Wally Kinnan

Henry Wallace Kinnan (March 7, 1919 – November 22, 2002) was an American decorated World War II hero, also was one of the first well-known U.S. pioneer television broadcast meteorologists.

Kinnan held American Meteorological Society Television Seal #3.

Kinnan enlisted in the Air Corps on March 31, 1942, at Fort Hayes, Columbus, Ohio.

He began flight training as an aviation cadet in September 1942 and was commissioned a second lieutenant upon graduation from pilot training on April 12, 1943.

While in casual status at Luke Army Airfield he broke the fighter gunnery record.

He initially trained to be a fighter pilot, however, the Air Corps needed bomber pilots and Kinnan, like many others, was reassigned to bombers.

Kinnan's aircraft was shot down over Eygalières, Vichy France on August 17, 1943.

He sustained shrapnel injuries which were compounded when he bailed out too close to the ground and made hard impact.

His injuries prevented him from attempting evasion and he was captured.

Kinnan's recount of his bail-out of his bomber aircraft was harrowing even in the telling.

After taking fire that damaged the aircraft, alighting the #4 engine and wounding the other pilot; the crew immediately began bail-out procedures.

Kinnan, the only pilot at the control yoke, maintained as much control of the aircraft as possible to ensure that his crew members were all safely out.

Once they were out he put the aircraft into as stable a configuration that he could to maintain altitude and attitude.

But the badly damaged aircraft, on fire, lost the right wing and continued to descend.

In order to bail-out, Kinnan had to make his way to the nose hatch.

However, the erratic flight of the damaged B-17 required him to crawl and pull himself along.

As Kinnan was crawling, his parachute caught on some part of the aircraft which left Wally in frantic state trying to unbind himself and his parachute from the rapidly descending aircraft.

During this process he had unbuckled his parachute and was never able to put it back on properly.

Finally able to free himself he launched himself from the airplane, up and out the normally facing downward hatch and pulled his parachute's ripcord.

Kinnan and M/Sgt Henry Petroski were the last two to exit, falling amidst the burning debris of their aircraft.

Because he had not been able to properly restrap the parachute on, when it opened it twisted him up causing a severe back injury.

This, plus the wounds he had sustained from the flak bursts while still in the aircraft made it impossible for him to evade capture once he was on the ground.

He was first taken to a hospital in Arles.

Kinnan strongly credits his German captors in France with great humanity and care of his injuries.

However, after just only over a week in France they transferred him to another hospital that was part of Dulag Luft near Frankfurt, where his treatment was much more stern.

Once processed he was transferred to Stalag Luft III near Sagan, now Żagań in Poland, in mid-September 1943.

The reality of the situation in the Stalag system was even more dire and cruel, where life often hinged on having enough to eat.

He studied meteorology from 1947 to 1948 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and took an advanced course in Tropical Meteorology in 1951 at the University of Chicago.

Kinnan, who also served in World War II as a B-17 bomber pilot and then an advanced weather officer attaining the rank of captain in the United States Air Force before resigning in March 1953 to enter broadcasting in Oklahoma.

Kinnan was born to David V. Kinnan and Hazel Hamer.

He met his wife, the former Marjorie G. Ahrendt, at North High School in Columbus, Ohio, where they both attended.

He has two sons, David E. Kinnan, Esq. and Timothy A. Kinnan.

Both of his sons followed in his footsteps and joined the US Air Force.

David was an Air Force JAG officer, and Tim went on to a full military career as a fighter pilot and general officer.

Wally was a trumpet player with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra and Charlie Barnet during his undergraduate years at Ohio State out of love for music and as a way to help pay for school.

Kinnan attended North High School in Columbus, Ohio.

After graduation he attended Ohio State University where he was a mechanical engineering undergraduate.

He was a member of the Theta Tau Fraternity and the Ohio State Football band.

He left Ohio State to enlist in the United States Army Air Forces.

From there he went on to bomber transition and deployed overseas as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot with the 429th Bombardment Squadron, 2nd Bomb Group, based at Massicault Airfield, Tunisia, as part of the Twelfth Air Force.