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He was indeed the man who turned the fledgling command into a powerhouse. How he began is still bespoken with a combination of amusement and awe: His suspicion that training in the command had fallen so lax was so profound that he staged a mock bombing mission over Ohio, his home state. He got what he wanted out of it, and went from there to begin planning and executing a complete overhaul of SAC training and preparedness methodology. He also got something of a reputation as a lunatic - because he inadvertently forgot to apprise the Ohio authorities of what he had in mind, and his mock bombing runs are said to have scared the living nightlights out of the natives. (Well, in fairness, I don't think I'd be too thrilled to look out from my patio and see a couple of big four-engined galoots taking a dive in my general direction, either!)

LeMay was also an inveterate tinkerer, so much so that he decided to build a place on Offutt Air Force Base where he and any of his officers and enlisted men alike could come and work on whatever they liked to work on; LeMay's particular passions were hot cars, television sets, and ham radios. This was the first of the "hobby shops" and the idea caught such raves that they became standard around the entire Air Force within a few years. LeMay's thing for hot cars went far enough that he'd never say no if even a lowly two-stripe airman let it be known he was looking for a place and a race - said airman's own supreme commander would gladly join him out on the flight line for a little drag race or three! His sole greater mechanical passion, though, was ham radioing; to the day he died, LeMay was an inveterate ham radio operator, going by the simple handle "Curt".