Saturday, May 2nd, is the

Champaign Aviation Museum's 14th Annual Gala!

 

Pre-registration and tickets are required for this event. 

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Presenting Sponsor: John Pellegrino

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Benefactor Sponsor: Andrea Shiffer & Kelly Fleming

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Partner Sponsors:

Park National Bank | Kirk & Mary Perkins

Walter & Lewis Funeral Home | Wreck-A-Mended LLC

 

Activities of the Gala evening include complimentary drinks and light appetizers, Musical Guest

Ellis Jae Williams, fly-by (weather permitting), a delicious dinner and dessert, silent auction throughout the evening, and Keynote Speaker Captain Ronald A. McGee.

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Ronald McGee was born on September 6, 1948 in Columbus, Ohio. After earning his Bachelor of Science Degree in Aerospace Engineering, he completed the ROTC program in 1970 and was awarded the Flying Tiger Award as the best pilot in the program.  He then entered the Air Force Pilot Training program at Laredo, Texas where he ranked number 3 of 63 in his graduating class.  (Ronald continued the legacy of his father, Charles E. McGee, a Documented Original Tuskegee Airmen.  His father, Brigadier General Charles McGee fought in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam and holds the record as the only Air Force pilot to fly more than 100 combat sorties in all three wars). ​​

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Captain McGee became one of the top F-4 pilots at George Air Force Base, CA.  From September 1972 to 1973, he went to Vietnam and was stationed at Ubon Royal Thai Air Base in Thailand, flying F-4 Phantoms with the famed “Night Owl” 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron.  In 1973 he returned to the States and was stationed at Bergstrom Air Force Base, TX.  In 1977 he separated from the Air Force and went on to fly for Braniff Airlines.

 

Missing the military type of flying, Captain McGee re-entered service in the Air Force Reserves flying A-10s at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base, MO.  After time in the Reserves, he returned to his civilian career as a pilot with Continental Airlines.  He was a Flight Instructor on the DC-10 and was selected as Initial Cadre Flight Instructor on the Boeing 777 and 787 programs. After retiring from his airline career in 2013, Captain McGee was hired as a Boeing 777 and 787 flight instructor and became a Training Center Evaluator with Boeing Korea on the B-787. Captain McGee has over 31,200 hours of flight time and over 24,000 simulator hours.

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