Born on the King Ranch in Texas, Leonard Hall earned an engineering degree from Texas A&M before joining Shell Oil as a seismologist. A reserve officer, he was called to active duty in 1941. In 1942, then-Captain Hall and Lt. Col. Don Brummel were tasked with creating and leading the U.S. Army Air Forces’ first Night Fighter School in Orlando, Florida—despite initially asking, “What’s a night fighter?”

Sent to England to study with the RAF, Hall and Brummel trained largely on their own, flying radar-equipped aircraft such as the Beaufighter, Havoc, and Mosquito while learning the dangerous new art of airborne radar interception. Returning stateside, they converted A-20s into P-70 night fighters and trained volunteer crews, including future ace C.C. Smith. Hall later helped evaluate the new P-61 Black Widow.

After the war, Hall served as project officer for experimental aircraft, technical air attaché to Great Britain, and participated in flight testing the B-58 supersonic bomber. Following Air Force retirement, he joined NASA, working under Wernher von Braun during the Apollo Program. His honors include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, three Air Medals, two Purple Hearts, and a Presidential Citation. He resides in Southern California with his wife, LaVern.

Stan Stokes is an American painter known for his aviation art. His work hangs in three presidential libraries.

Since the mid-1980s NASA has commissioned Stokes to paint 15 works ranging from the Space Shuttles to the SR-71 Blackbird. Stokes has also painted numerous works for Burt Rutan. Stokes's works hang in the Air Force art collection, the United States Air Force Academy, The Pentagon, the San Diego Air & Space Museum, the Palm Springs Air Museum, the National Museum of Naval Aviation, and the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

His work encompasses portraits, landscapes, aviation and space, ships, cars, and his new collection of cat-related fine art paintings. Stokes's art has been published in numerous books and periodicals.