Caleb V . Haynes Caleb Vance Haynes ( March 15 , 1895 – April 5 , 1966 ) was a United States Air Force ( USAF ) major general . The grandson of a famous Siamese Twin , he served in the Air Force as an organizer , able to create air units from scratch . He commanded a large number of groups , squadrons and task forces before , during and after . In the 1930s , Haynes , a rated command pilot , led experimental long - range over - water interception flights that were key to the development of U . S . air defense doctrine . Haynes demonstrated by piloting one of the bomber s that intercepted the Italian liner SS " Rex " that enemy ships could be located and sunk by American aircraft . As well , Haynes helped promote air power by flying long range missions to various countries in South America . Described as " a big , hulking mountaineer " , Haynes was a " pilot ' s pilot " , the kind of air officer who led from the front . Fighting in China in 1942 , Haynes commanded a small force of bombers under Claire Chennault , and was known for his expert flying ability and his daring . Chennault said that " Haynes looked like a gorilla and flew like an angel . " Early life . Caleb Vance Haynes was born in Dobson , the county seat of Surry County , North Carolina , on March 15 , 1895 . His paternal grandfather was Caleb Hill Haynes , who died at the end of April 1863 , two weeks after the birth of Caleb Hill Haynes , Jr . This son grew up and married Margaret Elizabeth " Lizzie " Bunker on January 10 , 1889 . The couple produced five daughters and four sons — Caleb Vance Haynes was the fourth child and the second son . At the time of his birth , his father was the County Registrar of Deeds . The father continued to rise in North Carolina Democratic Party politics , serving as one of the delegates to the National Democratic Convention in 1912 . A Mason , Caleb Hill Haynes , Jr . was the county sheriff for twenty years following which he was elected to the North Carolina General Assembly in 1931 . On his mother ' s side , Caleb Vance Haynes had Thai and Chinese ancestors through his grandfather Chang Bunker , one of the original Siamese Twins . The conjoined twins married sisters , with Chang Bunker marrying Adelaide Yates . The couple produced seven daughters and three sons , and lived west of Mount Airy , North Carolina . Three of their Anglo - Chinese offspring , including Lizzie Bunker , Haynes ' s mother , married into the local Haynes clan . Young Caleb Vance Haynes grew up and went to school in Mount Airy . He moved some to the southeast to attend Wake Forest College . There , he graduated in 1917 with a Bachelor of Laws degree . World War I . Two months after receiving his law degree , Haynes entered the United States Army as a flying cadet on August 15 , 1917 . From August to November 1917 , he attended the School of Military Aeronautics at Georgia Polytechnic Institute , after which he sailed for France . He served at Saint - Maixent - l ' École until the following March and then entered the Machine Gun School at Gondrecourt - le - Château . In May 1918 , he was commissioned a temporary second lieutenant in the Air Service , and sent to Tours as a test pilot . In July of that year , he became an instructor at the Second Aviation Instructor Center at Issoudun and the following September was transferred to Orly as a test pilot . After the Armistice in November 1918 , he served as an aide to President Woodrow Wilson during the Paris Peace Conference . Inter - war period . Air Service duty . Returning to the U . S . in June 1919 , he was assigned to Mitchel Field on Long Island , New York . The following August he went to Speedway , Indiana , for duty as supply officer of the Aviation Repair Depot . In July 1920 , he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Service of the Regular Army and in September became a test officer at the Fairfield , Ohio , Air Intermediate Depot . In May 1922 , he went to Washington , D . C . where he served as officer - in - charge of gasoline and oil supply systems in the Office of the Chief of Air Service . In 1923 , he piloted one of the six Army planes that flew from the U . S . to San Juan , Puerto Rico , on a goodwill tour . Haynes was ordered to Crissy Field in San Francisco in August 1924 , and transferred to Camp Lewis , Washington , the following June where he served three months as commanding officer of the Air Corps detachment . In September 1925 , he returned to Crissy Field . Air Corps duty . Under Major John T . " Jack " Fancher in March 1927 , Haynes became an instructor of the 116th Observation Squadron , the aerial component of the 41st Division of the Washington National Guard , stationed at Felts Field . Haynes was one of the directors of the 1927 Spokane National Air Derby and Air Races , September 21 – 25 , with finish lines established at Felts for air races starting from New York and also from San Francisco . Fancher died in April 1928 , and Haynes succeeded him in command of the 116th . Haynes married and became a father during his time in Spokane , and he improved Felts Field , adding a photography laboratory . In August 1931 after four years in Washington state , he entered the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field in Alabama , at the rank of first lieutenant . Following graduation from the school in June 1932 , he went to Langley Field , Virginia , for duty as engineering officer of the Eighth Pursuit Group , a unit of fighter aircraft at which he attained the rank of captain . In February 1934 , he assumed command of the Second Station , Eastern Zone , for the Army Air Corps Mail Operation ( AACMO ) based at Bolling Field , Washington , D . C . ; Haynes was frustrated that his men in Richmond , Virginia were " forced to establish headquarters in rear of hangars , in tents , sheds , and other places " unsuited to winter operations . Haynes urgently requested air temperature thermometers to be supplied to all mail planes so that pilots could be warned of possible atmospheric icing conditions , but was forced to operate without them as procurement was to take two months . From July 1934 until January 1935 , Haynes was the commanding officer of the 37th Pursuit Squadron at Langley Field . This turned out to be Haynes ' s last posting to a fighter unit . Haynes went to Rockwell Field , California , for special training in air navigation and instrument flying . Returning to Langley field in March 1935 , he was appointed commanding officer of the 37th Attack Squadron there . He entered the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , in August 1935 , and graduated the following June . He returned to Langley Field , where he served as commanding officer of the 49th Bombardment Squadron of the 2nd Bombardment Group , and rose to the temporary rank of major . The first YB - 17 Flying Fortress service test aircraft were assigned in March 1937 to the 2nd Bombardment Group , commanded by Lt . Col . Robert Olds . Following Barney M . Giles in the first one , Haynes flew the second one to Langley . By early August , a squadron of 12 were gathered . On August 12 – 13 , 1937 , Haynes took part in a joint Army - Navy exercise in which the battleship USS " Utah " was to be searched for off the coast of San Francisco , and hit with water bombs if found . The timing and location had been selected by Admiral William D . Leahy to provide the " Utah " with the greatest likelihood of fog and cloud cover in which to hide from air observation . The navy supplied the water bombs , but the airmen had never employed them , and were not practiced in their aerodynamics . Delos Carleton Emmons commanded the Air Corps units from his headquarters at Hamilton Field , and Curtis LeMay served as the main navigator for the bomber group , composed of thirty twin - engine Martin B - 10 s , seven of the new YB - 17s , four B - 18 Bolo s , and three amphibious aircraft . On the afternoon of August 12 , the Navy sent to the airmen directions which were off by one degree of latitude , about to the east of the ship ' s actual position , and the bombers did not find the battleship . The next morning , Haynes and Olds flew the lead YB - 17 with LeMay as navigator , and General Headquarters Air Force commander General Frank M . Andrews as an observer to witness the results . Haynes descended below the fog to find the " Utah " , and commenced bombing at 11 : 47 a . m at a low altitude of . At 11 : 59 , the last YB - 17 dropped its bombs , for a total of three direct hits out of fifty water bombs dropped . The larger flight of B - 10s arrived three minutes after noon , three minutes too late for the exercise . In February 1938 , he participated in the Army flight from Langley Field to Buenos Aires , Argentina , commanded by Olds , and in August of that year took part in the Army flight to Bogotá , Colombia . The following January he returned to the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field to take a month ' s course in Naval Operations . Interception of the " Rex " . " See main article Interception of the Rex " In