{{Short description|Canadian Air Force officer (1913–1986)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox military person |name= '''William Ross MacBrien''' |birth_date=1913 |death_date= 1986 |birth_place= |death_place= |image= AVM W R MacBrien.jpg |caption= Air Vice-Marshal MacBrien |nickname= |allegiance= {{flag|Canada|1921}} |service_years= 1935 to 1969 |rank= Air Marshal |branch= {{air force|Canada|1924}} |commands= |unit= |battles= |awards= }}
Air Marshal '''William Ross MacBrien,''' OBE, CD, RCAF (1913–1986), commonly known as '''Bill MacBrien''' or '''Iron Bill''', was a senior Royal Canadian Air Force officer during World War II and a senior commander in the 1950s and 60s.
MacBrien was born in 1913<ref name="interment">{{Cite web|url=http://www.interment.net/data/canada/ontario/ottawa/beechwood/|title = Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa, Ontario}}</ref> in the United Kingdom. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1935 and during World War II he commanded a Canadian fighter sector in continental Europe. In the early 1950s, he was a senior staff officer at the Headquarters of Canada's Air Defence Command in Saint-Hubert, Quebec before being appointed to further staff duties at No. 4 ATAF at Lansberg in Germany.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%200530.html |title=squadron {{!}} air station {{!}} air force {{!}} 1953 {{!}} 0530 {{!}} Flight Archive |website=www.flightglobal.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103100022/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%200530.html |archive-date=2012-11-03}} </ref>
In September 1958 MacBrien took over as Air Officer Commanding Air Defence Command.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1958/1958-1-%20-%200285.html?search=MacBrien |title=flying wing {{!}} sea vixen {{!}} 1958 {{!}} 1- - 0285 {{!}} Flight Archive |website=www.flightglobal.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103100744/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1958/1958-1-%20-%200285.html?search=MacBrien |archive-date=2012-11-03}} </ref> Deputy commander in chief at the SHAPE HQ in Belgium in 1967. From August 1967 to January 1969 MacBrien was the Deputy Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Veale |first1=Thomas F. |title=Guarding What You Value Most: North American Aerospace Defense Command, Celebrating 50 Years |year=2008 |publisher=Government Printing Office |isbn=978-0-16-080436-6 |page=49}}</ref>
MacBrien died in 1986.
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} |- {{s-bef|before=C R Dunlap}} {{s-ttl|title=Deputy Commander of NORAD|years=1967 – 1969}} {{s-aft|after=F R Sharp}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macbrien, William Ross}} Category:1913 births Category:1986 deaths Category:Royal Canadian Air Force air marshals Category:Canadian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of World War II
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