Donald Lopez was born on July 15, 1923, in Brooklyn, New York. He enlisted in the Army Reserve on May 16, 1942, and began flight training as an Aviation Cadet on September 2, 1942. Lopez was commissioned a 2Lt and awarded his pilot wings on May 28, 1943, and was assigned to the 337th Fighter Group at Sarasota, Florida, until August 1943, when he departed for the China-Burma-India Theater. Lt Lopez flew 101 combat missions and was credited with destroying 5 enemy aircraft in aerial combat while flying with the 75th Fighter Squardon, 23rd Fighter Group in China between November 1943 and April 1945. Lopez next served as a Test Pilot at Eglin AFB, Florida, from June 1945 to August 1950. He served a brief tour of duty in Korea in August and September 1950 as an F-86 Sabre pilot before serving with Headquarters U.S. Air Force from September 1950 to September 1954. Col Lopez then completed his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Aeronautical Engineering before becoming an associate professor of thermodynamics at the U.S. Air Force Academy from June 1957 until his retirement from the Air Force on July 31, 1964. After his retirement, Lopez served on the Apollo and Skylab programs with Bellcomm, Inc., and he joined the staff of the National Air and Space Museum in 1972. Donald became the deputy director of the museum in 1983 and the senior advisor to the director in 1990. He retired from the National Air and Space Museum in 1993 and was again appointed deputy director in 1996. Donald Lopez died on March 3, 2008, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.