Col. David F. Fleming had a front seat for so much change in the modernization of Army Aviation in milestones from the Korean War, to the integration of the venerable UH-60 Blackhawk on Kentucky Guard flightlines. Within just a few days after Col. David Fleming Officially retired in January of 1988 as State Army Aviation Officer for the Kentucky Army National Guard word was received from Washington that the 28-year old, twin-engine Cessna U-3B airplane, Col Fleming's plane, was also being retired - a fitting end to a 38-year aviation career of flying Bird-dogs to Blackhawks

Fleming went to helicopter flight school in 1960. It was an Air Force flight school for Army pilots at Gary Air Force Base in San Marcos, Texas. And, not long after that, the Kentucky Guard got some more OH-13s, followed by a few OH-23 Hillers.

Shortly after Fleming was appointed commander of the Army Aviation Facility in 1970, Kentucky's first UH-1 Huey landed at Frankfort. During his tenure, Kentucky Army Guard aviators flew 74,352 accident-free flying hours in a fleet of military aircraft that grew to include the U-9, T-42, UH-1B, UH-1D, UH-1H, UH-1V and finally, the first entire company of UH-60 Blackhawks to be fielding in the National Guard in the United States.

When asked how the KYARNG aviation program had changed over the years, Col. Fleming replied, "It started out as a small section that provided an aerial observation platform for the ground commander, now it's evolved into the aviation brigade - the fourth combat brigade of the modern Army division. The advent of the Aviation Branch in April of 1984 really had a lot to do with that. Now, I think that while aviation continues its mission as a division combat element, it will also have to turn its attention to air-to-air combat in order to survive on the battlefield."

While he claimed the Bell OH-13 was "the smoothest flying aircraft we ever had," the U-3 was still known as "Colonel Fleming's plane" in the Guard aviation community; even though he admitted he felt the U-3 had some inherent flaws. The Army Aviation Support Facility for Kentucky, in Frankfort, was named in Col. Fleming's honor in May 2000.