Alford Williams enlisted in the USN at the beginning of the First World War and qualified as an aviator and an instructor. After being appointed as the Navy’s chief test pilot and head of high-speed research, Lt Williams represented the Navy in Pulitzer Trophy air races. In 1923 he achieved a world speed record of 243.7 mph in a Curtiss R2C-1 at the St Louis Airport and was dubbed the "American Speed King." In October of that year he broke the world’s straightaway speed record by flying 266.7 mph at Mitchel Field, New York.

For 13 years Williams specialized in developing fighter tactics and maneuvers. During his tenure, he conceived and developed the technique of vertical dive-bombing, which became a revolutionary air tactic in WW2. After resigning from the Navy in 1930, he was accepted as a captain in the USMC Reserves, promoted to major in 1935, but then forced to resign from the USMC in 1940 for publicly advocating an independent U.S. Air Force.

Just prior to WW2 Williams volunteered his services to the USAAF. He performed thousands of precision flying and dive-bombing demonstrations for the public in his Grumman Gulfhawk series of aerobatic fighters. His Gulfhawk biplane is enshrined at the National Air and Space Museum.