Posted on: Tuesday, August 14, 2001
Teuvo 'Gus' Ahola, space researcher, dead at 83
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Teuvo A. "Gus" Ahola, a retired Air Force colonel and pioneer in space research, died Aug. 8 at the Pohai Nani retirement home in Kane'ohe. He was 83.
Ahola was born in Ely, Minn., on Nov. 27, 1917, the youngest of 11 children. He earned a degree in chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology in 1938.
As an Air Force fighter pilot, Ahola attempted to fly a damaged P-40 airplane at Wheeler Field and shoot down Japanese Zeroes on Dec. 7, 1941. He maneuvered the crippled plane through bombs, bullets and flames, but was unable to take off.
While in Hawai'i, Ahola met and married Lilinoe Wilson in 1942. The couple had three children. After the war, he received an aeronautical engineering degree at the Air Force Institute of Technology and did his post-graduate work at George Washington University.
But Ahola also continued his service with the Air Force, including at least one top-secret space mission. Code-named Corona, Ahola led a Cold War high-altitude reconnaissance operation designed to spy on the Soviet Union, China and other Cold War rivals.
Ahola's youngest son, Einar, said he was "clueless" when it came to his father's involvement in the operation. "I knew that there was some pretty important stuff going on, but I didn't expect it to be that level of importance."
Despite the high-level work, Teuvo Ahola remained a humble, family man, his daughter Tyne said.
"In light of all of this, every time I hear it I think, 'Whoa, look at what he did.' But he was a very humble character, very gentle, and not the type who would ever bring this up to anybody, even after it was declassified. He did it, it was his job," she said.
Ahola is survived by sons, Teuvo "Ted" Jr. and Einar; daughter, Tyne Cody; six grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and sister, Irmy Peterson.
Services will be at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. Donations may be made to Young Life Hawai'a, 829 Pensacola St., #215, Honolulu, HI 96814.