May 1938 during Army maneuvers , bomber advocates wished to attempt an interception of a ship at sea , as far from land as the B - 17 ' s practical range would allow . The U . S . Navy refused to cooperate — instead , Reserve Lieutenant Harris Hull suggested intercepting an ocean liner . The War Department agreed , and arranged for coordination with the Italian ocean liner SS " Rex " which would be crossing the Atlantic . Lieutenant Colonel Ira C . Eaker , head of Air Corps public relations , contacted major news agencies for national publicity . Haynes flew one of the three B - 17s specially prepared for the task . Aboard Haynes ' s aircraft were LeMay as navigator and the two theoretical war - maneuver adversaries : Major Vincent L . Meloy , another squadron commander acting as the attacking force ' s commander , and Olds as defending group commander . Positioned further back in the body of the bomber was one NBC radio announcer served by two broadcast engineers operating a powerful radio transmitter and a smaller transceiver tuned to the " Rex " . On May 12 through poor weather , the morning position report from the " Rex " placed the ship at sea and the three B - 17s took off in a driving rain . LeMay ' s expert navigation plot resulted in visual contact with the ship at 12 : 25 pm some east of Sandy Hook . NBC began broadcasting to the U . S . on the main transmitter , while Meloy spoke over the other radio with Captain Cavellini of the " Rex " , who jokingly invited all of the airmen down for lunch at his table . Aboard another B - 17 , USAAC ' s top photographer , Major George W . Goddard , snapped a shot of Haynes and fellow pilot Archibald Y . Smith flying their two B - 17s over the " Rex " " at smokestack level " — Goddard later enthused that the photo " made the front page of every newspaper around the world " . 1938 to Pearl Harbor . Late in 1938 , Haynes commanded a provisional group of nine YB - 17s that were to test bombing accuracy over Plum Tree Island , a bombing range near Langley at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay . Carrying two bombs each , the aircraft flew at in single file , and aimed at a single point , dropping their bombs in quick succession . Observation showed exactly half the bombs striking inside of a diameter circle centered on the target . Haynes won the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Order of the Merit of Chile for his role in February 1939 as commander of the experimental aircraft , the Boeing XB - 15 , carrying of American Red Cross emergency supplies to Santiago , Chile , to help the survivors of the 1939 Chillán earthquake . Haynes and his ten - man crew won the Mackay Trophy for their part in the nearly round trip voyage . The flight showed the world not only the lengths to which the U . S . could go to mount a humanitarian relief mission but also the range and payload capability of the new bomber . Haynes piloted the XB - 15 again on June 10 to return home the body of Mexican flier Francisco Sarabia who had died in a crash in the Potomac River . After flying back from Mexico City , Haynes and his copilot William D . Old undertook flight tests at Fairfield , Ohio , lifting very heavy loads . They used the XB - 15 to lift to , and to , setting two world records . Haynes was awarded certificates issued by the National Aeronautics Association ( NAA ) for an international record for " the greatest payload carried to an altitude of 2 , 000 metres " . The following month he received certificates from the NAA for the establishment of an international speed record with a payload . The latter performance also established a national closed circuit distance record of . He was promoted to the permanent rank of major in November . In February 1940 , he was named commanding officer of the 41st Reconnaissance Squadron ( Long Range ) flying modified bomber aircraft at Langley Field . From October to December 1940 , Haynes was an aide to Brigadier General Arnold N . Krogstad at that station . He then became training adviser of the 13th Composite Wing primarily flying Douglas B - 18 Bolos at Borinquen Field , Puerto Rico . From January 7 to June 1 , 1941 , Haynes was in command of the original 25th Bombardment Group at Borinquen Field and at that time organized the Puerto Rico Sector of the VI Bomber Command . He was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel . Haynes was called to Washington , D . C . in June to command a single B - 24 Liberator to be used to test a northern Atlantic air route to Great Britain . On July 1 , 1941 , he took off from Bolling Field and refueled in Montreal , then again at Gander Lake , Newfoundland before arriving in Ayr , Scotland in the first B - 24 delivered overseas . A total of 22 round trip flights were made by others in the next three - and - a - half months , however , Haynes was directed to scout another air route across the southern Atlantic from the U . S . to Brazil to Africa , with the terminus in Cairo , Egypt . On August 31 with Major Curtis LeMay as his co - pilot and Chief of the Air Corps Major General George H . Brett as a passenger , Haynes took off from Bolling Field to begin a round trip journey to Egypt and beyond , conveying Brett to Basra , Iraq , on a special mission . Haynes and LeMay retraced their flight to land back in the U . S . on October 7 . With the southern route thus proved satisfactory , the UK agreed to purchase 16 B - 24s to be delivered by this method to Cairo — one quarter of that number made the trip before the remainder were redirected into American service . World War II . In December 1941 at the start of direct involvement of the U . S . in , Haynes was made base commander of Borinquen Field , an important defensive stronghold in the Caribbean and the first refueling stop after Florida in the southern route to Cairo . The following February he returned to Washington , D . C . , to organize Force Aquila , the advance party of the Tenth Air Force , an operation that intended to bomb Tokyo using B - 17s and B - 24s flying from bases in the Zhejiang province of eastern China , supplied by C - 47 Skytrain s . In Florida , Haynes gathered a force of one B - 24 , 12 B - 17 bombers and a small group of C - 47s . Haynes and his mixed unit flew individually to Brazil , then Africa , and on to Karachi , India ; landing in April 1942 with no losses . One of the B - 17 pilots , Robert Lee Scott , Jr . , wrote about his view of the voyage in his autobiography , " God Is My Co - Pilot " . Haynes began organizing the supply lines for HALPRO , beginning with aviation fuel deliveries to China . On April 9 , Colonel William D . Old piloted the first flight over the Hump ; Haynes the second . The airmen were chagrined to hear that , with the Doolittle Raid , other Americans had beaten them in being first to attack Tokyo . A further blow came in May 1942 when Japanese forces captured the Chinese bases HALPRO was to use . The project was canceled and its men and B - 17s were reassigned by General Lewis H . Brereton to become part of the Tenth Air Force . The HALPRO group of B - 24s never reached Karachi ; instead , the initial group was diverted to the Ninth Air Force in North Africa . Brereton sent Haynes to Dinjan Airfield in the Indian state of Assam to continue his supply - line work under the name Assam - Burma - China Ferry Command , or ABC Ferry Command , with the mission of supplying American forces in China . This air organization was formed to carry supplies over the Hump , the air route replacement for the enemy - held Burma Road . At first , Haynes worked with only two C - 47 transports , and was accompanied on some missions by just one P - 40 Warhawk fighter flown by the outfit ' s executive of operations , Colonel Robert Lee Scott , Jr . , who had shifted to flying a fighter once HALPRO was canceled . When Burma appeared to be falling to the Japanese , Haynes and a handful of other airmen of the Chinese National Aviation Corporation and the Royal Air Force flew hundreds of evacuation missions from April to mid - June , bringing some 4 , 500 passengers westward to safety in India . The American ferry aircraft would typically deliver supplies to China then stop in Burma on the way back to Assam . On May 4 , 1942 , Haynes flew to rescue 30 members of General Joseph Stilwell ' s mission when they got cut off in Northern Burma , though " Vinegar Joe " himself refused the lift , preferring to walk out with the remainder of his force . Haynes subsequently dropped supplies to Stilwell ' s group as they made their way west through the jungle . On one such mission , a Japanese fighter attacking his C - 47 was discouraged into retreat when the crewmen of the supposedly unarmed transport opened up on it with fire from Thompson submachine gun s and 45 - caliber M1911 pistol s . Around this time Tokyo Rose announced on the radio about Haynes that the Japanese would no longer have anything to worry about because the Americans " made that old broken - down transport pilot commander - in - chief " . Haynes , in command of no bombers with