Brother Jack Weeks ’55, Birmingham native
and graduate of West End High School, died
on June 4, 1968, while in the service of his
country. Prior to his death, reports from his
most famous mission had found their way to
President Lyndon Johnson’s desk during one
of the most serious flashpoints of the Cold War.
Forty years ago, only a few people knew
how Brother Weeks died. Friends who had
lost track of him likely didn’t even hear of his
death. On June 4, 2008, the USS Alabama
Battleship Commission in Mobile attempted
to make up for lost time with its “Long
Overdue Tribute to Jack W. Weeks.”
“We’re so proud to honor him today as an
American hero and a fellow Alabamian,”
said Col. Barney Gass, the commission’s
chairman, during the ceremony at Mobile
Bay’s Battleship Park.
Jack died 40 years ago while flying a
super secret A-12 “Blackbird” high level
surveillance plane over the South China
Sea between Okinawa and the Philippines.
Investigators believe the new engine, which
Jack was testing, overheated and exploded
so fast that even a pilot of Brother Weeks’
caliber could not overcome it. There is no
way to know for sure, because the plane
apparently disintegrated. It, and Jack’s body,
were never recovered.
At the time, Brother Weeks’ missions were
so secret that even his wife, Sharlene Fenn
Weeks, 73, now an ordained minister in
Massachusetts, didn’t know he was working
for the CIA until after his death. Even then,
she couldn’t tell anyone about the program
he was involved in until the information was
declassified in September 2007. She even
had to return to the CIA the Intelligence Star
for Valor she had accepted on his behalf
after his death. It was later returned to her.
“He was a patriot in the true sense of
the word,” Mrs. Weeks said during the
ceremony. “He would not see this as a single
honor but as an honor for all of the men who
flew and worked with him.”
Former pilots, engineers and ground crew
from the A-12 program, along with members
of the Battleship Commission and Weeks’
family and friends, were on hand for the
ceremony. The commission dedicated
the A-12 on display at Battleship Park in
Weeks’ honor and the plane now bears his
name. Battleship Commission Executive
Director Bill Tunnell read a commendation
from Gov. Bob Riley that called Weeks “an
Alabamian of distinction and an American of
heroic proportions.”
The mention of Weeks’ UA ties during the
ceremony drew a respectful “Roll Tide” from
many members of the audience.
In a story printed in The Tuscaloosa News
on May 25, 2008, Sharlene Weeks said she
had hoped to contact Dan Saltsman ’56,
who was Weeks’ best man in their wedding.
Dan was tracked down and traveled from
central Florida to attend the ceremony.
Saltsman, Weeks’ college roommate
and fellow Delta Chi, last saw Weeks on
a visit to California in the 1960s when
Weeks told him that he worked for Hughes
Aircraft Corporation.
“He honored his confidentiality,” Saltsman
recalled. “But I knew he was into something
more than he was telling me.”
Saltsman remembers Brother Weeks as
a bright young man who excelled in high
school, which they attended together, and at
the University, with a promising future ahead
of him. He graduated with a major in physics
and was commissioned an officer through
the University’s Air Force ROTC program.
Dan said Jack was gifted from a very early
age. “Jack was piddling with motors and
motor scooters while I was trying to blow up
bicycle tires,” he laughed.
Brother Weeks thrived in the Air Force and
after serving as a fighter pilot in Germany,
became an instructor in the fighter weapons
school at Nellis Air Force Base outside Las
Vegas. He was also the general’s personal
pilot and seemed destined to be a career
officer. Then in 1963 he told his wife he was
resigning his commission to take a job with
Hughes Aircraft. In truth, military officers
have to resign their commissions to become
CIA agents.
From 1963 until his death in 1968, Brother
Weeks was a pilot in the CIA, flying an
A-12 on dangerous reconnaissance
missions over countries such as East
Germany and North Vietnam. On a secret
flight over North Korea only a couple of
weeks before his death, he was credited
with getting the first photographs of the
USS Pueblo after the intelligence gathering
ship was captured by the North Koreans. It
was an important accomplishment said CIA
historian David Robarge.
“The mission that Jack Weeks flew over
North Korea probably alleviated conflict,”
Robarge said.
The photos Weeks took of the Pueblo
wound up on the President’s desk and
confirmed that the North Koreans had
captured the ship. It allowed the U.S. to
begin negotiating for the crew’s release,
which took 11 months.
Brother Weeks was no stranger to Cold War
conflict. He flew an F-100 fighter-bomber
armed with nuclear weapons during the
Soviet Union’s crisis with Hungary in 1956,
knowing it would be a one-way mission if he
was called upon to attack, Sharlene Weeks
remarked.
“Jack was a Cold War warrior long before he
became a CIA pilot,” she said.
The ceremony was closed by reading
Governor Riley’s commendation. It ended with
the words, “Long live the spirit of Jack Weeks!”
Editor’s Note: This article and photo excerpted from
The Tuscaloosa News articles by Robert DeWitt, Staff Writer.
