Description:
A Portrait Of General Carl Spaatz, Commanding General Of The Army Air Forces. General Carl A. Spaatz was the first chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
The general was born in 1891, in Boyertown, Pa. In 1910, he was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy. He graduated June 12, 1914, and was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry. He served with the 25th United States Infantry at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, from Oct. 4, 1914, to Oct. 13, 1915, when he was detailed as a student in the Aviation School at San Diego, Calif., until May 15, 1916.
General Spaatz commanded the Army plane "Question Mark" in its refueling endurance flight over Los Angeles and vicinity Jan. 1-7, 1929, keeping the plane aloft a record total of 150 hours, 40 minutes and 15 seconds, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
On Dec. 1, 1942, General Spaatz became commanding general of the Twelfth Air Force in North Africa. In February 1943, he assumed command of the Northwest African Air Force, which he organized. He received a temporary promotion to lieutenant general March 12, 1943.
After Rommel's Afrika Korps had been driven out of the North Africa and the invasion of Italy was launched, General Spaatz became deputy commander of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, including the 12th Air Force in Africa and the 15th Air Force and the Royal Air Force in Italy. He returned to England in January 1944, to command the U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe, which he headed throughout the pre-invasion period and the ensuing campaign which culminated with the utter defeat of Germany. His service in Africa won an award of the Distinguished Service Medal, and the accomplishments of his Strategic Air Force in 1944, earned him the Robert J. Collier Trophy for that year, awarded annually to the American making the outstanding contribution to aviation.
General Spaatz received a temporary promotion to general March 11, 1945, and was assigned to Air Force Headquarters in Washington, D.C., in June 1945. The following month he assumed command of the U.S. Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific, with headquarters on Guam. There he supervised the final strategic bombing of Japan by the B-29, including the two atomic bomb missions. He was present at all three signings of unconditional surrender by the enemy, at Rheims, Berlin and Tokyo.
In October 1945, General Spaatz returned to Army Air Force Headquarters, and the same month President Harry S. Truman nominated him for promotion to the permanent rank of major general in the Regular Army. In February 1946, he was nominated to become commander of the Army Air Forces. In September 1947, he was appointed by President Truman as the first chief of staff of the new United States Air Force until April 30, 1948.
He retired with the rank of general on June 30, 1948.
General Spaatz was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross and Bronze Star Medal. He also has the Mexican Interior Campaign ribbon, the World War I ribbon with three battle stars, the pre-Pearl Harbor ribbon with star, the European Theater ribbon with six stars, the Pacific Theater ribbons, the American Theater ribbon, and the World War II Victory ribbon. His foreign honors include a Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honor, the French Croix de Guerre with Palm, a Grand Commander of the British Empire, Russia's Second Order of Suvorov and Poland's Polonia Restituta, Commander's Cross with Star.
General Spaatz died July 14, 1974, at the age of 83. He was interred at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
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