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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Julie Nixon

Jim Kater served in the United States Marine Corps from 7/9/58-9/1/62, where he achieved the rank of 1st Lieutenant . He attended Middlebury College until he began his career as a Commercial Airline Pilot working for Delta Air Lines. During his career, Jim flew T-34, T2V-1, F0F-8, F11F, A4D2N, as well as all of the planes in the Delta fleet. Before retiring from Delta, Jim achieved the position of Manager of Flight Training and International Check Captain and was featured in an article about flight simulators in the June, 1986 issues of the Smithsonian magazine. Jim had a lifetime love of airplanes and during his retirement petitioned the National Naval Aviation Museum to loan his local American Legion Post (#27 of Middlebury, Vermont) a surplus TA-4J (Skyhawk), which was mounted, restored, and dedicated in June 2006. Look for it on the east side of Rt. 7 as you drive north toward Middlebury, VT. Jim was also an avid photographer and donated several antique cameras to the Smithsonian collections. He was a great supporter of the Smithsonian and would have been honored to know that friends of his daughter chose to include him on the National Air and Space Museum’s Wall of Honor as an Air and Space Friend in 2018 after his death at the age of 80.