Lt. Colonel Charles Norman Kirk

Lt. Colonel Charles Norman Kirk knew from the time he was 5 years old that he wanted to be a pilot. He grew up in the community of East Bend, North Carolina. Charlie attended college at North Carolina State University and participated in the Reserved Officers Training Corp (ROTC) while working on and obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1954. He joined the United States Air Force as a Commissioned Officer upon completion of his degree. While on assignment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Charles met Betty Ann Cravens of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and he married Betty the following year.

Lt. Colonel Charles Kirk flew the world for over 20 years in the B-47E Stratojet and the C-141 Starlifter. One of Charlie's first assignments was to bring the newly formed Pease Air Force Base into combat readiness with a group of other young officers. His next assignment was as an Officer at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

After receiving his flying commission Lt. Colonel Charles Kirk flew the B-47 Stratojet from 1958 to 1964 as an AirCraft Commander with the 380th Bomber Squadron of the 310th Bomb Wing at Schilling Air Force Base, Kansas. During this time period he lived on Mendenhall AFB, Maron AFB, and Nouasseur Air Base half the time.

Lt Colonel Charles Kirk attended the Air Force Institute of Technology from 1964 to 1966 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base receiving a Masters Degree in Aerospace-Mechanical Engineering. Upon completion of his Masters Degree, Charles became an Aircraft Commander for the Military Airlift Command 60th Military Airlift Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California in 1966, flying world wide but with a focus on SouthEast Asia. During this time period Charlie liked to tell the story of having four consecutive Sunday night dinners on Wake Island in the South Pacific while he was making multiple trips around the world.

In 1972 Charlie took a one year tour of duty as the Base Commander of Operations in Saigon, Vietnam, where he also flew the C-47 SkyTrain.

In 1973 he was part of the 436th Military Airlift Wing for the C-141 Starlifter in Dover AFB. From 1974-1975 he was a pilot and a flight examiner for the 437th Military Airlift Wing for C-141s at Charleston AFB.

Charlie loved flying, and identified first as part of the fraternity of pilots.

Charlie was a leader, and until the very end of his life read books on leadership and history. When asked once why he survived when so many he was surrounded by in the Military did not, he responded that he was thoroughly prepared for each and every mission, and every contingency in the mission. One of his favorite stories include that as a young Captain he went to two weeks of Survival School training in the snows of Nevada and then he had to share a desk with the then Colonel Chuck Yeager while in class the following week.

After retiring from the Airforce in 1975 with 20 years of service Charlie moved with his family to Oak Ridge, Tennessee where he started his second career as an engineer for the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant as part of the Union Carbide then Martin-Marietta contract, going on to become a mid-level Manager. One of his favorite projects that he can talk about was working on the Navy's Scale Model of the "Sea Wolf" and being part of the trials in a deep lake in Idaho. During this time period, Charlie made multiple trips to Middlesboro Kentucky with a group from Oak Ridge that took an interest in a restoration project for a WWII P-38 that had been located from its crash site in the Arctic. He enjoyed attending Air Shows as well as trying to teach his children and grandchildren about flight, the sciences and engineering.

After retiring from Martin-Marietta, with a group of other retirees, he participated for over 12 years in an active branch of Habitat for Humanity for the East Tennessee Area.

Lt. Colonel Charles Kirk passed away July 19, 2021 after a brief illness. Until the end of his life he loved to share stories of flying and travel, and he maintained an interest in flight and engineering.