U.S. Air Force General. He is remembered as the first Chief of Staff of the newly created U.S. Air Force that became a separate branch of the Department of Defense from the U.S. Army in September 1947. Born Carl Andrew Spatz, he added the second "a" in his last name in 1937, when he grew tired of people mispronouncing his last name. A redhead, he received his nickname "Tooey" after entering the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1910 because of his resemblance to another redheaded cadet named F.J. Toohey. He graduated from West Point in June 1914 and received a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Infantry. He first served with the 25th Infantry at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, until his assignment to the Signal Corps Aviation School at San Diego, California, between October 1915 and May 1916 for pilot training. There he earned his Junior Military Aviation rating. The following month, he was then detailed to the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, in Mexico where he served in the First Aero Squadron attached to General John J. Pershing during the Pancho Villa Expedition. After the U.S. entered World War I, he was sent with the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in command of the 31st Aero Squadron and appointed Officer in Charge at the American Aviation School at Issoudun, France. After receiving orders to return to the U.S., he saw three weeks of action during the final months of the war with the 13th Aero Squadron as a supernumerary pilot. In this brief period, he shot down three enemy planes, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, and was promoted to the temporary rank of Major in June 1918. In 1919, he served in California and Texas and became Assistant Department Air Service Officer for the Western Department in July 1919. He reverted to the rank of Captain of Infantry on February 27, 1920, and, in July 1920, when the Air Service became a combatant arm of the line, he transferred to them as a Captain, then was promoted to the rank of Major on the same date by virtue of a provision in the National Defense Act that allowed officers who earned their rank in service with the AEF to retain it. From October 1920 until February 1921, he commanded Kelly Field (now Kelly Field Annex as part of Joint Base San Antonio), Texas, then served at Fort Sam Houston as Air Officer of the 8th Corps Area until November 1921, and was Commanding Officer of the 1st Pursuit Group, first at Ellington Field, Texas, and later at Selfridge Field, Michigan. In 1927, he co-founded Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) with Henry "Hap" Arnold. From January 1 to January 7, 1929, he, along with fellow Air Corps officers, Captain Ira Eaker and Lieutenant Elwood Quesada, both of whom would later become senior U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) Generals, established an aviation record by keeping the airplane "Question Mark" in the air over the Los Angeles vicinity for over 150 hours. From May 1929 until October 1931, he commanded the 7th Bombardment Group at Rockwell Field (now Naval Air Station, North Island), California, and the 1st Bombardment Wing at March Field (now March Air Reserve Base), California, until June 1933. He then transferred to Washington D.C. where he served in the Office of the Chief of Air Corps and became Chief of the Training and Operations Division. In November 1939, he received a temporary promotion to the rank of Colonel, and, during the Battle of Britain in July 1940, spent several weeks in England as a special military observer. In August 1940, he was assigned back to Washington, D.C. in the Office of the Chief of Air Corps. Two months later, he was appointed Assistant to the Chief of Air Corps, with the temporary rank of Brigadier General. He became Chief of the Plans Division of the Air Corps in November 1940, and, the following July, was named Chief of the Air Staff at Army Air Forces Headquarters. After the U.S. entry into World War II, Army Chief of Staff George Marshall named him Commander of Air Force Combat Command in January 1942 and promoted him to the temporary rank of Major General. In May 1942, he became Commander of the 8th Air Force and transferred its headquarters to England the following July. He was placed in overall command of the U.S. Army Air Forces in the European Theater of Operations, while retaining his 8th Air Force command. In September 1942, he was promoted to the permanent rank of Colonel, and, in March 1943, received a temporary promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General and was assigned command of the 12th Air Force in North Africa. He became Commander of the Allied Northwest African Air Force in February 1943, the 15th Air Force and Royal Air Forces in Italy in November 1943, and the U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe in January 1944. As commander of Strategic Air Forces, he directed the U.S. portion of the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, under the direct command of General Dwight David Eisenhower. In March 1944, he proposed the Oil Plan for bombing, and, in June 1944, during the Operation Crossbow priority bombing of V-1 sites aimed at Britain, he advocated, and received authorization from Eisenhower, for bombing targets of a lower priority. His Oil Plan became the highest bombing priority in September 1944. He received the Collier Trophy for "demonstrating the air-power concept through employment of American aviation in the war against Germany." In March 1945, he was promoted to the temporary rank of General. After Germany's surrender in May 1945, he was transferred to the Pacific in July 1945 and assumed command of the U.S. Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific as part of the Pacific Theater of Operations, with headquarters in Guam. He directed the strategic bombing of Japan, including the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He had been present at Reims, France, when the Germans surrendered to the Americans on May 7, 1945; at Berlin, Germany, when they surrendered to the Russians two days later; and aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered on September 2. He was the only man of General rank or equivalent present at all three of these acts of surrender. In July 1945, President Harry Truman nominated him for promotion to the permanent rank of General. He was appointed Commanding General of the Army Air Forces in February 1946 following General Arnold's retirement. After the creation of the independent Air Force by the National Security Act of 1947, he was appointed as the first Chief of Staff of the new US Air Force in September 1947. He retired in that position in June 1948, with 44 years of active military service in the U.S. Army, U.S. Army Air Forces, and U.S. Air Force. Among his military awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal (with two oak leaf clusters), the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, the Air Medal, the Mexican Interior Campaign Medal, the World War I Victory Medal (with three battle stars), the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (with six battle stars), the World War II Victory Medal, the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, the Belgian Order of the Crown with palms, the Belgian Croix de Guerre (with palm), the French Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, the French Croix de Guerre with palm, the Polish Commander's Cross with Star (Krzyz Komandorski z Gwiazdą) of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Dutch Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau, the Norwegian Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olaf, and the Soviet Union's Order of Suvorov (2nd Class). After his military retirement, he worked for Newsweek magazine as military affairs editor until 1961. He also served on the Committee of Senior Advisors to the Air Force Chief of Staff, from 1952 until his death; from 1948 until 1959, he served as Civil Air Patrol's National Commander. In 1954, he was appointed to the Congressional Advisory Board, set up to determine the site for the new United States Air Force Academy. He died at the age of 83. The Civil Air Patrol's highest cadet award is the General Carl A. Spaatz Award. The Outstanding Air Refueling Squadron in the U.S. Air Force is annually awarded the Gen Carl A. Spaatz trophy.