The Flying Keys

The Key brothers had no desire to see this happen, so they came up with a plan to draw attention to Meridian and its airport by breaking the standing flight endurance record of 23 days.

On June 4, 1935, The Flying Keys, as the brothers later became known, lifted off in a borrowed Curtiss Robin monoplane named Ole Miss from Meridian, Mississippi's airport.

The Ole Miss is permanently displayed in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. After this historic flight, Meridian's public airport was renamed Key Field in the brothers' honor.

Al was the commanding officer of the 66th Squadron (part of the 44th Bombardment Group) flying Consolidated B-24 Liberators from England.

Al remained in the Air Force until his retirement in 1960 at the rank of full Colonel, after which he was elected mayor of Meridian in 1965 and 1969; he was unseated in 1973 by a Republican, Tom Stuart.

The cutoff valve developed for the Keys by A.D. Hunter was an important innovation for national defense, being the precursor of those used by modern tanker airplanes, such as the KC-135 Stratotanker, that keep bombers and fighter aircraft in the air.