Aviator, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Commissioned into the cavalry after graduation from West Point (1930), he transferred to the Air Corps the following year, and by August 1942 had risen to the post of deputy chief-of-staff of the 12th Air Force in North Africa. Returning to Washington (1944), he had direct responsibility for planning the atomic-bomb missions. He later commanded US air forces in Europe (1950) and NATO forces in Europe (1956). He retired in 1963 to become president of Owens-Corning Glass.
Lauris Norstad (1907 - 1988) was an American general in the United States Army Air Corps and United States Air Force.
Moving to Langley Field, Virginia, in July 1940, General Norstad was Adjutant of the 25th Bomb Group, and the following November he was named Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence of General Headquarters Air Force there. In February 1942 he was appointed a member of the Advisory Council to the commanding general of the Army Air Forces at Washington, D.C.
World War II
In August of 1942, General Norstad was named assistant chief of staff for operations of the 12th Air Force, going to England with it the following month in support of Operation Husky, and to Algiers, North Africa in October 1942.
In February of 1943, he assumed the additional duty of assistant chief of staff for operations of the Northwest African Air Forces. in August 1944, General Norstad was chief of staff of the 20th Air Force with added duty of deputy chief of Air Staff at Army Air Force Headquarters. He was relieved of this additional duty May 8, 1945, and assumed additional duty as assistant chief of Air Staff for Plans at Army Air Force Headquarters.
Relieved of assignment as chief of staff of the 20th Air Force in February 1946, he continued as assistant chief of air staff for plans until the following June, when he was appointed director of the Plans and Operations Division of the War Department at Washington, D.C.
On October 1, 1947, following the division of the War Department into the Departments of The Army and The Air Force, General Norstad was appointed deputy chief of staff for operations of the Air Force, and the following May assumed additional duty as acting vice chief of staff of the Air Force.
SHAPE Leadership
Joining the U.S. Air Forces in Europe in October 1950 General Norstad was commander in chief, USAFE, with Headquarters at Wiesbaden, Germany. On April 2, 1951 he assumed additional duty as commanding general of the Allied Air Forces in Central Europe under the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Powers in Europe.
Relieved of duty as air deputy to supreme allied commander, Europe November 20, 1956, the president appointed General Norstad to become Supreme Allied Commander Europe, and commander in chief, U.S. European Command.
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