Spaatz, Carl (Andrews)

known as Tooey Spaatz

(born June 28, 1891, Boyertown, Pa., U.S.—died July 14, 1974, Washington, D.C.) U.S. air-force officer. He flew as a combat pilot during World War I. During World War II he commanded the U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe (1944), directing the strategic bombing of Germany. In 1945, though personally opposed to using atomic bombs against cities, he directed the atomic bombing of Japan under orders of Pres. Harry Truman. In 1947 he became the first chief of staff of the independent Air Force.

Spaatz, Carl (1891–1974) aviator; born in Boyertown, Pa. A 1914 West Point graduate, he shot down three German aircraft as commander of the Thirty-first Aero Squadron in France during World War I. Along with Ira C. Eaker and several relief pilots, "Tooey" Spaatz established an air endurance record of 150-plus hours over Los Angeles in January 1929. His support of air power advocate William Mitchell slowed his progress through the grades, but by July 1941 he had risen to chief of air staff under George C. Marshall. Spaatz went on to command the air arm for Eisenhower in North Africa and Sicily, and became chief of the Strategic Air Force, Europe, in 1944. Blunt and forceful, he argued that air power alone could subjugate the Germans—a theory the Allied invasion of France rendered untestable. After the end of the European war, Spaatz commanded the air force in the Pacific, directing the firebombing and, in August 1945, the atomic bombing of Japanese cities. He became first chief of staff of the independent air force in 1947 and retired the following year.