Brigadier General Prentiss Davis Wynne Jr. is chief of the Air Force Section, Joint Brazil-United States Military Commission, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In this position he is responsible for administering the Military Assistance Program with the Brazilian air force.
General Wynne was born in 1915 in New York City. Following high school he attended Stanton Preparatory School and then entered the U.S. Military Academy. Graduating in June 1939, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery, U.S. Army. He completed pilot training in June 1940 and transferred to the U.S. Army Air Corps.
His first assignment was with the 12th Observation Squadron, Godman Field, Fort Knox, Ky., from where he was assigned to Flight "F", 1st Mapping Squadron, at Gray Field, Fort Lewis, Wash., in 1941. During this period, he flew charting missions in F-2 aircraft in Alaska and provided aerial photographic assistance to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the construction of the Alaska-Canada Highway. While still with Flight "F" (redesignated 2nd Mapping Squadron) he flew A-29 aircraft, modified for photography, in the Aleutian Island operations in the early days of World War II.
General Wynne was designated as operations officer, 1st Mapping Group, Bolling Air Force Base, in December 1942; then operations officer, 311th Photo Wing and later, commanding officer, 1l6th Photo Squadron. In November 1944, he left Bolling and proceeded to the l4th Air Force at Kunming, China, as staff photographic officer. Shortly thereafter, he was assigned to the 1st Bomb Group (B-25s), Chinese-American Composite Wing, and served as squadron commander, deputy group commander, and group commander-designate until the end of the war in 1945. Then transferred to the 10th Air Force, Shanghai, he supervised three transport squadrons in their North China evacuation operations, based at Hsian, China, as 10th Air Force operations coordinator.
In March of 1946, he was assigned to Headquarters Far East Air Forces, Fort McKinley, Philippine Islands, as deputy A-2 Intelligence and moved with that organization and in the same capacity to Tokyo, in May 1946, where he remained until late May 1948.
He was then assigned to Headquarters 15th Air Force, Strategic Air Command, at Colorado Springs, Colo., as the director of intelligence, in August 1948, and held this position until transferred to the Air War College as a student in July 1952. During this period he was promoted to colonel and performed temporary duty at Yokota, Japan, as the director of intelligence, Headquarters Far East Air Force Bomber Command, the SAC element which operated B-29sduring the Korean War.
In June 1953, he was assigned to the Directorate of Intelligence, Headquarters U.S. Air Force as a branch and later division chief in the functional area of estimates. In May 1957, he left Washington and proceeded to Hickam Air Force Base Hawaii, where he was deputy assistant chief of staff, intelligence, on the newly organized staff of Headquarters Pacific Command. In April 1958, he became assistant chief of staff, intelligence, in the same headquarters where he remained until reassignment, again to Washington, in July 1961, as director of estimates, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. He was promoted to brigadier general April 1, 1962 and assigned as deputy assistant chief of staff, Intelligence Headquarters U.S. Air Force in March 1963. He served in this position until May 1965 when he was transferred to his present position.