Major General Marion Carl exhibit features restored plane he flew as student
EUGENE, Ore. -- He was the Marine Corps' first "ace" in World War II, was a decorated test pilot and was a proud resident of Douglas County for many years.
The man was Major General Marion Carl.
Directors of the Oregon Air and Space Museum hosted a three-day exhibit and tribute to the famed aviator that ended Saturday.
Marion Carl's Marine Corps career spanned 34 years - from WWII through the Korean and Vietnam wars.
“He became an ace, shot down 18 enemy aircraft, and after WWII he was a test pilot, he and Chuck Yeager,” said Oregon Air and Space Museum President Bruce Lamont. “I think he set the speed record first, then Yeager bested him.”
Lamont says the centerpiece of the exhibit is the fully restored small plane that General Carl first flew as a student at Oregon State College.
It's a 1937 Taylor J-2 Cub on loan to the museum from the Marion Carl Foundation in Douglas County.
