Huntsville Veterans Museum will host the Tennessee Valley AFA Chapter’s Quarterly Meeting. AFA members, their guests and the general public are cordially invited to this meeting.  In keeping with the theme of the evening, our Guest Speaker is an Army Air Force Veteran — Douglas C. Garner.  His presentation will focus upon his insight obtained having flown over 30 missions over Germany and other occupied territories as a B-24 gunner in the 93rd Bomb Group and 8AF.  In addition to the Distinguished Flying Cross and five Air Medals, other awards Douglas Garner has received include the Meritorious Service Medal, World War II Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, Middle Eastern Theatre Ribbon with one Bronze Star and one Silver Star, and the Jubilee of Liberty Medal from France. 

The Huntsville Veterans Museum is located at 2060A Airport Rd SE, Huntsville.  Doors will open at 6:30 and the meeting will start at 7:00 pm ending by 8:30 pm. 

The Southern Museum of Flight Announces the Grand Opening of the Korean War Jets Exhibit.

On the morning of 9-21-53 at exactly 9:21 a.m., Alabama native, Sgt. Tom Feltman, was sitting in his Air Police jeep close to the main runway at Kimpo Air Force Base, South Korea.  He noticed a rather unusual aircraft about to land on the wrong end of the runway.  The aircraft appeared to ignore the traffic pattern, as an American F-86 Sabre was about to land, on the opposite end of the runway, at the same time.  As the strange aircraft touched down and streaked by at a high rate of speed, Sgt. Feltman noticed a communist red star on the aircraft’s fuselage.  It was a Soviet-built MiG-15 flown by the North Korean Air Force, and the events that would soon unfold that September morning revealed one of the most significant stories in American aviation. For the first time, a rare and illusive MiG-15 fighter jet was in the hands of the United States Military following the defection of a North Korean pilot.

The Korean War Jets Exhibit at the Southern Museum of Flight highlights the defection of Lt. No Kum Sok (Kenneth Rowe), a 21-year old, elite North Korean Air Force pilot, as well as the historic events that transpired following the defection.  The unique diorama display of Kimpo Air Force Base in South Korea features two of the primary fighter jets that became adversaries during the Korean War era - the F-86 Sabre and the MiG-15.

Main Event: Korean War Jets Exhibit Grand Opening
Date:  Friday, March 5, 2010
Time:   6:00 p.m. (Press interviews 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.)
Location:  Southern Museum of Flight, Birmingham, AL

Former North Korean pilot Kenneth Rowe (Lt. No Kum Sok), Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame member and F-86 pilot John Lowery, Tom Feltman, one of the first airmen to arrive on the scene at Kimpo on that September morning in 1953, Korean War Jet Ace, General Charles Cleveland, as well as many community leaders and Korean War veterans, will be in attendance.