my niece Melda, he kept me interested because of all the things he was doing. Through his time as a test pilot and his various flying assignments, he’s always been a people’s person,” Goldfinch said. You can see it when he visits with children. He’s always been kind and gentle, but firm, and they respond to that. I’m mighty proud of him.”

Dyer speaks with pride of his wife’s uncle, as well. “Those of us in Naval aviation stand on the shoulders of men like Jim Goldfinch,” Dyer said. “They worked to pioneer Naval aviation, and nurture it through its infancy. I couldn’t be prouder of him, and we aviators today owe a debt of gratitude to those who built, maintained and flew the aircraft that went before us.”

Photo Cutline: James B. Goldfinch stands next to his nephew, Vice Admiral Joe Dyer, in front of a U.S. Navy F-6F Hellcat fighter, the aircraft the Goldfinch maintained during World War II. Dyer is the Commander of the U.S. Navy Air Systems Command.