As a young boy at the tender age of eight years old, little Henri Bertram Chase III liked to climb up on the garage roof at his home in Kilmarnock, Virginia and watch the sky. One day, a United States Navy pilot flying a bent wing Corsair propeller fighter plane, flew low over the garage with the cockpit canopy pulled back and his white scarf flapping in the wind. Little Chase waved, and the pilot waved back. Chase was thrilled and thus began his lifelong passion for airplanes and flying. By that time, he was already filling a scrapbook with any picture of an airplane he could find including some he drew himself. At about age twelve, he had the opportunity to fly with an old pilot named Jack Harper who was a fish spotter searching for schools of fish to report back to the fishing fleet. Chase always remembered this flight because he said he flew higher than the turkey buzzards. From that moment on, he was destined to be an aviator.
Chase’s time growing up in Kilmarnock was typical of a small town. He spent Saturday nights driving up and down Main Street looking to see who was in town. Chase told a story of how one day he and his friend were out hunting when the game warden appeared. Chase had his license, but his friend did not. Chase took off running, and the warden followed. By the time the warden caught up with Chase his friend was long gone, and the warden realized he had been tricked.
Henri Bertram Chase III preferred to be called Bert. He was born in Kilmarnock, Virginia and was the only child of Henri B. Chase Jr. and Margaret George Chase. He attended Kilmarnock High School and received a bachelor’s degree in physical education from William and Mary College in Williamsburg in 1955. He enlisted in the navy on May 4, 1955. By March 1, 1957, he was appointed a naval aviator.
Chase qualified as a jet fighter pilot after he completed All-Weather Fighter School at Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West while flying a F9F-2 Panther. By then a Lieutenant LTJG, Chase reported to Fighter Squadron VF-81 at NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He was flying an all-weather interceptor F9F-8B, Cougar. There are no photos to prove it, but eyewitness Fletcher Brown Sr. claimed he was on the bridge when Chase flew under it. His lifelong friend Carroll Lee Ashburn confirmed the story. Ashburn said after carefully reconnoitering the bridge by car, Chase flew his F9F-8B jet fighter under the Rappahannock River Bridge (Norris Bridge) at six hundred miles per hour.
Chase was assigned to Fighter Squadron VF-81 and deployed to the Mediterranean in November of 1957 onboard the attack carrier USS Lake Champlain. While in that post, Chase created a static display of the A4-D2 Skyhawk and a fly-by at the Paris Air Show. In October of 1964, Chase was assigned duties as an exchange pilot with the Royal Navy at Royal Navy Air Station (RNAS) in Lossiemouth, Scotland and RNAS in Yeovilton, England. Chase graduated from the Royal Navy fighter weapons School and British Tactical Air Strike force courses.
Chase received the call sign “FOX BLACK” from Greek aviators he was flying with in September of 1965 when he was taking part in a bombing derby run by the Greek Air Force. In July of 1970, having been promoted to commander, Chase attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. While at the same time he was concurrently earning a master’s in international relations from George Washington University.
Chase was truly a shining light in the US Navy. He made five Mediterranean cruises in the next ten years. He did a tour in the North Atlantic, two combat deployments to Vietnam, the second as commander of Attack Squadron VA-105 nicknamed the “Gunslingers”. In 1976 he was promoted to the rank of captain and in 1985 to rear admiral.
While on exchange duty with the Royal Navy, Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm at Glasgow, South Ayrshire in Scotland, Chase kept hearing British pilots talking about flying under the Gannet. The Gannet was an extremely low flying anti-submarine airplane. Because it flew low above the water, it would be exceedingly difficult to fly under it. Chase did not know that no one else had really done it before. So, Chase went ahead and did it. While with the Brits, Chase joined the Caterpillar Club when he ejected from a Buccaneer aircraft that was coming apart during a high speed, low-level test flight. The Caterpillar Club is an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft. Chase did exactly that when the Buccaneer aircraft he was flying at a low level broke up. He and his copilot were ejected. Chase was hospitalized with injuries to his back and was briefly paralyzed from the waist down. In fact, the parachute lock jammed, and Chase nearly drowned in the Gulf of Aden between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, while struggling to release the chute that was dragging him below the surface. His copilot suffered a broken leg. Fortunately, both pilots fully recovered.
