Donald Sewell Lopez Sr. (July 15, 1923 – March 3, 2008) was a

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

and

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

fighter and test pilot and until his death the deputy director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Early life

Lopez was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

on July 15, 1923. He showed an interest in

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...

at an early age. He often rode his bike to

Floyd Bennett Field Floyd Bennett Field is an airfield in the Marine Park neighborhood of southeast Brooklyn in New York City, along the shore of Jamaica Bay. The airport originally hosted commercial and general aviation traffic before being used as a naval air ...

where he occasionally got free flights from a family friend. During his teenage years, his family moved to

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, inside the traffic pattern of Drew Army Air Field, so he could see Army Air Corps fighters flying overhead. That hardened his resolve to become a fighter pilot.

Military career

Lopez learned to fly in college, then volunteered for the Army Air Forces Aviation Cadet Program when the age limit was lowered to 18 in early 1942.

World War II

After earning his wings, he saw combat

in China IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of Ju ...

as a member of the 75th Fighter Squadron. The unit was part of the 23rd Fighter Group, successor to the famed

Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States ...

. He became an

ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...

, credited with shooting down five Japanese fighters, four in a

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

and one in a P-51 Mustang, while flying 101 missions.

Post war

Lopez returned to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in 1945 and served as a fighter test pilot at

Eglin Field Eglin may refer to: * Eglin (surname) * Eglin Air Force Base, a United States Air Force base located southwest of Valparaiso, Florida * Federal Prison Camp, Eglin, a Federal Bureau of Prisons minimum security prison on the grounds of Eglin Air Forc ...

, flying most of the early jet fighters. He served a brief tour of duty in the Korea War in August and September 1950 as an

F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...

pilot with the

4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

. After Korea, he served two tours in

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a meton ...

, earned a B.S. and M.S. in

aeronautical engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is sim ...

, and was an associate professor of

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of th ...

at the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and U ...

, until his retirement from the Air Force in 1964.

Personal life

In 1948 he married Glindel Barron, sister of Florida State Senator Dempsey Barron. He and Glindel have two children, Joy Lopez and Donald S. Lopez Jr. (currently a professor of Buddhist studies at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

), and one grandchild, Laura V. Lopez.

Later life

Following his retirement from the Air Force in 1964, he spent eight years as an engineer on the

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

and

Skylab Skylab was the first United States space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three separate three-astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Major operations ...

programs with Bellcomm, Inc., a subsidiary of

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial Research and development, research and scientific developm ...

. In 1972, he joined the staff of the National Air and Space Museum. He was heavily involved in developing and running the National Air and Space Museum, during his later years. His publications include two memoirs, ''Into the Teeth of the Tiger'' (Smithsonian, 1997, ), and ''Fighter Pilot's Heaven: Flight Testing the Early Jets'' (Smithsonian, 2001, ). Lopez died from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

on March 3, 2008, at

Duke University Medical Center Duke University Hospital is a 957-acute care bed academic tertiary care facility located in Durham, North Carolina. Established in 1930, it is the flagship teaching hospital for the Duke University Health System, a network of physicians and hos ...

in Durham, North Carolina, near to where his daughter lived. He is buried with full military honors at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

Awards and decorations

His awards and decorations include:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Donald S. Sr. 1923 births 2008 deaths American test pilots American World War II flying aces Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Recipients of the Silver Star Recipients of the Air Medal Recipients of the Soldier's Medal Aviators from New York (state) Burials at Arlington National Cemetery People from Brooklyn Smithsonian Institution people United States Air Force officers United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II United States Army Air Forces officers U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni