Their Story
Remembering Edward Solomon.
Captain Edward D. Solomon was born on October 27, 1948, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and grew up in Andrews, Texas. He earned his commission with the United States Air Force Academy Class of 1971 and became a rescue helicopter pilot, serving with the 5040th Helicopter Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, where the mission was to bring others home.
On December 7, 1974, Captain Solomon flew his HH-3E toward a small-plane crash site roughly forty-five miles southeast of Anchorage to reach the survivors. As his aircraft came into a hover over the site, sudden whiteout conditions overwhelmed it and the helicopter went down, taking his life; his crew survived.
He was twenty-six. He died as he had served, reaching for someone in need, in some of the harshest country a pilot can fly.