Genny Chase, his wife of forty-two years, recalls that when Chase came into a room, he lit it up. He was the center of attention, and his wit and charm permeated the space. Genny Chase said, “Chase was the most entertaining man I ever met.” He spoke precise English in a cheerful baritone voice, and he was “humble”. While at the same time he was quite “mischievous.” Genny recalls him telling a story about how he flew down main street in Kilmarnock upside down just fifty feet about the light poles. Chase loved to fly low over his farmer friend, Nick Hudnall, when he spotted him on his tractor plowing his field. He would often fly his jet plane above his aunt’s nursing home and switch the afterburners on and off to make them pop to get her attention. She would come out, and he would do a little air show for her.
Chase achieved over 8,500 flight hours and more than 1,100 carrier landings. During his career he commanded the Amphibious Assault Ship USS Guam and the Amphibious Assault Carrier USS Belleau Wood. He also commanded Carrier Air Wing Six, Light Attack Wing One, VA-105 (A-7 Squadron), the Naval Safety Center, Strike/Fighter Wing Atlantic, Amphibious Group ONE/Amphibious Forces Seventh Fleet.
Chase’s awards are many and are proudly displayed in his home in Kilmarnock, Virginia. He was knighted by the king of Thailand for excellent service and inducted into the “Order of the While Elephant” as a Knight Commander. In 1971, he received the George Washington Honor Medal award from the Freedom’s Foundation at Valley Forge. On the walls of his home, many awards are displayed. There are a Legion of Merit award, two Meritorious Service Medals, and an Air Medal with numeral “6”. Further over on the wall there is a U.S. Navy Commendation Medal and a Combat “V”, a U.S. Navy Unit Commendation, and a Meritorious Unit Commendation. Below that are a U.S. Navy Battle Efficiency Ribbon, Navy Expeditionary Medal, and a National Defense Service Medal. Displayed as well are a Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with four bronze stars and a Sea Service Deployment ribbon. Chase also received the Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Unit Citation and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.
Chase met Genny Clark Bowling at Naval Air Station Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Florida, a master jet airplane base. Genny worked for the officer in charge of maintenance at Commander Light Attack Wing One. Chase was at the time, commander of the wing and was in charge of all east coast squadrons. They were married on June 15th, 1979. Chase’s son Henri Gordon Chase followed his father’s lead into the navy and retired as a commander. His son Michael Betram Chase, also an F/A-18 pilot, retired from the navy as a captain. Son Crighton Andrew Chase, is an attorney. Son Ian Alexander Chase is a restaurateur.
After his retirement Chase and his wife, also a pilot, Genny Chase flew their own airplane on many trips across the United States. On one adventure they flew across Australia in a rented plane with a local pilot. Genny says Chase never boasted of his being an admiral. She said they got to know an airplane mechanic who took care of their Comanche airplane after Chase retired and went with him on several trips. The mechanic never knew Chase was an admiral. He flew with the Chases for five years before he accidentally discovered Chase was an admiral.
Chase passed away on January 20, 2021, at the age of 88 years. As his wife Genny said, “He loved aviation, loved his country, loved God and his family. He was very patriotic man. He spent 36 years defending his country and doing what he loved to do, and a lot of people are not lucky enough to do that.”
In honor of the life of Rear Admiral Henri Chase III, Strike Fighter Squadron VFA 87 honored his life with a F/A-18 four man, missing-man formation. During the memorial service at Claybrook Baptist Church in Weems, Virginia on July 17th, 2021, four fighter jets flew over the church then one turned away from the formation signifying the passing of a fighter pilot.
The most fitting epitaph should be he was a hero, a pilot, a patriot, and a man who loved his country with all his heart. Like the aviator in the prayer High Flight written by fighter pilot John Gillespie Magee Jr, Henri Betram Chase III was one of those fortunate enough to be able to say “I put out my hand and touched the face of God.”