This is taken from the
This is True news letter. Each week he writes about someone who has "canceled his subscription" and passed on. This week it was a WWII ace.
THIS WEEK'S HONORARY UNSUBSCRIBE goes to Donald Lopez. A fighter pilot in
World War II, Lopez became an ace during his 101 combat missions. On
his first kill, he actually hit a Japanese plane with his Curtiss P-40,
shearing off 2 feet of his own wing. "Rather than saying I shot him
down, I always said I 'winged' him," Lopez said later. He earned a
Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross (twice) and the Air Medal
(thrice). He also saw combat in Korea, and then taught aeronautics at
the Air Force Academy. He retired in 1964 as a Lt. Colonel. After a
stint as a test pilot, and then working on the Apollo moonshot, he
joined the staff of the Smithsonian Institution's Air and Space Museum
in Washington DC, the Smithsonian's most popular museum. He recruited
curators, helped restore aircraft, and wrote much of the explanatory
text on exhibits, working for four years getting things ready before
the museum opened. He rose to deputy director, spending 19 years in the
position. Lopez "spent the first half of his life making history," said
the museum's current director, Retired Marine Gen. Jack Dailey, "and
the second half commemorating it." Lopez died March 3 from a heart
attack. He was 84.
