Donald Lopez

Donald Lopez (born July, 1923 in Brooklyn, New York), is a legendary military pilot. His son, Donald Lopez Jr., is a well known Buddhist.

Lopez's childhood was spent living in a house that was located across the street from an Air Force base. He would cross the street and stand on the fence that separated the base from the rest of his neighborhood, watching for hours as airplanes took off or landed. Lopez showed great interest in aviation since he was a little boy.

During his teenaged years, his family moved to Miami, where he no longer had the luxury of being able to watch airplanes from a fence. But this was during the 1930s; commercial aviation was in its growing stages, and Lopez lived close enough to an air base so that he could see both military and commercial airplanes landing just by looking at them as they flew by him.

Deprived, by the distance of his new home to the Miami air base, of seeing airplanes landing and taking off in front of him, Lopez began buying airplane magazines, which helped grow his enthusiasm for aviation, as he saw photos and sketches of airplanes and imagined himself as a pilot.

Lopez enlisted in the Air Force as a teenager. At first, he was told he was too young to join, but soon, the United States engaged in World War II, opening a draft, and Lopez was drafted, despite the fact he was still too young to be in the military.

His knowledge of airplanes served him well, as he became a member of the famous Flying Tigers, in the war's Pacific Theater. It is estimated that Lopez dropped a number of enemy airplanes; he does not remember how many enemies he dropped off the air. Lopez flew the Curtiss P-40 airplane.

Lopez saw air battle over China as a member of the Flying Tigers. In China, he was led by General Claire Chennault. Lopez became famous in his homeland as the Flying Tigers pilots gained hero status there during that era.

Lppez returned to Florida, where he became a flying instructor at Eglin Air Force base, once the war was over. In 1952, his son Donald Jr. was born. He remained active as a flying instructor until the 1960s; the new aviation technologies of the 1960s was hard for him to understand, and he felt it was time to retire.

In retirement, Lopez became an avid book writer, and he has written a number of books about his experiences as an Air Force pilot.

In 2004, he was featured in the Discovery Channel's Discovery Wings show, "Legends of Air Power".