Born in Brooklyn, NY in July 1923, Donald Lopez got the unique opportunity to fly a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk with the 14th Air Force’s 23rd Fighter Group, also known as The Flying Tigers, under the expert leadership of Gen. Claire Chennault, in China. When the war was over, Lopez worked as a test pilot at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, before eventually becoming Deputy Director of the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC.
