Curtis LeMay and the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by vienna

I had a teacher back in junior high (middke school) who served on an airbase in the US. LeMay arrived at the base and took command of the facilities. My teacher was in charge of the parking of the planes on the airbase and he told us there were very specifc rules and regulations regarding how the planes were to be placed and the minutiae that attended such as the angle og the palne inrlataion to the runways and the positioning of turret guns, etc. Shortly after LeMay took command, my teacher said he got a call directly from Lemay, who was fit to be tied. It seems the reulation angling of the turret guns on the bombers was such as to have them aimed directly at LeMay's office; LeMay was not amused. He ordered the guns to be aimed elsewhere. When my teacher tried to explain he was following specific regulations and orders, LeMay threatend to to have him busted, brigged, court-martialed, and dishonorably discharged. THe guns were moved...,


<O>

Could be true I suppose.I understand that he was stern but fair and he never raised his voice and yelled that was not his style he displayed his disappointment in other ways so maybe he did say that to your old teacher because he felt that was the most effective way to get the message across.e was not really the pompous type so I suspect there might have been some other reason that he wanted the guns moved or perhaps the reason was not understood.

Also you have regulations but if an officer or NCO who is in that field of expertise to which the regulations are concerned tells you to do something different assuming the new order is not cause a new hazard you have to obey it.If a staff level officer gives you an order even if it stupid you pretty much have to obey it (exuding an unlawful order).

From what I read he was a fairly reasonable commander most of the time.For example after a few months of B-29 operations when they switched to night time fire bombing the need for the full battery of turrets on the B-29s was gone so they removed most of the remote turrets and the gunners stayed behind.After a week or so of this some of the air crew asked Lemay if the gunners could fly anyway if they wanted to because it improved crew morale Lemay approved.

Earlier in the war when Lemay was in charge of a B-17 unit in Europe in late 1943 US Army statisticians discovered that the ratio of bombers turning back before reaching the mission area was too high.Lemay decided to lead by example and flew lead on the next mission.He said during the briefing that he was to going to turn back without a good reason.He flew many missions over Germany at a rank where it was not a requirement to do so which is good leadership if you are not willing to risk your life why should you command others to risk theirs?

LeMay kind of got "the hard ass" label partly because he never openly challenged it when articles written about him made untrue claims.The most harsh commander in the USAAF was bar far Hap Arnold he was real screamer and yeller.He once dressed down a staff officer so badly that the man had a heart attack luckily the man did not die from it but still to be so intense that you make a person have a heart attack just by yelling at them.

[Cybermat47]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

The most harsh commander in the USAAF was bar far Hap Arnold he was real screamer and yeller.He once dressed down a staff officer so badly that the man had a heart attack luckily the man did not die from it but still to be so intense that you make a person have a heart attack just by yelling at them.

Didn't he also get really angry when they were going to codename the A6M2-N 'Hap'?

[Admiral Halsey]

Originally Posted by Cybermat47

Didn't he also get really angry when they were going to codename the A6M2-N 'Hap'?

Those were called Rufe. It was an upgraded version of the Zero that was called Hap. When he expressed his displeasure about that they changed it to Hamp.

[Wolferz]

There have been 24 astronauts from Ohio...
What is it about that state that makes people want to flee the planet?

Originally Posted by Wolferz

There have been 24 astronauts from Ohio...
What is it about that state that makes people want to flee the planet?

I tend to think they saw what the GT area at Subsim would be like.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Wolferz

There have been 24 astronauts from Ohio...
What is it about that state that makes people want to flee the planet?

It's the last state where the army(alright Nat Guard!) fired on unarmed civilians...Kent state and the murder of Oswald right in front of me on TV and I knew who the enemy is and it is...US...Happy Thanksgiving!

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

It's the last state where the army(alright Nat Guard!) fired on unarmed civilians

I can see bubbles starting a thread on this!

Way to go Mate.

[Aktungbby]

My pleasure! Happy thanksgiving and have a Hamm's with your bird!

[Wolferz]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

It's the last state where the army(alright Nat Guard!) fired on unarmed civilians...Kent state and the murder of Oswald right in front of me on TV and I knew who the enemy is and it is...US...Happy Thanksgiving!

National Guard or not, no soldier likes flowers stuck in his gun.

I still blame the Kent State massacre on the prick governor of Ohio.

I wonder to this day why those troopies were given live rounds on home soil.

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by Wolferz

National Guard or not, no soldier likes flowers stuck in his gun.

I still blame the Kent State massacre on the prick governor of Ohio.

I wonder to this day why those troopies were given live rounds on home soil.

Kent State was also not the first such indecent of this nature to occur in the US they happened many times before in New York City during the Civil War,D.C. they ran out the WWI Vets and during the great depression there where violent encounters during Union organization attempts often times the local law enforcement where hired guns to stop organization.Also the Coal Wars of West Virgina Battle of Blair Mountain.

All part of a nation you have the good and the bad and things always change for better and for worse yet also remain the same.

The Kent State thing that was a series of bad decisions and bad judgment along with using people that had no training for the situation they where in.