Editing Curtis LeMay (section)

==Cold War==

===Berlin Airlift===
[[File:lemay4.jpg|right|thumb|General Curtis E. LeMay]]

After World War II, LeMay was already thinking about [[deterrence theory]] and how the next war would be fought.{{r|rhodes19950611}} He was briefly transferred to [[The Pentagon]] as deputy chief of Air Staff for Research & Development. In 1947, LeMay returned to Europe as commander of [[United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa|USAF Europe]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/afhra-k-570.601-3 |title=Profiles In Leadership 1942–1992 |pages=86–95 |last1=Snyder |first1=Thomas |last2=Shaw |first2=Shelia |date=January 28, 1992 |publisher=[[Air Force Historical Research Agency]] |access-date=October 18, 2021 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130230530/https://archive.org/details/afhra-k-570.601-3 |archive-date=November 30, 2021 }}</ref> heading operations for the [[Berlin Airlift]] in 1948 in the face of a blockade by the Soviet Union and its satellite states that threatened to starve the civilian population of the Western occupation zones of Berlin. Under his direction, [[Douglas C-54 Skymaster]]s that could each carry 10 tons of cargo began supplying the city on July 1. By late 1948, the airlift was bringing in an average of 5,000 tons of supplies a day with 500 daily flights. The airlift continued for 11 months, with 213,000 flights operated by six countries bringing in 1.7 million tons of food and fuel to Berlin. Faced with the failure of its blockade, the Soviet Union relented and reopened land corridors to the West. Though LeMay is sometimes publicly credited with the success of the Berlin Airlift, it was, in fact, instigated by General [[Lucius D. Clay]] when Clay called LeMay about the problem. LeMay initially started flying supplies into Berlin, but then decided that it was a job for a logistics expert and he found that person in Lt. General [[William H. Tunner]],<ref>Cherny, Andrei, ''The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour'', Putnam Press, {{ISBN|978-0-399-15496-6}} (2008)</ref> who took over the operational aspects of the Berlin Airlift.

===Strategic Air Command===
[[File:CINCSAC Gen. Curtis LeMay and Boeing test pilot Tex Johnston.jpg|thumb|General LeMay flying a [[Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker]] during his tenure as [[List of commanders-in-chief of the Strategic Air Command|Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Air Command]]]]

In 1948, he returned to the U.S. to head the [[Strategic Air Command]] (SAC) at [[Offutt Air Force Base]], replacing Gen [[George Kenney]]. When LeMay took over command of SAC, it consisted of little more than a few understaffed B-29 bombardment groups left over from World War II. Less than half of the available aircraft were operational, and the crews were undertrained. Base and aircraft security standards were minimal. Upon inspecting a SAC hangar full of US nuclear strategic bombers, LeMay found a single Air Force sentry on duty, unarmed.<ref>Watson, George M., ''Secretaries and Chiefs of Staff of the United States Air Force'', Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, USAF (2001) p. 132: LeMay recorded the incident in a memo to staff the same day, stating "this afternoon I found a man guarding a hangar with a ham sandwich. There will be no more of that".</ref> After ordering a mock bombing exercise on [[Dayton, Ohio]], LeMay was shocked to learn that most of the strategic bombers assigned to the mission missed their targets by one mile or more. "We didn't have one crew, not one crew, in the entire command who could do a professional job", noted LeMay.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=[[Air & Space]] |title=History of Flight – B-36: Bomber at the Crossroads|first=Daniel |last=Ford|date=April 1, 1996|url=http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/B-36-Bomber-at-the-Crossroads.html?c=y&page=5}}</ref>

