LeMay, Curtis Emerson, General
LeMay was an Air Force General credited with designing and implementing an effective systematic strategic bombing campaign in the Pacific Theater. After the war, he organized the Strategic Air Command making it an effective means of conducting nuclear war. Some critics have characterized him as a belligerent warmonger (even nicknaming him "Bombs Away LeMay") whose aggressiveness threatened to inflame tense Cold War situations (such as the Cuban Missile Crisis) into open war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Jan Aldrich: "LeMay was at odds with Kennedy about what to do with the missiles in Cuba. He wanted more militant response to the USSR. Direct overflights of the Soviet Union was one of the things he tried. Very provocative, but also, US intel was lacking here." Brad Sparks: "He was the first AAF (Army Air Forces) Deputy Chief of Staff for R&D, appointed in Oct 1945 and serving until Oct 1947." Aldrich: "On UFOs (he was) fully informed on Ghost Rockets. His papers had briefing for Spaatz on the subject and other messages from US intel in Scandinavia. In July of 1947 AAF intel requested to know if he knew any such project. LeMay's answer no! " ......"Although LeMay told subordinates he knew nothing about "balls of light" over Japan in WWII, he did corresponded with Norstad and other generals about them." Sparks: "LeMay found he did not have direct command authority over AMC (which was under the DC/S-Materiel) and constantly clashed with AMC over R&D activities (see DeVorkin's Science With a Vengeance on postwar White Sands missile testing). LeMay knew that when the AF separated from the Army in the 'next budget cycle' that R&D would be reorganized and AMC would have to get formal R&D budget approval for a UFO project (or any project) but could slide by in the transition, under the existing Materiel budget system. LeMay left to take command of USAFE in Wiesbaden, Germany, on Oct 18, 1947, arriving Oct. 20. His de facto 'successor' as head of R&D at a demoted level, was Maj. Gen Laurence C. Craigie, Director of R&D, whereas LeMay had been a Deputy Chief of Staff for R&D....."Teller's friend and physicist George Gamow told Condon after a lecture that he (Gamow) had served on a UFO study committee with LeMay in 1952." (Just like many other agencies following the LIFE article and riding on the UFO wave). Michael Swords: "Some UFOlogists see interest and significance in Goldwater's famous story about his meeting with LeMay." The April, 25 1988 issue of The New Yorker carried an interview of Goldwater, who said he repeatedly asked his friend Gen. LeMay if there was any truth to the rumors that UFO evidence was stored in a secret room at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, and if he (Goldwater) might have access to the room. According to Goldwater, an angry LeMay gave him "holy hell" and said, "Not only can't you get into it but don't you ever mention it to me again." This room had been referred to by Goldwater as "the Blue Room", and the context of the statement most probably was referring to then inaccessable Project Blue Book files. Curtis LeMay was the vice presidential running mate of independent candidate George C. Wallace in 1968. Alldrich: "MacKinlay Kantor, LeMay's co-author of "Mission with LeMay", told LeMay and wrote in the Jan 1966 Popular Science article 'Why I Believe' that he had seen a UFO. LeMay in very emphatic terms told Kantor that the AF had unexplained UFO reports and could not find explanations."
LeMay was an Air Force General credited with designing and implementing an effective systematic strategic bombing campaign in the Pacific Theater. After the war, he organized the Strategic Air Command making it an effective means of conducting nuclear war. Some critics have characterized him as a belligerent warmonger (even nicknaming him "Bombs Away LeMay") whose aggressiveness threatened to inflame tense Cold War situations (such as the Cuban Missile Crisis) into open war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Jan Aldrich: "LeMay was at odds with Kennedy about what to do with the missiles in Cuba. He wanted more militant response to the USSR. Direct overflights of the Soviet Union was one of the things he tried. Very provocative, but also, US intel was lacking here." Brad Sparks: "He was the first AAF (Army Air Forces) Deputy Chief of Staff for R&D, appointed in Oct 1945 and serving until Oct 1947." Aldrich: "On UFOs (he was) fully informed on Ghost Rockets. His papers had briefing for Spaatz on the subject and other messages from US intel in Scandinavia. In July of 1947 AAF intel requested to know if he knew any such project. LeMay's answer no! " ......"Although LeMay told subordinates he knew nothing about "balls of light" over Japan in WWII, he did corresponded with Norstad and other generals about them." Sparks: "LeMay found he did not have direct command authority over AMC (which was under the DC/S-Materiel) and constantly clashed with AMC over R&D activities (see DeVorkin's Science With a Vengeance on postwar White Sands missile testing). LeMay knew that when the AF separated from the Army in the 'next budget cycle' that R&D would be reorganized and AMC would have to get formal R&D budget approval for a UFO project (or any project) but could slide by in the transition, under the existing Materiel budget system. LeMay left to take command of USAFE in Wiesbaden, Germany, on Oct 18, 1947, arriving Oct. 20. His de facto 'successor' as head of R&D at a demoted level, was Maj. Gen Laurence C. Craigie, Director of R&D, whereas LeMay had been a Deputy Chief of Staff for R&D....."Teller's friend and physicist George Gamow told Condon after a lecture that he (Gamow) had served on a UFO study committee with LeMay in 1952." (Just like many other agencies following the LIFE article and riding on the UFO wave). Michael Swords: "Some UFOlogists see interest and significance in Goldwater's famous story about his meeting with LeMay." The April, 25 1988 issue of The New Yorker carried an interview of Goldwater, who said he repeatedly asked his friend Gen. LeMay if there was any truth to the rumors that UFO evidence was stored in a secret room at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, and if he (Goldwater) might have access to the room. According to Goldwater, an angry LeMay gave him "holy hell" and said, "Not only can't you get into it but don't you ever mention it to me again." This room had been referred to by Goldwater as "the Blue Room", and the context of the statement most probably was referring to then inaccessable Project Blue Book files. Curtis LeMay was the vice presidential running mate of independent candidate George C. Wallace in 1968. Alldrich: "MacKinlay Kantor, LeMay's co-author of "Mission with LeMay", told LeMay and wrote in the Jan 1966 Popular Science article 'Why I Believe' that he had seen a UFO. LeMay in very emphatic terms told Kantor that the AF had unexplained UFO reports and could not find explanations."