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Lt. Keirn visited Tucson twice, on May 11 and July 1, 1931.
Both times he was in control of the Curtiss B-2 Condor bomber.
Both times he cited his home base as San Diego, CA Rockwell
Field. On his visit of May 11 he was part of a flight of 28
Condor bombers. He noted in the Remarks column of the Register,
"In on May 11th 1931, Enroute to Dayton, Ohio for Air Corps
Exercises"
Beyond the information from the Register, all I have is an
Airforce Times obituary for Keirn published on June 2, 1980.
He was ranked General at the time of his death on May 11,
1980, forty-nine years to the day after his first visit to
the Davis-Monthan Airfield as a lieutenant.
He was a 1929 graduate of West Point and entered the engineering
field after completing flying training in 1930. He had been
a pilot only for a year before he brought the Condor bombers
to Tucson.
Later, he was chief of the aircraft power plant laboratory
at Wright Field, OH, where he was a key contributor to the
development of allied jet propulsion during WWII. In 1946
he participated in the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll.
He later worked with the Atomic Energy Commission and was
deputy chief of staff for research of the Air Research and
Development Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, and commander
of the 109th Special Weapons Squadron, Bolling AFB, Washington,
DC.
In August 1952, he became chief of the reactor development
division, ARDC, and in 1953 was chief of the office of Aircraft
Nuclear Propulsion. From 1957 until retirement, he was assistant
chief of staff for development of nuclear systems at the Pentagon.
I have no photos or birth/death information about General
Keirn. Can anyone help?
UPLOADED: 12/30/05 REVISED:
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