A Navy aviator — Clarence “Van” Vandenberg — made a name for himself as a heroic fighter pilot in 1954 and throughout the halls of Stanford University and IBM but his name went mostly unrecognized in Ripon.Vandenberg, 88, passed away on May 4, surrounded by his family, after a lengthy battle with cancer.The Ripon High grad lived across the street from Spring Creek Golf and Country Club before attending the University of Nevada, Reno and joining the Navy to become a fighter pilot during the Korean War.In March of 1954, Vandenberg was flying off the coast of San Diego when a Cougar fighter jet spun out of control some 35 miles south of Coronado Island. The pilot successfully ejected and the jet righted itself at 4,000 feet. It subsequently climbed to 8,000 feet and resumed normal flight toward the San Diego shoreline and the famed Del Coronado Hotel.