Raphael "Ray" Harold Barto served in the U.S. Air Force as a fighter pilot from 1942-1966.

Barto was born in Rochester, Pennsylvania on January 11, 1921. He started flying when he was 11 years old.

On July 16, 1941 he enlisted in the military. In 1946 he was commissioned as a 2nd Lietenant and served as an instructor. Between 1948 and 1953 he served as a 1st Lieutenant and Captain with the 31st Fighter Bomber Wing out of Turner Air Force Base in Albany, Georgia. From 1953-1957 he was stationed at the Wheelus Air Force Base in Tripoli, Libya, as part of the Tactical Fighter Training Branch of the 7272nd Air Base Wing and served as flight commander. He received promotion to Major in 1962 and flew with the 563rd Tactical Fighter Squadron. He completed a tour in Vietnam as a combat pilot and received a medal for action while there. He later was stationed at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas as part of the 835th Combat Support Group within the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing 334th Tactical Fighter Squadron. He retired from the military on October 19, 1966.

While stationed in Libya, he met flight nurse Bette Harris. They were married in 1960. Barto passed away on May 31, 1997 in Springfield, Missouri.

Biography derived from collection materials and information provided by family.

Bette J. (Harris) Barto served in the U.S. Air Force in the 1950s-1960s as a flight nurse.

Barto was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on January 22, 1928. She attended school in Etowah, Tennessee and studied at the University of Tennessee before earning a B.S. in Nursing from Vanderbilt University in 1950. She worked at the East Tennessee Baptist Hospital in Knoxville and then as an instructor and Associate Director of Nursing Education at Fort Sanders Hospital School of Nursing in Knoxville. In 1957 she was appointed to the Air Force Reserve Nurse Corps. In 1958 she was assigned to active duty with the 3700th Military Training Wing at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. In 1959 she was assigned to Wheelus Air Force Base in Tripoli, Libya, serving as Head Nurse. While there she met Ray Barto and they were married on October 27, 1960. When Ray was transfered to Thailand, Bette was sent to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. Later she was assigned to the 835th at McConnell TAC Hospital at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas.

In 1966 Barto resigned her commission and transferred to a VA hospital in Kansas. She held a few positions in Kansas through the 1970s and then from 1980-1984 she was a gerontological nurse practicioner at the Wichita VA. In 1983 she recieved a M.S. in Education from Kansas State University. On January 30, 1988 she retired.

As of 2019 Barto was living in Northampton, Massachusetts.