Major General Delmar Taft Spivey (August 9, 1905 – January 18, 1982) was an American military officer involved with aerial gunnery systems development, air education, and command structure. During World War II, he was the senior American officer of Center Compound, Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp in Sagan, Germany.
Early life and education
Delmar Taft Spivey was born in Gatesville, North Carolina, on August 9, 1905. After graduating from high school at Whaleyville, Virginia, in 1922, he attended the College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. Graduating from the U.S. Military Academy on June 9, 1928, he was appointed a second lieutenant of Infantry and assigned as a platoon leader at Fort Benning, Georgia. Entering flying school in June 1929, he graduated a year later, transferred to the Air Corps and was assigned to Langley Field, Virginia. On February 20, 1930, Lt. Spivey, of the 52d School Squadron (11th School Group), made a forced landing when the motor of Atlantic DH-4M-2, 23–685, failed, the airframe suffering moderate damage when it came down two miles south of Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas.
The Air Corps News Letter published this account on March 5, 1930:
Military career
Assigned in June 1933 to the 65th Service Squadron at Luke Field, Hawaii, two years later Spivey became engineering officer of the 64th School Squadron at Kelly Field, Texas, and in January 1936 was named assistant engineering officer there. In April 1936 he became an instructor at the flying school at Kelly Field, and a year later was appointed chief of the bomb section there. On April 14, 1938, he experienced a ground collision in a landing accident at Kelly Field, in which North American BT-9B, 37–166, of the 64th School Squadron, received moderate damage.
Becoming materiel officer of the 23d Composite Group in July 1938, with which he served at Maxwell Field, Alabama, and Orlando, Florida, two years later the general assumed command of a squadron at the Air Corps Proving Ground, Eglin Field, Florida, and in January 1941 was appointed executive officer of the Air Corps Proving Ground. In December 1939, Captains Spivey and George W. Mundy, both of the 23d Composite Group, had flown two Curtiss YP-37s to Eglin Field for engine testing, the first of thousands of service tests. Two months prior, Spivey had suffered a landing accident on October 10 at Maxwell Field, Alabama, in which Curtiss P-36C Hawk, 38–187, c/n 12601, of the 1st Pursuit Squadron (Single Engine), 23d Composite Group, received minor damage.
When Brigadier General Muir S. Fairchild, executive officer of the Army Air Forces, arrived at Eglin Field by plane from New Orleans for a brief inspection tour of the growing post in mid-November 1941, he was hosted by Major Spivey, who was in command of the field during the temporary absence of Major George W. Mundy.
World War II
In April 1942, Lt. Col. Spivey assumed command of the Fixed Gunnery School at Eglin Field, and in February 1942 was named commander of the Central Instructors School and Flexible Gunnery School at Buckingham Field, Fort Myers, Florida. He arrived there from Maxwell Field on May 9, and four days later was notified of his promotion to full colonel.
While construction workers built the new air field, Col. Spivey assembled a team of instructors drawn from the aerial gunnery school cadre at Tyndall Field located near Panama City, Florida. Tyndall Field instructors trained the first aerial gunnery students before America's entry into the war. Spivey based the initial curricula and training exercises on the previous experience gleaned from the pre-war period. In addition, the extensive literature and field guides from the British Royal Air Force's aerial gunnery school influenced Spivey.Carlson, Erik D., "Shoot to Kill: Flexible Gunnery Training at Buckingham AAF, 1942–1945", Florida Gulf Coast University.