Alternative Careers of Curtis LeMay

Delta Force

Banned
Curtis LeMay was a fan of automobile racing, and while going to college in the 1920she worked in a steel factory and rebuilt an old 1918 Ford Model T. Later, he joined the United States Army Air Corps as a pursuit pilot and received training in navigation. Because there were few pilots with navigational training in the 1930s, he was offered high paying airline jobs, but LeMay ultimately decided to transfer to the bomber part of the USAAC. That set in motion his involvement with the B-17, strategic bombing in World War II, and his eventual rise to commander of Strategic Air Command.

What if LeMay had gone into something other than bomber command? Might he have been able to become one of the famous record breaking pilots of the 1930s? Could a personality like Curtis LeMay have become a prominent fighter/interceptor commander, perhaps rising to become head of Tactical Air Command or Air Defense Command instead of SAC? Might he have been able to make connections in Europe (especially the United Kingdom) during World War II and go on to become a race car driver/builder like Carroll Shelby?
 
Last edited:
Captain Dolittle left the US Army circa 1929. He returned to active service as a reservist major in 1940, and managed to vault to Major General in barely three years. A combination of leadership skill, engineering expertise, organizing talent put him fat ahed of many regular army officers and the mass of reservists. Could LeMay have done the same?
 
If Howard Hughes and Robert Goddard worked together with LeMay as a test pilot-could've been the first man into space-ASB but ...
 

Cook

Banned
If Howard Hughes and Robert Goddard worked together with LeMay as a test pilot-could've been the first man into space-ASB but ...

Lemay, a man notorious for his ability to piss others off, working with Hughes, a man notorious for being easily pissed off by other people; well it would certainly make for an interesting office environment at any rate!
 
...and Goddard didn't like working with people.

When Buddy Ebsen had an allergic reaction to the Tin Man make-up, LeMay was on hand and tried out as the man looking for a heart. He went on to star with a dramatic role in All the King's Men, and had a TV series, Highway Patrol.
 

Delta Force

Banned
Captain Dolittle left the US Army circa 1929. He returned to active service as a reservist major in 1940, and managed to vault to Major General in barely three years. A combination of leadership skill, engineering expertise, organizing talent put him fat ahed of many regular army officers and the mass of reservists. Could LeMay have done the same?

Perhaps LeMay could have worked as an international airline pilot in the 1930s and become knowledgeable on the Pacific and/or Europe.
 
Lemay, a man notorious for his ability to piss others off, working with Hughes, a man notorious for being easily pissed off by other people; well it would certainly make for an interesting office environment at any rate!

Might have been just what Hughes needed, somebody who wasn't a Yes Man and never sugarcoated anything.

A real Odd Couple.

But both were perfectionists
 
Top