R.G. Head, PhD, Brigadier General, USAF (Ret.), always has several projects in progress, from building elaborate Victorian doll houses for his grandchildren to super model airplanes to scale, many of which appear in the Air and Space Museum, to writing books, with the latest a monograph on Henry Suerstedt, Jr., Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, and a Coronado Hero. A patient man who enjoys research and ferreting out all the facts, Head spent two years compiling the information for the scholarly work.<\/p>\n
The monograph definition elaborates the concentrated effort put into the Suerstedt project. \u201cA monograph is a comprehensive scholarly work focused on a single topic, typically authored by experts such as scientists or academics in fields like social science and history. These works are usually book-length, generally comprising over one hundred pages, and are designed for an audience of fellow experts, rather than the general public.\u201d<\/p>\n
The monograph may be extensively researched by an academic, but it is intended for the general public who are interested in Coronado\u2019s military history. Head said, \u201cThis addition ensures that the primary research, family narratives, and military records of Admiral Suerstedt are preserved and accessible to future generations of historians and community members.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides the thorough military research, Head interviewed family members for personal material, including Suerstedt\u2019s granddaughter Ariane York, who lives locally, and her mother, Candace Suerstedt, who is Suerstedt\u2019s first daughter. Over the course of his career, Suerstedt\u2019s family lived in Coronado eight times. Shared family pictures were added to the information and the presentation of the book.<\/p>\n
At a lecture on the monograph, which was sponsored by the Coronado Historical Society, Head presented copies to Suerstedt\u2019s family, CHA, and Coronado Public Library. His interest in documenting the history of the aviator was to establish information for the citizens of Coronado on one of their heroes and to publicly acknowledge the Suerstedt family\u2019s legacy. The donation to CHA adds to the collection of extensive Coronado history available to the public.<\/p>\n
The Suerstedt lecture pictured a preview of the monograph and chronicled the Naval Aviator\u2019s career in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, as well as his personal life. He was born in Berkeley on Oct. 14, 1920, and educated in Oakland and San Francisco. During the 1930s, he was a private in the U.S. Army Reserve, taking night college classes to qualify him for Navy pilot training.<\/p>\n
He enlisted in the US Navy in 1940 and became a Naval Aviator two days after Pearl Harbor. The timing of his entry into the military gave ample opportunity for numerous combat missions in the Pacific as a torpedo plane pilot during World War II. He became a squadron commander several times from 1945 to 1952, which involved action as a squadron leader on combat missions over North Korea during the Korean War.<\/p>\n
Suerstedt flew the A-1 Skyraider at the beginning of his career and moved on as the plane evolved. Wikipedia states, \u201cThe Douglas A-1 Skyraider was a highly versatile, propeller-driven attack aircraft that saw extensive combat service in the Korean and Vietnam War, renowned for its durability, payload capacity, and close air support capabilities.<\/p>\n
Suerstedt\u2019s assignments included Director of the Navy\u2019s Strike Warfare program and commanding two surface ships. He was selected for Rear Admiral after which he commanded the Riverine Force in Vietnam, one of his four tours of duty in Vietnam. He, his wife Mary Jo, and his children continued to return to Coronado as his assignments brought him to the San Diego area.<\/p>\n
Suerstedt was an innovative aviator who questioned the routine and set into motion groundbreaking improvements. Head mentioned one renovation that \u201cwas having installed a half-inch armor plate down the side of the fuselage (of the Skyraider), north of the pilot, underneath the pilot, and some other critical places for the airplane.\u201d The installation of the armor plate contributed to the safety of the pilot and the condition of the plane during combat. He was the 1st program manager of the A7 program. Suerstedt retired from the Navy in 1973 after 32 years of service and died in 1990 at 70.<\/p>\n
When asked what the hook to pique his interest in Suerstedt was, Head said, \u201cSo the connection was the A1 Skyraider airplane. When I retired here, I was able to start my model-building program again. The models got bigger from about 18 inches to 9 feet. And this airplane has a 9-foot wingspan. That led me to the family and\u2026The research and writing was wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n
In retirement from his military career, Brigadier General Head never allowed idleness to reign in his life. He lives with a purpose, always pursuing a way to give back to family or the community. He says, \u201cMy favorite hobby has been building miniature doll houses for each of my grandchildren, building giant-scale model aircraft for the Library and the San Diego Air & Space Museum, and now this Monograph.\u201d And the next project?<\/p>\n
VOL. 116, NO. 26 – July 1, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"R.G. Head, PhD, Brigadier General, USAF (Ret.), always has several projects in progress, from building elaborate Victorian doll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3211,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-388490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-coronado_island_news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}