Richard Caswell Saufley was a naval aviation pioneer whose naval flights were the first official demonstrations in the U.S. of using aeroplanes for scouting purposes, an innovation that revolutionized warfare. Born in Stanford in 1885, he attended school there and at Centre College, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1908, and was awarded two Aviation Medals of Merit by the Aero Club of America, one for efficient air service in an expedition in 1914 and another for breaking the world's altitude record twice in succession in 1915. The U.S. Navy's Saufley Field in Pensacola, Florida, and a World War II destroyer were named for him. He was killed in Florida in 1916 while making an endurance flight.