Vicksburg teenager Hannah Dunaway – all 5-foot-3 of her - could have been mistaken for a young female naval aviator April 11 walking across the tarmac at Naval Air Station Meridian. She was Training Air Wing One’s first ever selected “Aviator for a Day.” TAW-1 has partnered with Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson to make dreams of deserving children, who have life-threatening illnesses, come true. Hannah has been diagnosed with Cystic Hygroma – reoccurring, non-malignant tumors for which there are no cure, but 39 surgeries so far. Seeing the jets close up and what it takes to be a naval aviation was an “encouragement for her to set goals and dream big,” her mother, Nicki Dunaway, said. “This has been the best experience (and) it’s been so much fun,” Hannah chimed in. “Everything has been about her today,” Nicki continued. “She’s been ‘Queen for a Day’ and just loved it.” (Source: NAS Meridian Skyline, 04/17/14)
Central Mississippi Note: NAS Meridian trains naval aviators to fly jets before joining the fleet.
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