Donald S. Lopez, Pilot and Historian, 1923-2008

摘要

Donald S. Lopez, an Army Air Forces FlyingTiger of World War II, engineer, test pilot, author, historian, and a longtime leader of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, died March 3. He was 84. Lopez caught the flying bug early, hanging around the Brooklyn, N.Y., Floyd Bennett Field and cadging free rides from friendly pilots. He learned to fly in college, just as World War II broke out, and as soon as the age limit for the Aviation Cadet Program was lowered to 18, Lopez volunteered.