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.