LeMay, Curtis E
Person · USA
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
Credit: NASA
American USAF officer, created the Strategic Air Command as a special nuclear-armed force, including its ICBM components, 1947-1965.
Curtis E. LeMay was a career Air Force officer who entered the Army Air Corps in the 1920s and rose through a series of increasingly responsible Army Air Forces commands in World War II. After the war LeMay built the Strategic Air Command into the premier nuclear deterrent force in the early 1950s. He also served as deputy chief of staff, 1957-1961, and chief of staff, 1961-1965, of the U.S. Air Force. He retired as a four-star general in 1965, and ran for vice president with independent candidate George C. Wallace in 1968.
Related
Chronology
4 events
1906 November 15
- Birth of Curtis E LeMay - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: LeMay. American USAF officer, created the Strategic Air Command as a special nuclear-armed force, including its ICBM components, 1947-1965..
1958 August 26
- USAF space systems development - .
Related Persons: ,
LeMay.
LtGeneral Samuel E. Anderson, Commander, ARDC, notified Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, General Curtis E. LeMay, that he had instructed AFBMD to establish and man an organizational element for space systems development because of the increased Air Force concern with military space programs.
1959 September 21
LV Family: Titan, Atlas, Thor.- USAF responsible for all military spacecraft. - .
Related Persons: ,
LeMay.
General Curtis E. LeMay, Vice Chief of Staff, USAF, informed Headquarters ARDC that the Secretary of Defense had assigned responsibility to the Air Force for developing and launching all military spacecraft. The Air Force was also to perform all required systems integration for military space systems. The decision was made for reasons of efficiency and economy.