Paul W. Airey
Paul Wesley Airey (December 13, 1923 – March 11, 2009) was an airman of the United States Air Force who served as the first Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force from 1967 to 1969. Early life and education Airey born on December 13, 1923, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He entered military service in 1940 after two years of high school in Quincy, Massachusetts. In 1948 he obtained his high school equivalency certificate, and later completed 62 semester hours of study at McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois. His military schooling included courses in communication mechanics and personnel management. He is a graduate of the Air Defense Command Noncommissioned Officer Academy. The academy was renamed the Paul W. Airey NCO Academy on December 13, 2006, in his honor. Military career Airey enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in November 1942. During World War II, he was an aerial gunner and radio operator on B-24 Liberator bombers and is credited with 28 combat missions over Europe. In July 1944, on his 28th combat mission, a bombing run over Vienna, Austria, Airey was forced to bail out of his flak-damaged aircraft over Hungary. He was captured by the German military and was