Carl A. Spaatz (1891-1974). Aviation pioneer Spaatz was a 1914 graduate of West Point and a pilot in France in World War I. He rose to the rank of brigadier general in 1940 and general in 1945. During World War II he commanded the US 8th Air Force and the US Strategic Air Forces in Europe, facilitating the ground invasion and liberation of western Europe. He was first Chief of Staff of the newly independent US Air Force, 1947-48. Boyertown was his home.