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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Sponsor

Honored by:
Mrs. Joyce A. Tatchio

Orrin R. Tatchio, a native of Fulton South Dakota, was a school teacher who enlisted in the A AC in 1937 and began training in maintenance. His dream of becoming a pilot materialized in 1943 when he graduated in the class of 43-1 at Dorr Field, Arkadia, Florida in May of 1943. After further training he was assigned as an Instructor Pilot for B-17s at Gulfport Mississippi until January 1945 when he volunteered to join the 8th AF at Nuthampsted England. From there he flew 19 missions over the European Theater of Operations, including the final European mission to Pilsen, Czechoslovakia in April 1945. "Tatch" was a command pilot and flew a B-17 back to the United States in May 1945.
He married Joyce A. Jones in Mobile Alabama in June 1945. After being stationed at Ramey AFB, Hunter AFB and Barksdale AFB he was assigned to Chanute AFB at Rantoul Illinois. While there, he earned a Bachelors degree from the University of Illinois and also became a 32nd Degree Mason at Danville Illinois. After a tour at Hickam AFB, his final active duty assignment was as an ROTC instructor at Oklahoma State University. He retired from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1964.
Oklahoma State University hired him as the department Head of Aviation Education. In this position, he also became the faculty advisor to the Flying Aggies, the OSU flight team, who won the National Intercollegiate Competition and the Grover Loening trophy. In these positions, he passed on his love of aviation to his many students and the members of the Flying Aggies.
Tatch earned a masters degree from OSU in May 1976. He was president of The Retired Officers' Association, Cimmaron Chapter, active in the Elks Lodge Number 1859, a member of the Civil Air Patrol, American Legion, and a sponsor of the Air Safety Foundation. He volunteered at the Oklahoma Lipid Research Clinic in Oklahoma City in 1979 as a patient/participant in search of a cure for heart disease. Before the project was completed he died in 1981.
Tatch was employed as a flight instructor and charter pilot for Universal Aviation, a fixed base operator in Stillwater Oklahoma, at the time of his death on April 10,1981. He was a devoted husband and father, greatly pleased by the accomplishments of his three sons and their children. His love of flying and teaching others will always be remembered.