Curtiss Emerson LeMay graduated from Ohio State University in 1928. He received his pilot's wings at the Air Corps Flying School in 1929, beginning a successful 38-year military career. Starting as a pilot in the elite First Pursuit Group, he advanced to chief of staff of the United States Air Force. "Curt" LeMay was respected throughout his career for his vision, high order of discipline, and the professionalism he demanded of himself and his commands. From fighter pilot to bombardment pilot in the mid 1930s, he pioneered and became a leading expert in aerial celestial navigation, proving his thesis on the 1938 B-17 Goodwill Flight to South America, and the intercept of the ocean liner Rex 800 miles off the U.S. coast in 1940. As Commander of the 305th Bombardment Group in England in 1942, and later as Commander of the Third Air Division, he developed the novel tactic of low altitude non-evasive bombing which was to become a major technique of World War II strategic air operations. In 1944 he assumed command of the struggling 20th Air Force B-29 operations in China, and in 1945 moved to the Marianas Islands in the Pacific to lead the 21st Air Force B-29s in low altitude operations in the final air assault on Japan. After the war he was deputy chief of staff for Research and Development, and then commander, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, where he organized the historic Berlin Airlift in 1947, employing air power for humanitarian missions. He led the Strategic Air Command from 1948 to 1957, when he became vice chief, and then chief of staff of the Air Force in 1961. He led the Air Force through its transformation into an all-jet force of great mobility, missiles, and high professionalism. General LeMay retired from active service in 1965.
Inducted in 1979.
Portrait Location: Not Currently on Floor