Richard M. Kimm, USN
BA University of Connecticut
U.S. Naval Aviator
Two Deployments on USS Lake Champlain
Atlantic Aviation Wilmington Pilot
Flight Safety International Learning Center
Decades of Commercial Flying After Flight Safety International
Richard M. Kimm earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business from the University of Connecticut in 1959. He entered the United States Navy to begin his 50-year career in Aviation. He served twice on the USS Lake Champlain flying the Grumman S2F Tracker. He became a Double Centurion on his first deployment aboard the USS Lake Champlain and a Triple Centurion upon his second deployment on the USS Lake Champlain. During his second deployment, he was also credited with performing the last “Paddle Landing” aboard an aircraft carrier.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), he flew risky missions to get pictures of Soviet Missile Sites. In 1969, he served as Aide to Rear Admiral Thomas D. Davies
.
After his Naval service, he joined Atlantic Aviation in Wilmington, Delaware. While flying for Atlantic Aviation, he convinced the President of FlightSafety International to build a new stand-alone Training Center at the Greater Wilmington Airport with state-of-the-art simulators. FlightSafety International hired Richard Kimm to follow through on his vision. For more than a dozen years, Richard Kimm managed the Wilmington FlightSafety International Training Center making it one of the largest and most utilized Flight Learning Centers in America.
Dick Kimm raised his family in Delaware and made long-term contributions to Delaware Aviation with Atlantic Aviation and Flight Safety International before returning to commercial flying.
After FlightSafety International, Richard Kimm worked for two more decades with Eastern Airlines, Page AvJet, Southern Jet Aviation, Pacific Jet Aviation, Universal Weather and Aviation, and Air Service Hawaii.
