Posted by Carlton Paula Smith on February 22, 2018:

Carlton Paul Smith was born on 5 May 1921 at Carlstrom Field, Arcadia, DeSoto County, Florida, where his father, Technical Sergeant Carlton P. Smith, was serving in the Army Air Corps. He attended Breckenridge High School in San Antonio, Texas, and joined the ROTC, rising to the rank of cadet lieutenant. This was followed by a year and a half at San Antonio Junior College, where he was a member of the Student Senate and the Debating Society. He then spent 18 months at the West Point Preparatory School, Camp Bullis, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. During this time he was a member of the 141st Infantry, Texas National Guard, for two years and eight months. In 1941, C.P., as he came to be called, received a National Guard appointment to the Academy from Texas Governor W. Lee O'Daniel. His military background, coming from his father's service and his own experience in the National Guard, enabled him to take the Academy in his stride. A classmate wrote in the Howitzer. "Air Corps! O.A.O.! Sack! You have a synopsis of Smith - in that order. The sailing was smooth in all three, for he is an air corps brat, a handsome devil, and had enough common sense and natural ability to cope with any academic problem. Efficient and easy-going, courteous and military, that is Smitty, an officer and a gentleman." He was selected for cadet corporal yearling year and was company supply sergeant first class year. He played lacrosse plebe year and was a member of the fencing team all three years. He was also on the Hundredth Night Show ticket committee and a member of the fishing club. As an Air Cadet, C. P. began flight training with about 200 classmates in April 1943. On 6 June 1944, he graduated and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, wearing the silver wings of a pilot. His first active duty station was Lockbourne Army Air Base, Columbus, Ohio, for B-17 transition training. There, at a sorority dance, he met Lee McIntosh of Canton, Ohio, a University freshman. C.P. reported to Lincoln, Nebraska on 28 September 1944, picked up his co-pilot and three airmen, and then went to Biggs Field, El Paso, Texas, where he picked up the rest of his combat crew and started training. He was scheduled to be reassigned to the Eighth Air Force in the Pacific in early December. A classmate and fellow pilot recalls: "Somebody in Washington became so concerned about the casualty rate among graduates assigned to the Eighth, that we were all removed from our combat crews and on 10-26-44 were sent to Orlando, Florida to complete the two-week AAF Junior Officer's Course, en route back to Lincoln for reassignment." Smith was reassigned to Biggs Field. On 24 December 1944, in the chapel at Wright-Patterson Air Base, Dayton, Ohio, he married Lee McIntosh. He was assigned as a mission pilot at the Navigation School at Jackson, Mississippi on 2 March 1945. He flew B-17s on celestial navigation training missions until 2 June 1945, when he began B-29 transition training at Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama. After completing this training, he was assigned to Smoky Hill AAB, Salina, Kansas to pick up the rest of his crew and begin combat crew training. The end of the war intervened, and, along with many other B-29 aircraft commanders, he was sent to Kirtland Field, Albuquerque, New Mexico, on 12 October 1945. There he was assigned to Squadron H, a composite squadron which supported the Manhattan Project with B-29, C-47s, C-45s and a C-46. Among the various tasks was a test program working up ballistic tables for some of the early atomic weapons. This involved making instrumented bomb drops on a range in New Mexico. A classmate writes: "Smitty was flying on such a mission when his aircraft failed to return. I took a C-45 to fly search. I'm sure there must have been others searching as well, but I don't recall. In any event, I was the one who located the crash site, and, from the way aircraft parts were strewn about, it was obvious that no one could have survived the crash unless they had parachuted out. It turned out that no one had." Lieutenant Carlton P. Smith was survived by his wife, Lee; a daughter, Carlton Paula, who was born 27 July 1946; his parents and his sister Penny. The career of a fine man and officer was cut short by his untimely end. He is missed, not only by his family, but by all who knew and served with him. Classmates Baker and Burr Add Your Testimonial: Carlton Paula Smith - 2014 I just discovered this page and and was so startled to see the picture and read the article about Carlton P. Smith JR. I'm his daughter, Carlton Paula Smith, and I would like to know more about him as I know very little. I believe my mother never got over his death so she never talked about him with me. I don't think she talked with anyone about him. What I learned about him was from my grandmother McIntosh, and she told me he was not scheduled to fly that day of the crash, but his best friend (last name Teeter) needed a co-pilot because the one who was to fly with him got sick, so he asked my father to go up with him. I was born at the Army hospital at Kelly Field in San Antonio a few months after my father died, because my mother went to stay with his parents (his father was a Lieutenant Colonel there) until after my birth. She then returned with me to her parents' home in Cleveland, Ohio. I never saw a photo of my father until my Grandma McIntosh gave me his West Point photo when I was 16 years old, (the photo that appears in this article). When I saw it I was stunned, because I look just like him. I took my firstborn daughter to San Antonio when she was 3 years old (in l979) to meet his parents, for I had lost touch with them when I was 5 years old after my mother remarried and we moved to New England. During that visit with my grandparents, I found out from my grandfather that they called my father "Bill" not Carlton, and that his friends called him Smitty (which I did know because it was engraved on the inside of my mother's engagement ring). My Grandmother Smith took me to my father's gravesite, which I had never seen, and it was incredibly emotional for me to see his name (my name) on the headstone. It was the first time he became real to me. I also met my cousin Debbie (Penny's daughter) during that visit, who looked remarkably like me. My youngest daughter never met my Grandmother Smith, but they started writing to each other and became pen-pals in the l990s when my daughter was 9 and grandmother was in her mid-nineties. My home in VT was destroyed in a propane explosion two years ago and I lost everything including my father's letters to my mother, my mother's West Point engagement pin and ring, both their wedding rings, other West Point and Army Air Force pins and memorabilia, mementos (good luck silver coins) that I think he had carried with him, which were recovered from the plane crash, photos of him, documents relating to his death, including President Truman's signed acknowledgement, and the flag that draped his coffin. I had only just acquired many of them from my mother's estate after her death a few months before I lost my home. I would be so grateful for any correspondence from classmates who knew my father at West Point or who were stationed with him at Kirtland Field and knew my him (and my mother). What has been missing for me all these years are photos of him, his history and the stories about him that make him a flesh and blood human being. I know none of that. What I knew about my father was that he was in Heaven watching over me. He became more a myth for me than a man. I would like to make peace with him as a flesh and blood human being before my time is up, and if there is anyone still alive who knew him, I would be so thankful to hear from you. I had just retired from 36 years as a Theatre, English, and History high school teacher before I lost my home in Vermont, and I have recently relocated to Maine. My email address is: ladyM46@hotmail.com My phone #: 207-338-1207. Thank you so much.

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