A meeting in November 1948, with Air Force Chief of Staff [[Hoyt Vandenberg]], found the two men agreeing the primary mission of SAC should be the capability of delivering 80% of the nation's atomic bombs in one mission. At the Dualism Conference in December 1948, the Air Force leadership rallied behind LeMay's position that the service's highest priority was to deliver the SAC atomic offensive "in one fell swoop telescoping mass and time".<ref>[[David Alan Rosenberg]], "The Origins of Overkill: Nuclear Weapons and American Strategy, 1945–1960", ''International Security'', 7/4, (1983): p 19.</ref> "To LeMay, demolishing everything was how you win a war."<ref>[[Fred Kaplan (journalist)|Fred Kaplan]], ''The Wizards of Armageddon'', (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1991), p 97.</ref> Towards this aim, LeMay delivered the first SAC Emergency War Plan in March 1949 which called for dropping 133 atomic bombs on 70 cities in the USSR within 30 days. LeMay predicted that [[World War III]] would last no longer than 30 days.<ref>[[Michio Kaku]], & Daniel Axelrod,<!--- not the redirect to the botanist ---> ''To Win a Nuclear War: The Pentagon Secret War Plans'', (Boston: South End Press, 1987), p 97.</ref> Air power strategists called this type of pre-emptive strike "killing a nation".<ref name="rhodes19950611">{{Cite magazine |last=Rhodes |first=Richard |date=1995-06-11 |title=The General and World War III |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/06/19/the-general-and-world-war-iii |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X |access-date=2023-11-30}}</ref> However, the Harmon committee released their unanimous report two months later stating such an attack would not end a war with the Soviets and their industry would quickly recover. This committee had been specifically created by the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] to study the effects of a massive nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, within weeks, an ad hoc Joint Chiefs committee recommended tripling America's nuclear arsenal, and Air Force Chief of Staff Vandenberg called for enough bombs to attack 220 targets, up from the previous 70.<ref>Steven T. Ross, "American War Plans 1945–1950" Frank Cass & Co., 1996, pg. 106–107</ref>

Upon receiving his [[General (United States)|fourth star]] in 1951 at age 44, LeMay became the youngest American four-star general since [[Ulysses S. Grant]]. He would also become the longest serving person in that rank in American military history.<ref name="WarrenKozak.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.warrenkozak.com/basics.html |title=LeMay: The Life And Wars of General Curtis LeMay |access-date=May 8, 2009 |first=Warren |last=Kozak  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626215058/http://www.warrenkozak.com/basics.html |archive-date=June 26, 2009 }}</ref>

In 1954 LeMay remarked to pilot Hal Austin, whose plane had been damaged by a [[MiG-17]] while on a [[United States aerial reconnaissance of the Soviet Union|reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union]], "Well, maybe if we do this overflight right, we can get World War III started". Hal Austin assumed that LeMay was joking, but years later, after LeMay retired, Austin saw him again and "brought up the subject of the mission we had flown. And he remembered it like it was yesterday. We chatted about it a little bit. His comment again was, 'Well, we'd have been a hell of a lot better off if we'd got World War III started in those days'".{{r|rhodes19950611}}

In 1956 and 1957 LeMay implemented tests of 24-hour bomber and tanker alerts, keeping some bomber forces ready at all times. LeMay headed SAC until 1957, overseeing its transformation into a modern, efficient, all-jet force. LeMay's tenure was the longest over an American military command in nearly 100 years.<ref name=AFMagazine_200810>{{Cite journal|journal=[[Air Force Magazine]] |date=October 2008}}</ref>

===The "Airpower Battle"===

====USAF airpower development and LeMay's style====
[[File:General Curtis LeMay greeted by Secretary of the Air Force James H. Douglas and Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff General Nathan F. Twining at Washington National Airport.jpg|thumb|[[Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force|Air Force Vice Chief of Staff]] General Curtis LeMay greeted by [[United States Secretary of the Air Force|Secretary of the Air Force]] [[James H. Douglas Jr.]] and [[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff|Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff]] General [[Nathan F. Twining]] at [[Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport|Washington National Airport]], upon LeMay's return from [[Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker|Boeing KC-135 StratoTanker]] non-stop flight from [[Buenos Aires|Buenos Aires, Argentina]] in November 15, 1957]]

