Foil: 9 Panel: 2 Column: 3 Line: 74

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Ms. Carol J. Brush

Irvin L. Timlin, a World War II veteran who shot down a German plane on his first mission, later served two months in a prisoner-of-war camp after his own B-24 Liberator was downed over Romania Mr. Timlin, a top turret gunner with the Army's 512th Bomber Squadron, was on a mission over Giurgiu, Romania, on July 3, 1944, when his plane was shot down. He and eight other members of the crew were held in a camp near the border of Romania and Bulgaria. Mr. Timlin said the men were not mistreated and were visited by Romanian Queen Mother Elena at the camp. Although Romania fought on the side of Germany from 1941 to 1944, an August 1944 palace coup led to the signing of an armistice with the Soviet Union.
Subsequently, Mr. Timlin and the other POWs were released. After recuperating from malnutrition stateside, he returned to active duty. He was discharged as a staff sergeant, and later served with the Air National Guard.
Mr. Timlin worked in the aeronautics industry at the Piper Aircraft factory in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. He attended Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics and the University of Pittsburgh and later became a draftsman/ estimator for engineering firms in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.