LeMay.(Book review)

LeMay, Great Generals Series, by Barrett Tillman. Palgrave Macmillan (http://www.palgrave-usa.com), 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010, 2007, 224 pages, $21.95 (hardcover).

Curtis Emerson LeMay was a straightforward, combat-proven aviator and one of the most controversial officers ever to serve in the US Air Force. Both revered and reviled, he is one of our most misunderstood military leaders, often depicted as an uncaring, driven individual who wanted to bomb enemies "back to the Stone Age."

Barrett Tillman's excellent, albeit concise, biography LeMay paints a much different picture of this aviation legend, one that dispels many of the myths about him. A great deal shorter than Thomas Coffey's Iron Eagle: The Turbulent Life of General Curtis LeMay (1986), Tillman's text covers the essential periods of LeMay's life, from seeing his first airplane in flight (at age eight), through his retirement in 1965, to his death in 1990.

The author illustrates how LeMay's formative years laid the foundation for greatness. The oldest of six children, LeMay was a hard-working young man, an avid hunter, and a mechanically inclined individual who built his own radios. After leaving the ROTC program at Ohio State University for financial reasons, he entered the National Guard, eventually moving on to flight training and receiving his commission as a fighter pilot in October 1929. Assigned to the 27th Pursuit Squadron, he immediately sought opportunities to refine his aviation skills, mastering celestial navigation as well as instrument flying and becoming an instructor. All of the skills honed his airmanship, preparing him for the maelstrom of the Second World War.

Tillman effectively explores the highlights of LeMay's wartime exploits, including his rise as one of the most innovative leaders in the European theater of operations, his transfer to China, and his performance in the Mariana Islands, which helped bring Japan to its knees. The author also documents LeMay's work at the start of the Cold War--as commander of US Air Forces in Europe--including his efforts to sustain an entire city by air during the Berlin airlift. Chapters about his leadership of Strategic Air Command illustrate the general's well-known attributes, such as his insistence on relentless training, excruciatingly high standards, grueling inspections, and rewards for combat readiness (e.g., the "spot promotion").

However, Tillman exposes a bit more of LeMay in subsequent chapters, using refreshing prose that illuminates a different aspect of the man. Indeed, the author highlights his subject's determination to obtain better living facilities, additional recreational ...