Alfred M . Pride Alfred Melville Pride ( September 10 , 1897 – December 24 , 1988 ) was a United States Navy admiral and pioneer naval aviator , who distinguished himself during World War II as an aircraft carrier commander . He served during the late 1940s as Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics and during the Korean War as Commander of the U . S . Seventh Fleet . Pride ' s career was remarkable for its time , in that he achieved flag rank without having attended the United States Naval Academy or even completing college . ( He did , however , later complete advanced studies in aeronautical engineering . ) A native of Somerville , Massachusetts , he studied engineering at Tufts University in Boston for several years before dropping out to enlist in the Navy during World War I . He served first as a machinist ' s mate in the Naval Reserve , but was soon given the chance to receive flight training and gain a commission as an ensign . Pride was sent to France , where he served briefly during the latter part of the war . In the early 1920s , having joined the Regular Navy , Pride became involved in the experiments to develop U . S . aircraft carriers . He served aboard the " USS Langley " , the converted coaling ship that became the Navy ' s first aircraft carrier , and also took part in the development of the carriers " USS Saratoga " and " USS Lexington " , as a member of the original crews . Pride continued his work in Naval Aviation testing for the rest of the interwar period . He went on to study aeronautical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT ) . In 1931 , he became the first person to land a helicopter on an aircraft carrier . From 1934 - 1936 he headed the Flight Test Section at Naval Air Station Anacostia , Washington , D . C . , at that time the Navy ' s center for aircraft testing . During World War II , Pride served as first commanding officer of the carrier " USS Belleau Wood " ( CVL - 24 ) . He received promotion to Rear Admiral and became Commandant , 14th Naval District , at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii . He then was moved out to Fleet jobs , including command of Carrier Division Six and Carrier Division Four . After the war , Rear Admiral Pride held important positions relating to Naval Aviation ' s technical development . From 1947 - 1951 he served as Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics , the Navy ' s material organization for aviation . From 1952 - 1953 , he commanded the Naval Air Test Center , Patuxent River , Maryland . He returned to the Pacific in 1953 , when he received promotion to Vice Admiral , command of the U . S . Seventh Fleet ( December 1 , 1953 - December 19 , 1955 ) and the first commander of the United States Taiwan Defense Command ( USTDC ) . During this time , he was featured on the cover of the " Time " magazine ( February 7 , 1955 issue ) . Pride served as head of the Seventh Fleet until 1956 , when he became Commander , Air Forces , Pacific Fleet . Pride retired in 1959 as a full Admiral and settled in Arlington , Virginia , where he died in 1988 , aged 91 . He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington , Virginia . Many of his papers are stored at the Archives Division of the Smithsonian Institution ' s National Air and Space Museum , Washington , D . C . Awards and honors . His honors included being a Companion of the Naval Order of the United States and a member of the National Museum of Naval Aviation ' s Hall of Honor . The Navy Department also established the Admiral Alfred M . Pride Frigate ASW Readiness Award , for excellence in Anti - Submarine Warfare in the Navy ' s surface force . In 1961 , Pride was retroactively designated the ninth recipient of the Gray Eagle Award , as the most senior active naval aviator from July 1959 until his retirement later that year . See also . The Navy legacy was continued throughout the years and high honors in Naval history were awarded to Cmdr . Bleu M . Pride ( Grandson of Admiral Pride ) in Operation Desert , Desert Storm Shield , Kosovo and throughout the Pan Pacific theater of Operations .