Michael Lyons

My brother Michael Lyons worked at the Paul A. Garber Facility of the National Air and Space Museum for approximately 10 years until his death in 1984. He loved his job and as long as I can remember he had an airplane in his hand. He belonged to the Civil Air Patrol in high school, served 4 years in the US Air Force, and finally got the job of his dreams at the Garber Facility. Monday, February 23, 2004 would have been his 65th birthday and this is the best gift we can give him. Happy Birthday, Mike.

In a Washington Post article, December 12, 2003, a co-worker of Michael Lyons said, "Mike Lyons died of cancer in the mid 1980s shortly after restoring the Focke-Wulf 190 F-8, a World War II-era single-engine German warplane, to its original configuration. He uncovered the history of the Focke-Wulf, spent three months at Garber sanding off layers and layers of German paint, and that's how he found the markings that told him the plane had flown in Hungary in 1944. He used to call me on the phone and say, 'Guess what I found, you won't believe what I found.'"