Air Force's First Chief of Staff General Carl A. "Tooey" Spaatz Dies, Various Locations Part 1

Description

OF FILM RELEASE OFFICE OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (PUBLIC AFFAIRS UNITED STATES of AVENUE WASHINGTON, D.C. - 20301 PLEASE NOTE DATE 706420 IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 14, 1974 104173 OXford 7-6161 Release #53-74 Footage: 272' 16mm Color & B&W Room 2E773 w/optical sound track Time: 7:33 CARL "TOOEY" SPAATZ DIES; AIR FORCE'S FIRST CHIEF OF STAFF (Official U. S. Air Force Film Released by Department of Defense) DATE/PLACE: This is stock footage shot at various times and places. SCOPE: This coverage is of the career of General Carl "Tooey" Spaatz. BACKGROUND: General Carl Spaatz, 83, aviation pioneer and first Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, died at 1:35 a.m., July 14, of congestive heart failure at the Walter Reed Medical Center. He was appointed Chief of Staff by President Truman in September 1947, when the Air Force became a separate branch of the military service. Bo in Boyerstown, Pennsylvania, he was appointed to the United States Military Academy in 1910 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry four years later. His first contact with aviation came in 1915 when he was detailed to an aviation school at San Diego, California. During the next 33 years, General Spaatz established his mark in the annals of aviation history. In 1916, he served with the First Aero Squadron under General John J. Pershing in the Punitive Expedition into Mexico. Two years later, as a flight leader with the Thirteenth Pursuit Squadron during World War I, General Spaatz was officially credited with downing three German Fokker planes. Between the World Wars, he played an important part in the rapid growth of aviation. Over Los Angeles in 1929, he demonstrated the feasibility of aerial refueling as commander of the Army aircraft "Question Mark" on its spectacular endurance flight. With aerial refuel- ing, he kept the plane aloft for a record flight of more than 150 hours. During World War II, the General participated in combat operations in all theaters, success- ively commanding Eighth Air Force and U. S. Army Air Forces in Europe. He then headed Twelfth Air Force and the Northwest African Air Force. Following an assignment as deputy commander of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, he returned to Europe to command the U. S. Strategic Air Forces. Later, as the commander of U. S. Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific, he supervised the final strategic bombing of Japan including the two atomic bomb missions which resulted in the unconditional surrender. General Spaatz was present at all three surrender ceremonies which ended - MORE -

Collection

Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer

Series

Filmed News Releases