Laurence S. Kuter
Laurence Sherman Kuter | |
---|---|
Born | May 28, 1905 Rockford, Illinois, US |
Died | November 30, 1979 Naples, Florida, US | (aged 74)
Allegiance | United States of America |
Service/ | United States Army United States Air Force |
Years of service | 1927–1947 (Army) 1947–1962 (Air Force) |
Rank | General |
Commands held | Military Air Transport Service Air University Far East Air Forces Pacific Air Forces |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Awards | Army Distinguished Service Medal (3) |
General Laurence Sherman Kuter (May 28, 1905
Early career
Second Lieutenant Kuter was first assigned to
He was then assigned as operations officer,
In August 1933 Lieutenant Kuter moved up as operations officer, 2nd Bombardment Wing, and assistant base operations officer at Langley. During this period he flew alternate wing position with Captain
He then was given a leading role in the operational development of the
From February to June 1934, Lieutenant Kuter served as operations officer of the Eastern Zone Army Corps Mail operations. He was the last officer relieved from this duty being held over to write the final report and history. At the conclusion of this assignment he was selected for the
At this time the school was beginning to develop the role of strategic bombing in future warfare. Prior to this, planning had been directed to defensive and supporting roles. The 10,000-plane Air Force envisioned in Captain Kuter's lectures taxed imaginations at that time.
The ideas born and developed at the school were to play an important part in his next assignment in the Operations and Training Division,
World War II
Early in 1941 he was a principal factor in several augmentations of the Air Corps. In August 1941, Kuter was brought into the Air War Plans Division where he was one of the four principal authors of AWPD-1, the basic plan for employment of air power in World War II. This plan was used almost without change through the war, in the form of its incorporation into the Combined Bomber Offensive.
In November 1941, Major Kuter was designated assistant secretary, War Department General Staff. After participating as one of a committee of three in the reorganization of the War Department, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on January 5, 1942, and at the recommendation of General
At this time there was extensive public interest expressed in the sudden promotion to temporary brigadier general of an officer who had been a temporary lieutenant colonel for less than 30 days. General Kuter never served in the active rank of full colonel. His was the first "jump" promotion of an officer as young as 36 since
General Kuter was assigned overseas in October 1942 in command of the
Then in January 1943 Brigadier General Kuter was transferred to North Africa and the newly formed Northwest African Air Forces. General Kuter became the deputy commander for the newly established Northwest African Tactical Air Force, serving under Royal Air Force Air Marshall Arthur Coningham. During the campaign in Tunisia, new tactical air concepts were generated and USAAF regulations revised accordingly. The basic changes reflected in them are still the principle doctrinal basis for the present tactical air power concept of the United States Air Force.
During the Tunisian campaign, General Henry H. Arnold, commanding general, USAAF, directed that General Kuter be released from the Mediterranean theater and returned to Washington effective Axis forces surrendered in North Africa. So in May 1943 General Kuter returned to Headquarters USAAF to become assistant chief of air staff for plans and combat operations.
During this period, plans for the overall air war offensive for the defeat of
In February 1944, General Kuter was promoted to major general. Previous to this, in August 1943 and extending through February 1945, he participated in the series of combined chief of staff conferences at Quebec, Cairo and London. When General Arnold became suddenly and seriously ill, General Kuter was designated as his representative to attend the Yalta and Malta conferences. His experiences in these two conferences are told in detail in his book, "An Airman at Yalta," Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1955.
General Kuter went to the
At the conclusion of the war in the Pacific, General Kuter was directed to return to Headquarters USAAF through Europe. In Paris he was intercepted by an order redirecting him back through the
During the next year General Kuter consolidated three Air Transport Command (ATC) divisions into the Atlantic Division, ATC, and served as its commander. While in this position, he represented the USAAF in the US-UK Bilateral Air Conference in Bermuda, and participated in negotiating an agreement with Portugal for American use of Lajes Air Field in the Azores.
