Kenneth E. McDaniel

Preferred Name: Ken
Nickname/Call Sign: Hot Rod
Date of Birth: February 24, 1935
Highest Military Grade: 0-4 – Major
Hometown: Oklahoma City, OK

As a child in the 1940s in Oklahoma City, Ken McDaniel pinched paper airplanes between his right thumb and index finger and let them fly across the classroom.

By the time McDaniel was in his 30s, he was an F-100 fighter pilot flying out of Phu Cat in South Vietnam. That was amid more than 20 years in the U.S. Air Force.

Today, he’s 78 years old and has cattle on a farm about halfway between Maud and Saint Louis. But his imagination continues to soar in metal models of airplanes that are replicas of some of those he, family, or friends have flown.

“It’s a labor of love because I love the airplanes,” he said. “I love every one I ever flew.

“Flying is my life.”(1)

“My Combat Missions were: 128 in the 0-1 275 hrs. 170 in the F-100 271 hrs.  I have a total of 5077 hrs., 1323 F-100; 1259 T-33 and flew 13 different Aircraft. I was dually Current in the 0-1 & the F-100 at Cannon.

My best assignment was Phu Cat AB in Vietnam as an Ops Officer.

Being a part of the Air Force and all of the great people that I met and flew with was the greatest part of my life.

I retired January 1, 1977 – did some corporate flying and aircraft sales, but mainly just raised cattle and took life easy.”

(1) From the article “Oklahoma man’s love of flying continues to soar in imaginative ways” by Bryan Painter for The Oklahoman, published 2013