Ohio Aviation Hero’s Remains Found?

by Kristina Smith Horn
CentralOhio.com

Talented, handsome and famous, Lt. Col. Jack Zimmerman seemed indestructible. The Fremont native, who logged more than two million miles in flight, escaped a fiery plane crash in Pittsburgh with only a few scrapes and bruises.

He flew FBI agents to nab notorious kidnapper and thug Alvin “Creepy” Karpis — the FBI’s “Public Enemy No. 1″ — and won the gratitude of bureau director J. Edgar Hoover. He braved freezing wind, rain and snow in an open cockpit to deliver mail by plane. He flew missions for the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II in Northern Europe.

But the rough, icy waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, northeast of Maine, proved too much for the “Million Miler” during his final mission on Nov. 2, 1942. Zimmerman’s amphibious plane capsized, drowning him and four others. Nearly 67 years later, Zimmerman’s body may finally be laid to rest.
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