Joe W. Kelly

Who was Joe W. Kelly?

General Joe William Kelly was a U.S. Air Force general and Commander, Military Air Transport Service. He was the first four-star commander of MATS, and was commander at the time the command was transitioning to jet aircraft. In 1961 he personally piloted the first jet aircraft assigned to MATS on its maiden voyage from the Boeing factory at Renton, Washington to MATS Eastern Transport Air Force at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. During Kelly's time as commander, MATS was involved in Operation Deep Freeze, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Congo airlift. During his tenure, he compiled nearly 1,700 hours in the air from inspecting units, bringing his service total to nearly 9,700 flying hours.

General Kelly was born in Waverly, Indiana, in 1910. He was graduated from high school in Martinsville, Indiana in 1927 and attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, for one year. In 1928 he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and graduated in June 1932 as a second lieutenant in the Infantry.