Charles McGhee Tyson

Charles McGhee Tyson (1889–1918) was an American businessman and naval aviator from Knoxville, Tennessee. Tyson was lost in action during a naval patrol in the North Sea near the end of the First World War. McGhee Tyson Airport near Knoxville is named after him.

Charles McGhee Tyson

Born in Clifton Springs, New York, on August 10, 1889, Tyson moved with his family to Knoxville Tennessee in 1891.[1] His father was General Lawrence D. Tyson, a prominent Knoxville businessman and philanthropist, army general and U.S. Senator. He was named for his maternal grandfather, Charles McClung McGhee. Charles McGhee Tyson attended boarding school at St. Paul's School in New Hampshire followed by Princeton University.[2] After finishing college in 1912, Tyson returned to Knoxville to work as an executive in his father's textile mills.[3]

Tyson enlisted in the Naval Reserve Flying Corps in 1917 and transferred to England as a lieutenant in August 1918. He served with an aerial unit based in northern England that dropped mines in the North Sea to combat German U-boats.[3] He held an executive logistics post, purchasing supplies for his unit. On October 11, 1918, he volunteered for a mine laying mission as the plane's nose gunner. Tyson was killed when his plane crashed into the Humber estuary.[2]

In 1929, Tyson's parents donated the tract of land to be used as an airfield in west Knoxville, stipulating that it be named in honor of their son.[4] McGhee Tyson Airport was moved in 1935 to its present location in Alcoa, just south of Knoxville.