A fighter pilot in World War II, Lopez became an ace during his 101 combat missions. On his first kill, he actually hit a Japanese plane with his Curtiss P-40, shearing off 2 feet of his own wing. “Rather than saying I shot him down, I always said I ‘winged’ him,” Lopez said later. He earned a Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross (twice) and the Air Medal (thrice).
He also saw combat in Korea, and then taught aeronautics at the Air Force Academy. He retired in 1964 as a Lt. Colonel. After a stint as a test pilot, and then working on the Apollo moonshot, he joined the staff of the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, the Smithsonian’s most popular museum. He recruited curators, helped restore aircraft, and wrote much of the explanatory text on exhibits, working for four years getting things ready before the museum opened. He rose to deputy director, spending 19 years in the position.
Lopez “spent the first half of his life making history,” said the museum’s current director, Retired Marine Gen. Jack Dailey, “and the second half commemorating it.” Lopez died March 3 from a heart attack. He was 84.