Francis Doyle, 81, Air National Guard general

Francis A. Doyle, a retired brigadier general in the Massachusetts Air National Guard and president and chief executive officer of the former Boston Mechanical Corp. in Boston, died of lung cancer Saturday at his home in Milton. He was 81.

Born in Boston and raised in Braintree and Dorchester, Mr. Doyle was a graduate of Dorchester High School for Boys. He attended Northeastern University for two years before leaving to serve in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He graduated from the Air War College of Armed Forces in Washington, D.C., in 1966.

''My father was very proud of our soldiers in Iraq and was a guy very reflective of his generation," said his son Frank A., of Boston.

Mr. Doyle was attached to the Second Air Commando Group in the China, Burma, India theater during World War II, and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with Oakleaf Clusters, the Presidential Citation Combat Award, the Air Force Longevity Service Award Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.

Following the war, Mr. Doyle became a charter member of the Massachusetts National Guard, flying 26 aircraft between 1942 and 1975.

During the early 1960s, when he held the rank of major, Mr. Doyle was called to active duty and stationed in France. He flew missions during the Berlin crisis in 1961.

Mr. Doyle was a past group commander of the 102d Fighter Intercept Group of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, separating from the fighter wing when he retired as brigadier general in 1975.

For 40 years, Mr. Doyle was president and chief executive officer of the former Boston Mechanical Corp. in Boston, a design engineering company for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning started by his father. He retired in 1986.

Mr. Doyle was on the board of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association and the board of the Massachusetts Air National Guard Museum. He was a member of the Milton Post No. 114 and the Kennedy Post VFW in Boston.

He traveled the world with his wife, his son said. ''He used to rent a home in Ireland and bring the family there," said Doyle.

''As a young kid, I could remember my dad in his navy blue '88 Oldsmobile convertible wearing his Top Gun sunglasses and a sticker with 'We Got Hot Wheels' on his car," said his son. ''I didn't need a hero growing up, because I had my dad."

Mr. Doyle leaves his wife, Colleen E. (Rosambeau); three other sons, Ronald A. of Holbrook, Kenneth A. of Mobile, Ala., and Glenn A. of Scituate; two daughters, Mary Ann Demling of Weymouth and Julie A. Finn of Oakland Park, Fla.; 12 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be said at 11 a.m. tomorrow at St. Agatha Church in Milton. Burial will be at 3 p.m. in Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne.