FREDERICK W. ZINN | MAHOF CLASS OF 2021
0Zinn graduated from the University of Michigan and was touring Europe when WWI began. He was one of the first 42 Americans to join the French Foreign Legion and fought in several vicious battles and was wounded. He transferred to the French Air Service and became America’s first aerial combat photographer when America entered the war. Zinn was the first American transferred to Gen. Mitchell’s staff and placed in charge of assigning replacement pilots and observers to the front. When the war ended, Zinn proposed to search for missing American airmen. He worked from an office in occupied Berlin, sometimes flying with German ace Ernst Udet. After months of effort, he recovered the remains or personal effects of 195 of 200 missing American airmen and continued his search efforts during World War II while working with the OSS. His Missing Air Crew Reporting System and system of serial numbering of aircraft parts are still used today. Zinn passed away in 1960.
The Air Zoo is a world-class, Smithsonian-affiliated aerospace and science museum with over 100 air and space artifacts, inspiring interactive exhibits, full-motion flight simulators, indoor amusement park rides, a theater and over 100 education programs!