Activation of the ‘Global Twentieth’ – Commemorating Seventy-Five Years

On August 7, 1945, Gen. Carl A. Spaatz wired a message to the Twentieth Air Force Chief of Staff in Washington, Brig. Gen. Lauris Norstad. Spaatz, only weeks earlier having assumed command of the US Army Strategic Air Forces (USASTAF) at Guam, informed Norstad of his recent inspection of Twentieth Air Force “Baker Two Nine” (B-29) stations throughout the Pacific region. In his assessment, Spaatz considered this “the best organized and most technically and tactically proficient military organization that the world has seen to date”