Auburn to honor Maj. Alex Klinner with pregame flyover before LSU game
AUBURN, Ala. —
Four F-35 fighter jets flown by Auburn graduates are scheduled to fly over Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday to honor Air Force Maj. John “Alex” Klinner, an Auburn graduate killed in March in a refueling aircraft crash in Iraq.
The flyover will follow the national anthem before Auburn’s game against LSU, the university’s athletics department said. The jets are from the Alabama Air National Guard’s 187th Fighter Wing.
Klinner, 33, was a native of Auburn and graduated in 2016 with a mechanical engineering degree. He joined the U.S. Air Force through Auburn’s ROTC program in 2017.
He was one of six airmen killed March 12 during Operation Epic Fury, when a KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq, according to the Air Force.
Klinner served as an evaluator pilot and chief of squadron standardization and evaluation with the 99th Air Refueling Squadron. He is survived by his wife, Libby, and three children, who live in Trussville.
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Members of Klinner’s family are also expected to attend a presentation of a scholarship established in his honor. The scholarship will support Auburn mechanical engineering students in Air Force ROTC.
More information on the endowed scholarship and how to contribute can be found on the university’s website.
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