Charles Wesley Schott – Major General, United States Air Force

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Courtesy of the United States Air Force

MAJOR GENERAL CHARLES W. SCHOTT

Retired January 31, 1963. Died December 27, 1993.

Charles W. Schott was born at Providence, Rhode Island, September 25, 1906. He ttended public schools in Providence, Brown University and the University of Michigan.

In June 1930 he entered the Air Corps as a flying cadet and after attending the Air Corps Primary Flying School at Brooks Field, Texas, and the Air Corps Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field, Texas, graduated in March 1931 with the rating of pilot and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant Air Corps Reserve on June 22, 1931. He was then assigned to the 27th Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group, Selfridge Field, Michigan, and served there on active duty until Aug. 31, 1932 at which time he was relieved from active duty and entered the employ of American Airlines.

From September 1932 until March 1935 he participated in the Air Corps Reserve program in an inactive duty status. On March 16, 1935 he was appointed a Second Lieutenant, National Guard of the United States, in the 103d Observation Squadron, Pennsylvania National Guard. Subsequently and in connection with changes of assignment in his civilian positions, he served in the Air National Guard of New Jersey, Missouri and Michigan.

On October 15, 1940, as a member of the 107th Observation Squadron, Michigan National Guard, he was called into Federal service for duty at Alexandria, Louisiana. At that time, he was a First Lieutenant Squadron Operations Officer. On August 20, 1941 he was promoted to Captain. With activation of the 67th Observation Group at Alexandria in December 1941, he was appointed group operations Officer. On February 1, 1942 he was promoted to Major.

In July 1942 he was ordered to the Command and Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., but was recalled for movement overseas with the 67th Observation Group which departed for England in August 1942. He remained operations officer of that organization until April 1943 when he was assigned as assistant chief of staff, A-3, Headquarters VIII Air Support Command. In November 1943 he was assigned to Headquarters 9th Air Force as assistant deputy chief of staff, A-3 and remained in that organization until his return from Germany to the United States in June 1945. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in May 1943 and to Colonel in November of that same year.

Upon return to the United States he served as chief of Military Air Transport in the Continental Division, Air Transport Command until April 1946 when he was transferred to the Pentagon for duty in connection with Reserve and National Guard Affairs.

On July 5, 1947 he was integrated into the Air Corps of the Regular Army.

While serving as special assistant to the chief of staff, U.S. Air Force, in June 1950 he was selected for attendance at the National War College in Washington, D.C. and graduated from that school a year later. Subsequent to graduation he was assigned to Headquarters Eighth Air Force for duty as director of plans and in September 1951 was appointed Chief of Staff, Eighth Air Force.

He was given a temporary appointment as Brigadier General October 9, 1952 and was subsequently appointed deputy commander of Eighth Air Force.

In June 1954 General Schott was assigned duty as commander, 47th Air Division, SAC, at Walker Air Force Base, New Mexico, where he served for more than two years. He was transferred from the 47th Air Division to command of SAC Forces in the Far East with headquarters at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in September of 1956.

General Schott was promoted to the rank of Major General in October 1957.

In September 1958 he was transferred to duty as deputy commander, Second Air Force, SAC, with headquarters at Barksdale Air Force Base, Lousiana.

General Schott was assigned to his present duty as deputy inspector general, U.S. Air Force, at Norton Air Force Base, California, in September 1959.

General Schott holds the rating of command pilot and has been awarded the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster; the Bronze Star, Croix de Guerre with Palm from France, Luxembourg, Belgium and other decorations.

From a contemporary press report

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Barbara Crittenden Schott, 90, wife of the late Major General Charles Wesley Schott, died on June 13, 2003, at the Air Force Village West Health Center, Riverside, California.

Mrs. Schott was born in Detroit, Michigan, November 24, 1912, and attended the University of Wisconsin. She married Wes Schott in 1934 and accompanied him on 16 assignments in civil and military aviation over the next 30 years. Following her husband's retirement from the Air Force in 1963, Mrs. Schott spent 27 years in Los Angeles, moving to Air Force Village West in 1990.

In 1940, Mrs. Schott began a long career of volunteer work in medical services including the Red Cross and both civilian and military hospitals. She was active in many community and cultural organizations, and was on the boards of directors of the Fort Worth Good Neighbor Council and the Roswell (N.M.) and Guam Fine Arts Society. She served in a variety of offices, as an advisor and on the boards of directors for several Air Force officers wives clubs.

Mrs. Schott was a founding member of the “Arlington Ladies”, military wives who attend every interment at Arlington National Cemetery as official representatives of the Chief of their Service and to assist families and survivors. In 1950, she was elected President of the Air Force Officers Wives Club of Washington, DC. In this capacity, she organized several informal social service activities into an organized Dependents Assistance Program, which she briefed to the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff, USAF. She was designated to establish the official “field pilot program” at Carswell AFB, Texas, which became the basis for the Air Force-wide Dependents Assistance Program now known as Family Services.

During their 27 years in Los Angeles following General Schott's Air Force retirement, Mrs. Schott was a member of the boards of directors and held a variety of offices in the Assistance League of Southern California and its auxiliary, the Children's Theater Guild (“Nine O'Clock Players”), the ARCS Foundation (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists), and the Auxiliary of the Neighborhood Youth Council (“Las Mariquitas”). She also held offices in Les Amies, the Pi Beta Phi Club of Los Angeles and of Santa Monica, and was a member of the Costume Council of the Los Angeles Museum of Art.

Mrs. Schott is survived by a son, Kenneth Crittenden Schott and daughter-in-law, Marian Castro Schott of San Diego; three grandchildren, Derreth Schott Painter of Herndon, Virginia, Gwendolyn D. Schott of Hickory, North Carolina, and Charles Wesley Schott, III of Escondido, California; and four great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband in 1993, and by another son, Christopher D. Schott of Santa Barbara in 1990.

Mrs. Schott will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions be made in her memory to the Air Force Village West Health Center (RSS), 17050 Arnold Dr., Riverside, California 92518.

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