Guy Mannering Townsend III (October 25, 1920 – March 28, 2011) was a United States Air Force brigadier general, test pilot, and combat veteran.

Guy Townsend was born in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1920 and graduated from San Jacinto High School in Houston, Texas, in June 1939.

[3] He returned home in October 1945 to serve for three years as pilot and flight test officer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio.

[2] In July 1948, Major Townsend started as the lead military pilot for the Air Force evaluation of the Boeing B-47 jet bomber.

A fellow B-47 test pilot, Major Russell E. Schleeh, proposed a second parachute, deployed while in the landing pattern, to permit a higher engine power setting during the approach.

[5] The prototype B-47's long, swept wing was prone to twisting during roll maneuvers which caused a dangerous behavior known as aileron reversal to occur at airspeeds lower than expected.

Colonel Henry E. "Pete" Warden of Wright Field wanted to convince the head of the Air Force's Bomber Production, Major General K. B. Wolfe, of the merits of the B-47.

[2] In January 1957, Townsend was deputy commander for Operation Power Flite, a group of three B-52Bs that made a nonstop flight around the world in 45 hours with several in-flight refuelings.

[17] Unfortunately, the refueling receptacle on Townsend's B-52, La Vittoria, froze solid forcing him to abort to Goose Bay Air Base in Labrador.

[12] After the SST program was cancelled in 1971, he supported a number of other Boeing efforts including the E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post, the YC-14, the Microwave Landing System, and the B-2 Spirit.

[3] In 1969, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots presented Townsend with the James H. Doolittle Award recognizing outstanding accomplishment in technical management or engineering achievement in aerospace technology.

[23] In 1994, the Museum of Flight presented him with the Pathfinder Award recognizing those individuals with ties to the Pacific Northwest who have made significant contributions to the development of the aerospace industry.

[12] In 1995, Townsend was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor in Lancaster, California, that recognizes test pilots who have contributed to aviation and space research and development.