A Centre College student, Caswell Saufley graduated the US Naval Academy second among 308 members of the Class of 1908. A pioneer in Naval Aviation, he established altitude and endurance records in 1915 and 1916. By the time he died in 1916, he accomplished more than 500 actual flight hours and was responsible for many of the Navy's Aviation doctrines. He was the 14th officer to be designated a United States Naval Aviator. In April 1914, aviators Saufley and Bellinger were celebrated as the first American Aviators piloting planes struck by enemy fire while in the air. Returning to the Naval Aviation School at Pensacola in 1914, Saufley taught flying and experimented with uses for Navy airplanes. He made successful flights in an airplane launched from the deck of a ship by catapult and under its own power later. On June 14, 1916, he established an endurance record, flying a plane for 8 hours 42 minutes. He died in a plane crash five days later during an attempt to break his own record. Pensacola's Saufley Field (since closed) and the destroyer Saufley were named for Kentucky's first naval aviator. He is the only Naval Aviator to have an airfield and a fighting vessel bear his name.