Chief of Aviation Medicine at Westover Field

  • Published
  • By Dr. Héctor Manuel Torres-Camacho
  • 439th Airlift Wing

Brigadier General Stanley H. Bear - enlisted soldier, Air Force physician, Chief of Aviation Medicine, MAC Command Surgeon.

Brigadier General Stanley Bear was born in Newville, Pennsylvania,  in 1921. 

He was drafted as an enlisted soldier during WWII and served with distinction.  After attaining a medical degree, Dr. Bear was recalled to active duty, this time in the U.S. Air Force, and assigned as a physician at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. 

During 1949, he served as an airborne physician for the 5th Air Rescue Squadron and later as Chief of Aviation Medicine at Westover Field.  After completing key assignments in England, Germany, and Vietnam, Dr. Bear was appointed as Command Surgeon for the U.S. Military Airlift Command at Scott Air Force Base. 

He retired in 1973 with 43 airborne jumps, 82 combat missions, and 3100 flight hours.  He died in 1985.