{{Short description|Royal New Zealand Air Force officer (1942–2019)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox military person |name = Carey Adamson |image = |image_size = 200px |alt = |caption = Air Marshal Carey Adamson |nickname = |birth_name = Carey William Adamson |birth_date = {{birth date|1942|09|05|df=yes}} |birth_place = Fairlie, New Zealand |death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|05|10|1942|09|05|df=yes}} |death_place = |burial_place = |allegiance = New Zealand |branch = Royal New Zealand Air Force |service_years = 1961–2001 |rank = Air Marshal |service_number = |unit = |commands = Chief of Defence Force<br/>Chief of the Air Staff<br/>No. 40 Squadron RNZAF |battles = Vietnam War |awards = Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit<br/>Air Force Cross |relations = }} Air Marshal '''Carey William Adamson''', {{postnominals|country=NZL|size=100|sep=,|CNZM|AFC}} (5 September 1942 – 10 May 2019) was a senior officer of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Adamson grew up in Fairlie before attending Timaru Boys' High School, where he was a boarder apart from his final year, when he commuted daily on his motorcycle.<ref name="Stuff obit">{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Al |title=Former Chief of Defence Carey Adamson remembered as 'top bloke' |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/112853918/former-chief-of-defence-carey-adamson-remembered-as-top-bloke |access-date=29 March 2022 |work=Stuff |date=20 May 2019}}</ref> As a teenager, Adamson joined the Air Training Corps. He then joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1961, where he served as a pilot flying Austers and Harvards. In 1964 Adamson was assigned to the United States to train on the C130 Hercules.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=940698 |title=Pilot's painful duty to clip wings of his own fighters |work=The New Zealand Herald |accessdate=25 May 2016}}</ref>
He was Chief of the Air Staff from 1995<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1996/1996%20-%201835.html |title=Forward Thrust|last=Lee-Frampton|first=Nick|date=24–30 July 1996|work=Flight International|accessdate=15 May 2016}}</ref> to 1999 and Chief of Defence Force from 1999 to 2001.<ref name="Stuff obit" /> In 2002, he caused "unprecedented controversy" when he criticised the government for disestablishing the air combat force.<ref name="Stuff obit" />
In the 1979 Queen's Birthday Honours, Adamson was awarded the Air Force Cross.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=47871 |date=16 June 1979 |page=31 |supp=3}}</ref> In the 1999 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-1999 |title=New Year honours list 1999 |date=31 December 1998 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |accessdate=16 May 2019}}</ref>
Adamson was predeceased by his wife, Denyce (née Pickens), in 2013.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://notices.nzherald.co.nz/nz/obituaries/nzherald-nz/name/denyce-adamson-obituary?n=denyce-adamson&pid=162223540 |title=Denyce Adamson obituary |date=9 January 2013 |work=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=1 October 2022}}</ref> He had Parkinson's disease for the last few years of his life,<ref name="Stuff obit" /> and died on 10 May 2019.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://deaths.press.co.nz/obituaries/the-press-nz/obituary.aspx?n=air-marshal-carey-adamson&pid=192891983 |title=Carey Adamson death notice |date=16 May 2019 |work=The Press |accessdate=16 May 2019}}</ref> He received a military funeral at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul.<ref name="Stuff obit" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://timdc.pastperfectonline.com/photo/98DE84ED-32FF-4C54-9E5C-381317316028 South Canterbury Museum Collections – Air Vice Marshal Carey Adamson]
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Lieutenant General Anthony Birks}} {{s-ttl|title=Chief of Defence Force|years=1999–2001}} {{s-aft|after=Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson}} |- {{s-bef|before=Air Vice Marshal John Hosie}} {{s-ttl|title=Chief of the Air Staff|years=1995–1999}} {{s-aft|after=Air Vice Marshal Don Hamilton}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamson, Carey}} Category:1942 births Category:2019 deaths Category:Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit Category:New Zealand military personnel of the Vietnam War Category:People educated at Timaru Boys' High School Category:People from Fairlie, New Zealand Category:New Zealand recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) Category:Royal New Zealand Air Force air marshals
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