We have always been supportive of the Aviation Heritage Park on Three Springs Road and now there is even more reason to be excited.

The U.S. Navy has agreed to loan permanently a Grumman F9F-5 Panther – a 60-year-old jet fighter and ground attack plane – to the park in honor of Lt. Cmdr. John J. Magda Jr., who flew a similar plane in the Korean War.

The addition of this plane will join another famed plane flown by local resident and Vietnam veteran retired Gen. Dan Cherry. Cherry flew the F4D Phantom when he shot down a Russian-made MiG jet over Vietnam in 1972.

While we are unsure of the condition of the Panther, which currently is in Winona, Minn., we should be willing to take the necessary steps to get it here, restore it and proudly display it at the aviation park.

The significance of the Grumman coming here is quite interesting. Although it is not the one Magda flew, it has a lot of history, like himself.

Magda, a 1940 graduate of Western Kentucky University, became a Navy fighter pilot during World War II. He flew a Grumman F4F Wildcat off the carrier USS Hornet during the battle of Midway in the Pacific.

After the war, he set many speed records in jet planes, became commander of the Navy’s Blue Angels exhibition squadron in 1950 and was one of the first pilots to fly a jet from an aircraft carrier.

Unfortunately, he was killed by groundfire over Korea in March 1951. He was inducted into Western’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2006 and the Kentucky Aviation Hall of Fame this month.

The addition of this plane and the stories of people like Magda who flew them will add a lot to the park, which is still under construction and should be open by late spring or early summer.

We are fortunate that the U.S. Navy saw fit to donate this jet to the community as we continue the endeavor of growing our aviation park in Warren County.