1/12/2023 0 Comments Kirk hasten![]() 6, 1945, the Enola Gay rose into the black sky from the South Pacific island of Tinian and Van Kirk guided the B-29 toward the Japanese mainland. "If you were in the 509th and didn't figure out you were going to drop an atomic bomb, you were pretty stupid," said Van Kirk, who last visited Charlotte in December when he spoke at the Carolinas Aviation Museum.Īt 2:45 a.m. No one told them exactly what they were doing or used the word "atomic." But Van Kirk said the crew figured it out quickly based on obvious clues - their base was swarming with nuclear scientists and their planes had only one hook in the bomb bay. He was back in the United States, teaching other navigators the craft in 1944 when the pilot he'd flown with in Europe, Paul Tibbets, invited him to join a top-secret bomber group, the 509th. ![]() "After my first three missions, I said, 'I'm never going to live to be 21,' " Van Kirk once told the Observer.īut he survived 58 combat missions, losing three planes. Van Kirk's first bombing raid over Europe was in 1942 when he was 20. Bombardier Tom Ferebee, who died in 2000, was a farm boy from Mocksville in Davie County. Van Kirk was one of two Enola Gay fliers with Carolina connections. He died in Stone Mountain, Ga., near Atlanta, where he had retired after a 35-year career with the chemical company DuPont. 6, 1945, hastening the end of World War II. Van Kirk, who lived in Charlotte from 19 and whose son Larry still lives here, was the navigator of the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the first atomic bomb on Aug. When he died Monday at age 93, Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk was the last of the Enola Gay crew, a team that flew one morning to a city named Hiroshima on a mission that would hurl the world into the atomic age. He and his wife Kasey soon returned from Sicily to Middle Tennessee when he was waived due to a right knee injury prior to the start of the season.In 2010 he came back to Perry County High School to coach the boys basketball team.July 30-He flew 58 missions during World War II and never thought he'd live to see 21. His season came to an end when he suffered a right knee injury that required season-ending knee surgery with three games remaining.In 2005 he signed with Upea Capo D'Orlando of the Serie A. There he averaged 16 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.2 blocks per game and was selected to the All NBDL First-Team. He also averaged one rebound per game while recording no steals.He played the 2004-2005 season with the Florida Flame for head coach Dennis Johnson in the NBA D-League. Haston was known for his sky hook shot and shooting range for a forward/center.Haston averaged 1.2 points per game, playing in 27 games. During his sophomore year, he lost his mother, Patti Kirk Haston, 48, in a tornado that hit the county seat, Linden, Tennessee on May 5, 1999.Haston was selected 16th overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2001 NBA Draft many analysts, who had pegged Haston in the late first round-early second round area, thought that the Hornets took Haston to be a 'zone breaker', working against the change in rules that allowed some forms of the zone defense in games. Haston's most memorable moment came during the 2000-01 season when his buzzer-beating three-pointer beat defending champion and top-ranked Michigan State 59-58 at the Assembly Hall. His college career took place under head coach Bob Knight and Mike Davis at Indiana University where, in the 2000-01 season he led the Big Ten in scoring and was a 3rd Team All-American selection. He attended Perry County High School in Linden, Tennessee, where, as a senior, he was a part of the 37-0 Class A state championship team, being named Class A "Mr. Kirk Haston Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family Kirk Haston (born Main Lobelville, Tennessee) is an American former professional basketball player.
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