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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?