Tyre Calhoun Weaver Jr
MilitaryOn 26 July 43 Sergeant Weaver's plane, B-17 42-29802, was hit by German Fighters, there was a loud explosion on top of the plane and Weaver dropped near the navigator Keith Koske, with his arm blown off at the shoulder.
Unable to get the bleeding to stop and also to give morphine, Koske determined that since they were still 4 hrs from base, he put Weaver's chute on him and put the ring in Weaver's right hand and shoved him out the plane figuring he would get medical attention sooner.
Weaver was taken Prisoner of War (POW) for 15 months and survived due to Koske's quick thinking. The plane's pilot had been hit in the head and was fatally wounded, the co-pilot flew the plane to the target, released the bombs, and started back to base when the navigator went up to check on them.
The co-pilot was holding the pilot off the controls and needed help, also the rest of the crew were in bad shape due to oxygen deprivation from shattered lines. They had no radio, no interphone and no hydraulic fluid. Plane did make it back to base. Weaver flew a total of 11 missions.
A detailed account has been written up by Timothy Gay as part of the Chattahoochee Heritage Project: http://www.chattahoocheeheritage.org/2012/06/tyre-weavers-fall-into-gra…
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 92nd Bomb Group 326th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-789368
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Co-Pilot
Aircraft
Missions
- Date: 26 July 1943
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Site type: Prisoner of war camp
- Known as: Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Riverview, Chambers County, Alabama | 18 June 1918 | Son of Tyre C Sr and Katie Lee O Weaver. |
Enlisted |
Alabama, USA | 12 January 1942 | Alabama, USA |
Other Baled out WIA |
Hanover, Germany | 26 July 1943 | Arm shot off at shoulder, bailed out Prisoner of War (POW). |
Other Prisoner of War (POW) |
Zagan, Poland | 26 July 1943 | Stalag Luft 3 Sagan-Silesia Bavaria (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser) 49-11 |
Other Discharged USAAF |
28 May 1945 | Honourable discharge. | |
Died |
Mobile, AL, USA | 20 February 1993 | |
Buried |
Fairview Cemetery Valley, AL | Fairview Cemetery Valley, Chambers County, AL | |
Based |
Podington | 26 July 1943 | Assigned to 326BS, 92BG, 8AF USAAF. |
Revisions
Corrected a typo in 1 of the event descriptions. Replaced a space with a dash in the "Summary biography".
'Fame's Favored Few' 92nd BG/Son, John L Weaver / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia