Profile · commander

Curtis LeMay

United Statesb. 15 November 1906 · d. 1 October 1990Add to favourites

Commanded the 305th Bomb Group, a B-17 unit, after it deployed to England in 1942, and in September 1943 became the first commander of the 3rd Air Division. In January 1945 he took over XXI Bomber Command in the Marianas, replacing Haywood Hansell. Finding high-altitude daylight bombing ineffective over Japan, he switched B-29 operations to low-altitude night incendiary raids, including the Tokyo raid of 9–10 March 1945. He was Chief of Staff of the US Air Force from 1961 to 1965.