Tom Savage (r), president of the Paul Renaldo Redfern Aviation Society, accepts the plaque placing Paul Redfern in the OX5 Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame from Harold Walter, president of the OX5 Aviation Pioneers. Paul R. Redfern of Columbia was placed in the OX5 Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame on September 13, 2008, at the Pioneers 53rd Annual Reunion. The Pioneers organization is made up of aviators who flew the early V- 8 liquid- cooled aircraft engine built by Curtiss. The award was received by Tom Savage, president of the Paul Renaldo Redfern Aviation Society which is based in Columbia.

Paul Redfern, a graduate of Columbia High School, established Columbia's first commercial airfield in 1923. It was on a cow pasture where Dreher High School is now located.

In 1927, Redfern became the first aviator to solo across the Caribbean Sea. He left from Brunswick, GA, and headed for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His 4,700- mile flight plan called for him to surpass Charles Lindberg's 3,300- mile flight across the Atlantic a few months earlier. After he passed over the coast of Venezuela, Redfern's plane vanished. Neither he nor his plane has been seen since.