Robert Meyer Jr
Robert Randolph "Bobbie" Meyer Jr (born November 8, 1916 in Birmingham; died April 25, 1942 in Papua New Guinea) was a U.S. Air Force 2nd Lieutenant.
Meyer was the co-pilot of the U.S. Air Force B-17E "Flying Fortress" 41-2505, assigned to the 5th Air Force, 19th Bombardment Group, 30th Bombardment Squadron, stationed at Cloncurry Airfield in Queensland, Australia. The aircraft departed for its final mission, a bombing run against Rabaul, on the morning of April 25, 1942. The bomber wrecked on the slopes of "Ghost Mountain" (also called "Suwemalla" or "Mount Obree") and all crew were lost. Their location was not known to the Air Force and they were reported as "Missing in Action". The Meyer family offered a $1 million reward for information about the location of the wreckage, but it was thought that the plane may have fallen into the Coral Sea. The crewmen were officially declared dead one year later, on April 26, 1943.
Meyer's brother, Jack established a Robert R. Meyer Jr Memorial Scholarship to his own alma mater, Princeton University, in 1947. The Meyer Memorial Chapel at the Cathedral Church of the Advent was dedicated in his memory in 1951.
The wreckage of Meyer's plane was found in the jungle of Papua New Guinea in the 1961, but was erroneously recorded as one from which the crew had bailed out and survived, so it was not recovered until another expedition was made in 1986. Meyer's remains were repatriated to the United States in 1987 and he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in November 1990.
References
- Hoy, Bruce (October 1998) "The Fortress on Mt Obree." Paradise magazine, No. 129
External links
- B-17E Flying Fortress Serial Number 41-2505 at PacificWrecks.com