Colonel Avery Kay, USAF, was a United States Air Force officer and Master Navigator best known for being the principal advocate of the A-10 Warthog attack aircraft.
Following initial flight training as a navigator, he qualified as a navigator in the B-17 Flying Fortress and was assigned to a bomb group based in Great Britain, during which time he flew multiple combat bombing missions against enemy targets in continental Europe.
In this assignment, he served as a primary action officer to the division director, Major General Richard Yudkin, USAF.
[2] With its emphasis on nuclear-armed strategic jet bombers of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) during the 1950s and 1960s Cold War era, and the fighter aircraft of the Tactical Air Command (TAC) that were becoming the USAF's predominant combat arm during the Vietnam War, Avery believed that the Air Force had never adequately supported the close air support (CAS) mission in support of the U.S. Army or NATO/Allied ground forces and he convinced General Yudkin that this was a worthy battle.
He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors, to include a "missing man" flyover by four A-10 aircraft.