International Civil Aviation Organization
In September 1946, by presidential order, the general was appointed U.S. representative to the Interim Council of the Provisional International Aviation Organization in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A year later he was reappointed by presidential order as the U.S. Representative to the then permanent International Civil Aviation Organization. In his appointment he had the personal rank of minister. During this period of the birth of international agreements in aviation, General Kuter participated in major civil aviation conferences in London, Cairo, Lima and Rio de Janeiro.
This experience led U.S. president Harry S. Truman to nominate General Kuter for the chairmanship of the Civil Aeronautics Board. At this time several military figures had recently been appointed to high civilian positions and General Dwight D. Eisenhower was emerging as a possible political figure, Republican or Democrat. The Senate committee refused to confirm the nomination of another military man to such position, and indicated that it would be necessary for General Kuter to resign from the service before accepting the position. General Kuter preferred not to resign from the United States Air Force (USAF) and asked that his nomination be withdrawn.
Military Air Transport Service
Within a month he was named commander designate of the proposed Military Air Transport Service (MATS) in February 1948. This was the first integrated military service. He was primarily responsible for its charter and organization. When MATS was activated four months later General Kuter became its first commander, MATS proved its organizational soundness and its operational capability in its first six months of operations when its global resources were directed into the operation of the Berlin airlift.
Two years later the same global resources of MATS were operating across the Pacific Ocean in support of fighting in the Korean War. At the same time General Kuter's command brought air evacuation of troops into extensive and effective operation.
Promotion to general
He was promoted to lieutenant general in April 1951 and in October of that year was designated deputy chief of staff for personnel, Headquarters USAF.[2] In this position General Kuter initiated actions in the USAF and in cooperation with the personnel chiefs of the other services which culminated four years later in extensive legislation raising pay and otherwise increasing the desirability of a military service career. He held this position until April 1953 when he assumed command of the Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
As commander, Air University, General Kuter raised the status of the
Lieutenant General Kuter was promoted to full general while in flight at 0001 hours, May 29, 1955, while en route to Tokyo to assume command of the Far East Air Forces.[3]
In this new command, General Kuter immediately found the mobility of air power impeded by the existence of two major commands in the Pacific. His air units were split between the Far East Command with headquarters in Tokyo and the
When Far East Air Forces was disestablished in this consolidation of command, General Kuter became commander in chief of the newly created Pacific Air Forces on July 1, 1957. Pacific Air Forces is the air arm of Pacific Command. Its headquarters is at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.
According to declassified Pentagon documents, Kuter was among the USAF generals advocating the use of nuclear weapons if China blockaded the Taiwan Strait in 1958. When U.S. president Eisenhower vetoed this policy, forcing the USAF to plan for the defense of Taiwan using conventional weapons, Kuter continued to object.[4] General Kuter was appointed Commander in Chief of NORAD, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1959 and held that post until his retirement in 1962.
Military records
General Kuter was a rated
Legacy
In 1980, the trophy for the Air Force–Hawaii football rivalry was named in his honor.
In 1990 he was inducted into the Airlift/Tanker Association Hall of Fame.[6]
References
- ^ Fogerty, Robert P. (1953). "Biographical Data on Air Force General Officers, 1917-1952, Volume 1 – A thru L" (PDF). Air Force Historical Research Agency. pp. 1018–1020. USAF historical studies: no. 91. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ White, Robert (October 29, 1951). "Appointment to General Officer Grades". Air Force Historical Research Agency. p. 4. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
- ^ "Biography of Laurence Sherman Kuter" (PDF). Air Force Historical Research Agency. July 31, 1959. p. 6.
- ^ Washington Post - Eisenhower Advisers Discussed Using Nuclear Weapons in China
- ^ "Biography of General Laurence Sherman Kuter". Air Force Historical Research Agency. 1955. pp. 18–22. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Airlift/Tanker Association Hall of Fame". Airlift/Tanker Association.
This article incorporates public domain material from "Laurence S. Kuter". InsideAF.mil biography. United States Air Force. Archived from the original on 2015-11-17.