LeMay was instrumental in SAC's acquisition of a large fleet of new [[strategic bomber]]s, establishment of a vast [[aerial refueling]] system, the formation of many new units and bases, development of a strategic [[ballistic missile]] force, and establishment of a strict [[command and control]] system with an unprecedented readiness capability. All of this was protected by a greatly enhanced and modernized security force, the [[Strategic Air Command Elite Guard]]. LeMay insisted on rigorous training and very high standards of performance for all SAC personnel, be they officers, enlisted men, aircrews, mechanics, or administrative staff, and reportedly commented, "I have neither the time nor the inclination to differentiate between the incompetent and the merely unfortunate."<ref>''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'', June 14, 1954, p. 136</ref> 

''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine reported that LeMay once took the co-pilot's seat of a SAC bomber to observe the mission, complete with lit cigar.<ref name="Havemann, p. 136">Havemann, p. 136</ref> When asked by the pilot to put out the cigar, LeMay asked why. When the pilot explained that fumes inside the fuselage could explode, LeMay growled, "It wouldn't dare".<ref name="Havemann, p. 136"/> The incident was used as the basis for a fictional scene in the 1955 film ''[[Strategic Air Command (film)|Strategic Air Command]]''. In his controversial and factually disputed<ref>Puttré, Michael, ''[http://www.mputtre.com/id45.html Nagasaki Revisited] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610152653/http://www.mputtre.com/id45.html |date=June 10, 2011 }}'', retrieved April 8, 2011</ref><ref>Coster-Mullen, John, ''Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man'', publ. J. Coster-Mullen, End Notes (2004): Gen. [[Paul Tibbets]], Major [[Dutch Van Kirk]] (Enola Gay's navigator), and other surviving members of the 509th Composite Group were reportedly outraged at many of the assertions by Sweeney in ''War's End''.</ref> memoir ''War's End'', Major General [[Charles Sweeney]] related an alleged 1944 incident that may have been the basis for the "It wouldn't dare" comment.<ref>Sweeney, Charles (Maj. Gen., ret.), Antonucci, James A., and Antonucci, Marion K., ''War's End: an Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission'', New York: Avon Books, {{ISBN|0-380-97349-9}} (1997), p. 75:</ref> Sweeney stated that a similar incident occurred in 1944 when a B-29 crew chief reminded General LeMay of his lit cigar while LeMay was undergoing B-29 familiarization with (then-Colonel) [[Paul Tibbets]]' [[509th Composite Group]].

Despite his uncompromising attitude regarding performance of duty, LeMay was also known for his concern for the physical well-being and comfort of his men.<ref>Watson, George M., ''Secretaries and Chiefs of Staff of the United States Air Force'', Washington, DC: Air Force History and Museums Program, USAF (2001) p. 132.</ref> LeMay found ways to encourage morale, individual performance, and the reenlistment rate through a number of means: encouraging off-duty group recreational activities,<ref>"Sport: Red for Ferrari", ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', April 20, 1953.</ref><ref>"Judo in SAC Air Force", ''[[Black Belt (magazine)|Black Belt]]'', April 1962, pp. 37–38: These ranged from basketball courts and pool tables to judo tournaments and even assembling and tuning engines in SAC workshops for sports car races on SAC air bases.</ref> instituting spot promotions based on performance, and authorizing special uniforms, training, equipment, and allowances for ground personnel<ref>"Armed Forces: The Finish Flag", ''Time'', August 2, 1954: This included new innerspring mattresses, fans, pool tables, and TV sets for enlisted men's quarters.</ref> as well as flight crews.

On LeMay's departure, SAC was composed of 224,000 airmen, close to 2,000 heavy bombers, and nearly 800 tanker aircraft.<ref>{{cite web |title=LeMay and the "Airpower Battle" |url=http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2008/October%202008/1008keeperfile.aspx |website=Air Force Magazine |publisher=Air Force Association |access-date=July 14, 2018 |date=October 1, 2008 |quote=LeMay led SAC from 1948 through 1957, the longest tenure of any US military commander in nearly a century. When he left, SAC had grown to a force of 224,000 airmen, nearly 2,000 heavy bombers, and some 800 tankers.}}</ref>

LeMay was appointed Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force in July 1957, serving until 1961.