Posted by Carlton Paula Smith on February 22, 2018:

Carlton P. Smith, Jr. 1944 1944 Class Crest Cullum No. 14241 - Mar 07, 1946 - Died in Albuquerque, NM Interred in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, TX 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

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