Joseph Charles "Big Joe" McCarthy, DSO, DFC*, CD (31 August 1919 – 6 September 1998) was an American aviator who served with the Royal Canadian Air Force in Bomber Command during World War II.

In May 1941, months before the United States would enter the war, McCarthy joined the Royal Canadian Air Force.

In November 1944, some 18 months after his participation in Operation Chastise, McCarthy was reassigned to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough Airfield in Hampshire, England.

[4] After departing the United Kingdom at the end of 1945, McCarthy returned to Canada and obtained his Canadian citizenship the following year.

In 1963, he started a three-year stint in planning and policy for the United States Navy's Commander-in-Chief, US Atlantic Fleet at Naval Station Norfolk, and from 1966 to 1968 concluded his RCAF career as Base Operations Officer for two squadrons flying the Canadair CP-107 Argus from CFB Greenwood in Greenwood, Nova Scotia.