Melvyn R Paisley

Military
media-31142.jpeg UPL 31142 1LT Melvyn R. Paisley
Fighter Pilot
366th FG - 390th FS - 9th AF 466th Bomb Group collection

photo sent my Melvyn Paisley to Chris Brassfield - March 2000

Object Number - UPL 31142 - 1LT Melvyn R. Paisley Fighter Pilot 366th FG - 390th FS - 9th AF

Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Engineering and Systems) from December 1981 to March 1987.

Authored the book "Ace!" published by Branden Publishing Company, copyright 1992

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Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Portland, OR, USA 9 October 1924

Other

366th FG Combat Tour

Asche Aerodrome, Vliegbasis Zutendaal, 3690 Zutendaal, Belgium 13 October 1944 5 victory ace

Died

McLean, VA, USA 19 December 2001 Mr. Paisley was born on Oct. 9, 1924, in Portland, Ore. He spent his early years in a logging camp, where his father was a logger and his mother was a cook. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in World War II, where he became a skilled pilot and downed several enemy planes over Europe. He received the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star. After the war, Mr. Paisley studied engineering and was hired by The Boeing Company. In 28 years there, he rose to become Director of International Operations for Boeing Aerospace. He established a close relationship with John F. Lehman Jr., who asked him to move to Washington after Mr. Lehman was named Secretary of the Navy. They established a reputation for brash, occasionally heavy-handed management and for slashing red tape that interfered with the Navy's expansion. Mr. Lehman was never accused of any misdeeds. Before he headed to the Pentagon, Mr. Paisley received a $183,000 severance package from Boeing. Prosecutors sued him under the federal ethics law in 1986, arguing that such a large ''golden handshake'' would compromise Mr. Paisley's objectivity toward Boeing. The Supreme Court later ruled that such packages were not, in themselves, illegal. In his Pentagon post as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, which he left in 1987, and later as a consultant to the arms industry, Mr. Paisley used his influence and inside information to guide executives from businesses like Martin Marietta and United Technologies through the procurement thicket, steering billions of dollars in contracts their way. Released from prison in 1995, he spent his time painting and collecting World War II films. He was a consultant for a two-hour documentary, ''Shooting War,'' narrated by Tom Hanks and recently broadcast on ABC-TV, Ms. Paisley said.

Buried

Arlington National Cemetery • Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA Plot Sec: 66, Site: 6693

Revisions

Date
Contributor466thHistorian
Changes
Sources

Information sent by Melvyn Paisley 8 March 2000

Date
Contributor466thHistorian
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