General mcinerney
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Assigned to the Research and Development Section of the USAF Fighter Weapons School at Nellis AFB, Nevada, the home of the Fighter Pilot, Jim conducted many Operational Test and Evaluation programs in F-105s during his three years there. In 1960 Jim earned a Master's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering at Princeton University. This invaluable flying experience marked Jim as an outstanding Air Force pilot. Jim made dozens of these risky high-altitude flights across the North Atlantic to Europe and North Africa before in-air refueling was operational for fighters. Jim's next assignment was the Military Air Transport Service, ferrying newly-built fighter aircraft overseas. Jim shot down the last enemy MIG-15, piloted by a Chinese Communist, on May 10, 1955, as air combat continued well after the Korean Armistice was signed. After his first assignment at Niagara Falls flying F-86s, he was posted to Korea. At graduation, Jim had to choose between trying out for the 1952 US Olympic Boxing Team or going to flight school to become a fighter pilot. He was very proud of the Class of '52 and always kept in close touch with classmates. At West Point Jim was the Captain of the Army Boxing Team and was the Eastern Intercollegiate Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion in 19. Jim entered West Point in June 1948 after a stint with the 82nd Airborne Division, which was still manned with many WW II combat veterans who endowed Jim with a fierce combat spirit that he kept throughout his lifetime. A true leader, he spent his entire life in service in the Army, Air Force and defense industrial base. McInerney and Rose Adikes McInerney were stationed at Springfield Armory, Jim was the eldest of five children. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on August 3, 1930, where his parents Captain James E. McInerney Jr, USAF Retired Major General James Eugene McInerney, Jr, USAF Retired, died of natural causes at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on October 14, 2014.