which to retaliate , instead loaded a transport with fragmentation bombs and had some soldiers throw them out over enemy forces . He returned the next day to drop leaflets which read " Compliments of the Old Broken - Down Transport Pilot " . For this action , Haynes was awarded the Silver Star . In June 1942 , Haynes went to China to organize and command the Bomber Command of the China Air Task Force ( CATF ) under General Claire Chennault . His fighter group counterpart was Scott — the three air leaders were the subject of a " Life " magazine article in August which described them as like - minded Southerners who " are quietly tough , despise the word " can ' t , " eliminate all red tape and allow subordinates full range for individual initiative " . Haynes told Jack Belden , the " Life " journalist , that he " used to like pursuits better but now he likes bombers " , and other airmen confirmed to Belden that Haynes handled bombers as easily as fighters . Belden wrote that the open and frank bomber group leader " does not give a damn about playing Army politics " . Chennault , Haynes and Scott were said to " form just about the smartest , don ' t - give - a - damned - est trio Asia has ever seen . " Rarely able to send out more than four or five B - 25 Mitchell twin - engine bombers at a time , supported by P - 40s each carrying another bomb , Haynes constantly shifted his targets and kept the enemy guessing . Fuel and bomb scarcity limited the scope of operations . For instance , the only sortie on July 8 was Haynes piloting a single B - 25 to bomb Japanese headquarters in Tengchong , China , near the border of Burma . Claims and losses in July proved the value of the strategy : One B - 25 and five P - 40s were lost in the destruction of 24 enemy fighters and 12 bombers . Supplies began to increase in the following months . In October 1942 at the rank of brigadier general , he returned to India where he organized and commanded the India Air Task Force ( IATF ) of the Tenth Air Force under General Clayton Bissell . In Bissell ' s re - organization , five commanders reported to him : Haynes ran the IATF , Chennault ran the CATF , Robert F . Tate ran the India – China Ferry Command , Robert C . Oliver ran the Tenth ' s service arm and Francis M . Brady operated the large air base at Karachi . Haynes ' s task force assembled three bomber groups : the 7th BG Heavy , the 51st Fighter Group and the 341st BG ( Medium ) . On paper were more squadrons not yet prepared for war — some had no aircraft , some had too little training and some were bare cadres . Haynes used what few aircraft were available , mostly war - weary medium bomber s . The bombing missions often included in their payloads some of the " Compliments of " leaflets as a continuation of the defiant response to Tokyo Rose . Men under Haynes noted that the general was never " flown " by others — he always did his own flying . He emphasized operational preparedness and self - motivation , yet his personal style put people at their ease . Sergeant John Boyd observed that Haynes was " not a desk general but a field and operations commander who believed in getting things done . " One of the earliest offensive efforts made by the new task force was a multi - stage voyage from the main base at Karachi , through various Chinese airfields with the ultimate goal of attacking the docks of Hong Kong and returning . During this attack , " Life " journalist Theodore H . White rode in one of the bombers , and wrote a story about the experience for the magazine . On October 25 , ten B - 25 Mitchells led by Haynes took off on the final leg from an advance airfield at Kunming , accompanied by seven P - 40s commanded by Scott . The small force destroyed a transport ship , bombed Hong Kong ' s vital Kowloon Harbor and claimed 27 enemy aircraft for the loss of one bomber and one fighter . Haynes asked Bissell for more Norden bombsight s — the Mitchell mediums shared only two between all the squadrons , and their supplied D - 8 bombsights were ones Haynes considered to be of no value . He sent a small force of eight B - 24s to bomb Mandalay on November 8 followed in two days with a repeat visit by six of the heavy bombers . Further B - 24 missions continued with slowly increasing numbers of sorties flown . In January 1943 , IATF moved to Barrackpore , more than nearer its targets in Burma . The combat strength of IATF , though not yet 100 % , was strong enough to challenge Japanese air superiority in Burma . Haynes returned to Assam in June 1943 , to organize for Bissell the Assam - American Air Base Command ( AAABC ) which he led as a mixed force composed primarily of Tenth Air Force units with some elements of the Fourteenth Air Force . Haynes was tasked with coordinating area defense and offensive destruction of the enemy , the emphasis on the former . For the first two months , Haynes was given fewer officers and men than he deemed necessary , and the AAABC made little headway in its mission . In mid - August , large - scale re - organization of Allied forces in Asia resulted in the AAABC being renamed the , and placed under George E . Stratemeyer . Haynes led the group until September 1943 , when he returned to the U . S . after 18 months in Asia . Before he left , he told American reporters that his forces had helped deny the port of Rangoon to the enemy , and helped soften Burma for invasion . He stated that the highlight of his time in Asia was the air raid against Hong Kong . After his upcoming air crossing of the Atlantic , his eighth such , Haynes said that the first thing he intended to do was look up his 14 - year - old son in high school and his wife who was working in the drafting department at Sperry in Garden City , New York . In October of that year , he became commanding general of the I Bomber Command of First Air Force at Mitchel Field , flying anti - submarine warfare missions along the Eastern Seaboard . In July 1944 , he went to MacDill Field in Florida , where he took over the III Bomber Command , a bomber training group that also hunted for submarines . Cold War . In December 1945 , he was assigned to headquarters of the Atlantic Division of Air Transport Command at Fort Totten , New York , and the following month was appointed commanding general of the Newfoundland Base command at Fort Pepperell , Newfoundland . There , he oversaw operations of American stations in Greenland , northern Quebec , Baffin Island and Labrador . Haynes told a " National Geographic " reporter that , even though the air stations were remote , " our troops ' morale is high " . In July 1949 , Haynes became Inspector General , Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland . He was appointed deputy commander for services of MATS two - month later , at the rank of major general . In January 1951 , he assumed command of the 3750th Technical Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base , Wichita Falls , Texas . Haynes retired in 1953 . Personal life . Haynes married Margery McLeod , born about 1899 in California , and the couple welcomed a child , Caleb Vance Haynes , Jr . , born in Spokane , Washington in 1928 . The son , known as Vance Haynes , served in the USAF 1951 – 1954 in special weapons , then studied archaeology and geology , earning a doctorate from the University of Arizona in 1965 . He became a professor of archaeology at universities in Texas and Arizona , and through his excavation work at Sandia Cave , helped establish the timeline of human migration through North America . Haynes and his wife toured the American West after his retirement , indulging themselves while searching for a permanent residence . Some of the general ' s friends suggested Wichita Falls , the city of his last military post , but he left to assess the possibility of living in Taos , New Mexico , where he and his airman son hiked and explored ancient human settlements . Deciding against Taos , Haynes and his wife continued in their tour , soon finding Carmel - by - the - Sea , California , to their liking . There , he bought two adjoining lots on North Carmelo Street with one existing house . Rather than accepting any of the offers he received promising an executive career in the aeronautics industry , he relaxed by hunting and fishing . Haynes joined a number of men ' s clubs . He was a Freemason in the Granite Lodge of Mount Airy , a holder of the 32nd degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite , and a Shriner . He was a member of the Quiet Birdmen , a secretive fraternal order of pilots , and he joined the American Legion . He enjoyed visits by friends , especially playing cards and sipping bourbon with his former military colleagues . He died at his home during the night of April 4 – 5 , 1966 , of acute peritonitis flaring up from a chronic duodenal ulcer . He was survived by his wife Margery , by his son who was living in Tucson , Arizona , and by his granddaughter Elizabeth Anne " Lisa " Haynes . He was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on April 8 . Recognition . Haynes was awarded :