Ex-Blue Angels leader Raleigh "Dusty" Rhodes dies in Calif. at 89; POW in WWII

AZ Star ^ | 12-5-07

[STARWISE]

Raleigh "Dusty" Rhodes, an early leader of the Blue Angels flight demonstration team who flew combat missions in two wars and was a prisoner of war, has died. He was 89.

Rhodes died Nov. 26 of lung cancer in San Jose, his daughter Debra Rhodes said on Tuesday.

The elder Rhodes flew fighters off of the USS Enterprise during World War II. In the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands near Guadalcanal in October 1942, he was shot down and captured by the Japanese.

He spent the next three years in a prisoner camp, where he was beaten and starved, his daughter said. Rhodes weighed about 88 pounds when he emerged from the camp at the end of the war, she said.

During his imprisonment, he was personally interrogated by Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, who had planned the attack on Pearl Harbor and most other major operations during the era.

Her father would talk about this imprisonment "if you asked him about it," Debra Rhodes said. "He wouldn't bring it up. He was a very modest man."

After his return from the camp, Rhodes joined the Blue Angels in their second year. He soon became the third leader of the precision flying team.

Aerobatic flying was therapeutic, Rhodes told The Associated Press in an interview last year at a reunion and air show to mark the Blue Angels' 60th anniversary. "I was so busy flying that I didn't have time to think about the war," he said.

Rhodes helped the team perfect the diamond barrel roll, where four jets perform a loop in a tight diamond formation, becoming inverted at the top.

The Blue Angels were an instant success, creating traffic jams whenever they performed, he said.

"We were a hit, oh yes, gee whiz, we were," Rhodes said. "It is the greatest type of flying and they are the greatest team in the world."

Rhodes also flew fighter planes off an aircraft carrier in the Korean War. After 20 years in the Navy and many medals including two Purple Hearts and three Air Medals, he retired at the rank of commander. A book was published about him last year.

[STARWISE]

RIP, hero.

At his home in 2006.

From POW to Blue Angel: The Story of Commander Dusty Rhodes

[STARWISE]

Link requires registration for more than one
view (I found out after reading it one time ;)

Here’s another article.

http://www.fresnobee.com/384/story/244555.html

[rlmorel]

Thanks for posting this. He lived a full and meaningful life...now he is with his Lord, may he Rest In Peace.

[A.A. Cunningham]

No registration required:

Ex-Blue Angels leader Raleigh "Dusty" Rhodes dies in Calif at 89

[Mr_Moonlight]

Last time I posted this pic on FR, my website got capped for a month due to traffic overload ... but what the heck, posting it again:

God Speed, Dusty

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies and gents. Flag-o-Gram.

[alfa6]

Dang I don't have a Navy Missing Man Formation, thank goodness.

Sad Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[STARWISE]

Beautiful.

[STARWISE]

Thanks. ;)

[STARWISE]

Thanks, alfa .. I LOVE the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds.

[alfa6]

You would be welcome :-)

Reagrds

alfa6 ;>}

[June K.]

A great photo and a fitting tribute to “Dusty” Rhodes.

Thanks for sharing this, MM.

Junie

[yarddog]

A little off topic but I bet I have known 15 people nicknamed “Dusty Rhodes”, and probably 30 named “Andy Anderson”.

[colorado tanker]

Thanks, PE. The Blue Angels are the best!

My dad took me to see them in the Midwest, about as far as you can be from salt water in any direction - but the Navy for some reason put a Naval Air Station there.

[Samwise]