Caleb V. Haynes
Caleb Vance Haynes was a United States Air Force major general. The grandson of Chang Bunker, 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 bombers 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
He was born in Dobson, the county seat of Surry County, North Carolina, on March 15, 1895, to Caleb Hill Haynes, Jr. and Margaret Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bunker. 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 Surry County, North Carolina Registrar of Deeds. The father continued to rise in North Carolina Democratic Party politics, serving as one of the delegates to the Democratic National 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 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-10s, seven of the new YB-17s, four B-18 Bolos, 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.
File:George, Meloy, Haynes - 1938.jpg|thumb|Majors Harold L. George, Vincent L. Meloy and Caleb V. Haynes as goodwill pilots to Bogotá, Colombia
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''
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".