Darr H. Alkire
Darr Hayes Alkire (December 31, 1903 – July 22, 1977) was a United States military pilot and officer who served in the Army Air Service, the Army Air Corps, the Army Air Forces, and the Air Force. He is best known for being the senior officer in charge of the West Compound at Stalag Luft III, the prisoner-of-war camp famous for the Great Escape, after he was shot down in 1944.
Alkire was born in Fay, Nevada, and grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. He studied at the University of Utah for two years before joining the Army in 1924 as a flying cadet at Brooks Field, Texas. After flight school, he served with the 6th Pursuit Squadron in Hawaii and later taught flying at March Field, California, and Randolph Field, Texas. He survived a forced landing in Texas in 1932.
In World War II, Alkire held several command roles. He took over the 2d Bombardment Group in early 1942, became the first commander of the 100th Bombardment Group in late 1942, and led the 449th Bombardment Group starting in 1943. On December 18, 1943, he piloted the Maui Maid to Grottaglie, Italy—the first 449th B-24 to land there. The Maui Maid was later scrapped after an accident. On January 31, 1944, his B-24 Lurchin Urchin was shot down near Aviano; Alkire was captured by German forces and sent to prisoner-of-war camps, ending up at Stalag Luft III.
When Stalag Luft III opened in April 1944, Alkire was named the senior officer in charge of the West Compound, a position he held until liberation the following year. The camp’s famous escape story is connected to Alkire’s time as a prisoner, and the U.S. Army Air Forces filmed the Lurchin Urchin mission.
Earlier in his career, in Hawaii in 1929, Alkire helped Inter-Island Airways start scheduled flights, flying a Bellanca Pacemaker and Sikorsky aircraft on the first inter-island service in Hawaii.
Alkire married Ruth McKee in 1927 (they had a son, Michael), then Alma Tate Robinson in 1930 (they had two daughters). His son Michael later became an Air Force pilot but died in a crash; he is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Alkire retired from the Air Force in 1956 and moved to Salt Lake City. He appeared on a 1958 Salt Lake City TV program about the Cold War. He died in 1977 and is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
Awards he received include the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Prisoner of War Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:20 (CET).