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known to many as "Brownie" or "Wally") born Oct. 22, 1924, in Schuylkill Haven, Pa., to James and Rebecca Brown, died at home, peacefully, with family at his side on Monday, April 30, 2012.
Graduated from high school in 1942 and received his AA Degree from Ventura Community College in 1970. He had been a resident of Camarillo since 1964. Brownie enlisted in the Army Air Corps as a teenager in 1942 serving during World War II as a radio operator aboard the C-46 Commando, flying 106 round-trip missions over "The Hump." This route was flown out of India and Burma over the Himalayas into China.
He later served in the United States Air Force and retired from active duty as a Senior Master Sergeant in 1964 after 22 years in uniform. His last duty station was Oxnard Air Force Base, now Camarillo Airport. He later worked at 3M Corp., in Camarillo, and in civil service for the Navy at Port Hueneme where he retired in 1984.
His hobbies included ham radio (originally WB6KKN then AE6EQ), and from 1968 to 1990 he was an enthusiastic member of the Oxnard Chapter of SPEBSQSA, singing bass although he could sing all parts well. He was an avid bowler and was a league bowler at Harley's Bowl and Conejo Bowl.
After retirement he enrolled in art classes at Ventura College and became a proficient sketch artist and potter. In 2000, he became a member of the Southern California Wing of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) serving as a docent at their Camarillo Airport museum location. His favorite plane at the museum is one of his old C-46 Commandos, "The China Doll."
He will be dearly missed by his friends and family. He is survived by his beloved wife of 46 years, Billie; their children, Buddy Carter (Laurie), Patricia Bryant, Peggy Sveiven (Scott), Jeannie Carter-Johnson (Erik), Jonathan Brown (Danielle); his grandchildren, Michele Bryant, Major Jayme Carter, USAF (Talia), Adam Bryant, Jeffrey Sveiven (Jacinta), Johnny Sveiven, Sean Carter, Christopher Johnson, Michael Carter, Peggy Sue Johnson, Sarah Irani, Sarah Brown, Mason Brown; his great-grandchildren, Autumn Schlick, Ryhan Feliciano; his brother, David Brown (Jeanie) of Pennsylvania; and his sisters, Lois Dresen of Iowa and Kathryn Burton of Ohio.
A memorial of his life will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 5, with a fly-by at about noon at the CAF WWII Aviation Museum (Camarillo Airport), 445 Aviation Drive (corner of Eubanks Street).
In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to the Commemorative Air Force Southern California Wing, 805-482-0064.
1942-1946, AAF MOS 707, United States Army Air Corps (USAAC)
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The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the military aviation arm of the United States of America between 1926 and 1941. The statutory administrative forerunner of the United States Air Force, it was renamed from the earlier United States Army Air Service on 2 July 1926 and part of the larger United States Army. The Air Corps was the immediate predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), established on 20 June 1941. Although discontinued as an administrative echelon during World War II, the Air Corps (AC) remained as one of the combat arms of the Army until 1947, when it was legally abolished by legislation establishing the Department of the Air Force.
The Air Corps was renamed by the United States Congress largely as a compromise between the advocates of a separate air arm and those of the traditionalist Army high command who viewed the aviation arm as an auxiliary branch to support the ground forces. Although its members worked to promote the concept of air power and an autonomous air force between the years between the world wars, its primary purpose by Army policy remained support of ground forces rather than independent operations.
On 1 March 1935, still struggling with the issue of a separate air arm, the Army activated the General Headquarters Air Force for centralized control of aviation combat units within the continental United States, separate from but coordinate with the Air Corps. The separation of the Air Corps from control of its combat units caused problems of unity of command that became more acute as the Air Corps enlarged in preparation for World War II. This was resolved by the creation of the Army Air Forces (AAF), making both organizations subordinate to the new higher echelon.
The Air Corps ceased to have an administrative structure after 9 March 1942, but as "the permanent statutory organization of the air arm, and the principal component of the Army Air Forces," the overwhelming majority of personnel assigned to the AAF were members of the Air Corps.
