Four Air Force veterans gathered Saturday to reminisce about their careers as pilots at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. For more than an hour, they entertained an auditorium full of people. The panel discussion is one of several events that the American Fighter Aces Association hosts to preserve the history of flying heroes.

"These aces are heroes, and we want to preserve the history of these men," said Harold Rubin, the administrative director for the American Fighter Aces Association, which is housed in the Museum of Flight.

The AFAA hosts four panel discussions each year that feature fighter pilots whose historical actions helped to protect American freedoms during times of conflict.

"These people have a big following," said Rubin, who also serves as the public programs coordinator of the Museum of Flight.  "People want to meet them and get their autographs."

The former pilots, ranging in age from 87 to 90, spoke about their wartime flying experiences as though they had occurred yesterday.  With almost 40 aerial victories between them, retired Lt. James K. Kunkle, retired Col. James B. Tapp, retired Capt. James L. Brooks and retired Lt. Col. Clyde B. East had many stories to share.

The veteran pilots answered questions ranging from how they named their personal airplanes and how they shot photos of their aerial victories to details of their missions.

Kunkle - who resides in Santa Barbara, Calif. - was a P-38 and P-51 fighter pilot credited with two aerial combat victories.  He joined the 401st Fighter Squadron, 370th Group of the 9th Air Force and carried out 36 combat missions in support of the Normandy landing operations and bombing missions in Germany and the Ardennes.  He recalled an incident that occurred on Sept. 16, 1944, during which he was attacked near Aachen, Germany.  After having attacked two enemy aircraft in order to protect the formation in which he was flying, he was badly burned.  He managed to open his parachute and was rescued by soldiers from the U.S. Army's 1st Division.  After the incident he was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross.

However, things were not always so serious for Kunkle.  He recalled a story about the name he wanted to give his personal airplane.

"Unlike most pilots who named their private airplanes after a special girl, I wanted to name my personal airplane Kunk's Clunk," he said.  "My airplane never flew in a straight line. It was a clunker."

Tapp, now 90 years old and legally blind, traveled from his home in Fort Collins, Colo., to participate in the discussion. Well over 6 feet tall - which was rare for pilots - Tapp served in the Air Force from 1941 to 1970.  He flew a P-51D Mustang that he dubbed "Margaret IV."  During his 30-year military career, he flew 18 combat missions during which he had eight aerial victories.  After the war, he spent the remainder of his career with the Air Force in the areas of research and development and test flying.

Brooks, a Virginia native who now lives in Los Angeles, entered the Air Force in 1942. He flew P-39s and P-40s in Panama before joining the 31st Fighter Group in Italy in early 1944. Among other things, Brooks led the 307th Fighter Squadron during an engagement of 40 JU-87 Stuka dive bombers. The squadron destroyed 27 aircraft, for which Brooks received the Silver Star. In September 1944, he ended his tour with 280 combat hours and 13 confirmed aerial combat victories.  Brooks resigned from the Air Force in 1951 to become an engineering test pilot for North American Aviation.

The last of the four pilots was East, who traveled from his home in Oak Park, Calif., to share his flying stories. East wanted to be a pilot since as far back as he can remember.  In elementary school, he read books about World War I and knew instantly that he wanted to fly, he said.

East's military career began with a stint in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1941 to 1944. He transferred to the U.S. Air Force in 1944.  During his military career, the Virginia native flew more than 200 combat missions - including a flight on D-Day - in RF-51 fighters and earned 13 aerial victories.

His career as a pilot began after he had hitchhiked to Canada and went through the exhaustive process of becoming a pilot and earning his wings. The two most important events of his flying career were receiving his wings in Canada and shooting down an airplane on D-Day in Normandy, he said.

"Receiving my wings was the top event of my whole life," he said. "For me, becoming a pilot was a realization that dreams really can come true, and that was all I had working on my father's tobacco farm.

"I would watch airplanes fly across the sky over me and think wouldn't it be great if I could do that some day?  Not many people live to enjoy their dream, but I did.  I wouldn't change my life for anything in the world."