Oklahoma-born Myer Winkelman's family moved to Hobart, Oklahoma in the late 1920s. The youngest of four children, he attended the Odessa, Texas High School, where he was one of its football stars. Graduating in 1941, he had one year in college before he enlisted in the Air Corps in May 1942.

















Wingman 504th FS 339th FG.

KIA Aug. 13, 1944 near Feuquières, France. Hit in mid-air by 500# bomb while dive bombing.

Witnesses saw tiny silver pieces of the P-51D fluttering to the ground. German reports indicated the a/c was 100% destroyed. MACR #7775

P-51D s/n 44-13521 5Q+D "Marinell"





Myer received part of his advanced combat training at Abilene Army Air Field (later Dyess AFB) and pursued training to become a fighter pilot. Sent overseas in 1944, he was assigned to the 339th Fighter Group/504th Fighter Squadron stationed at Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire.



Myer was credited with the downing of a German Fw109 on 6 August 1944.

On 13 August 1944, he took off in the afternoon in P-51 #44-13521 which had been flown earlier in the day by Captain Bradford V. Stevens. The mission was a dive-bombing one to Northern France and 2nd Lt Winkelman's Mustang was last seen near Feuquières, one of the objectives. The cause of his plane's loss is not ascertained.



In the Missing Air Crew Report - MACR 7775, sources mention it was hit by a bomb from a P-47 flying above (there were no Thunderbolts flying in the area that day); other statements mention silver parts flying through the air over the bomb bursts. Another possibility is that it might have been hit by light Flak. The Germans are reported to have found Lt Winkelman's body near the crashed plane in Saint-Just-en-Chaussée, 26km NE of Beauvais, France.

In time, Winkelman was buried in Epinal American Cemetery.