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,Andrade, John M. U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909. Earl Shilton, Leicester: Midland Counties Publications, 1979. , page 60. 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.History of Eglin Air Force Base . Air Armament Center Office of History 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,Andrade, John M. U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909. Earl Shilton, Leicester: Midland Counties Publications, 1979. , page 145. 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.Press release, Eglin Field, Florida, Thursday November 20, 1941, published as "Eglin Honored By Visit From General Muir S. Fairchild", Okaloosa News-Journal, Crestview, Florida, Friday November 21, 1941, Volume 27, Number 45, page 2.
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."Buckingham Field History," AFHRA, Maxwell Air Force Base, Porter BAAF CollectionCarlson, Erik D., "Shoot to Kill: Flexible Gunnery Training at Buckingham AAF, 1942–1945", Florida Gulf Coast University.
The content and comparison of the curricula of flexible gunnery schools are necessary to an understanding of the discussion of specific training problems. Planning of curricula and preparation of textbooks was the work, in large part, of Maj. W. L. Kennedy and Col. Delmar T. Spivey. The former, after a study of the English flexible gunnery schools in the summer of 1941, prepared the first five week's course at Harlingen and aided in the preparation of textbooks to be used there.History of Central Flying Training Command, Installment 3, III, 665–67. Colonel Spivey, project officer at Buckingham Army Air Field, performed a similar service for that station. In the early stages of their existence, flexible gunnery schools used as guide books Training Manual 1–271 and a Navy Department booklet, 'Air Gunnery.' After examining all available publications on gunnery in his planning for the school and comparing the results of his investigation with the subject matter of the two books, Colonel Spivey suggested to LAI? [sic] Headquarters the preparation of another text embracing some principles from each of the former ones.History of Central Flying Training Command, Installment 2, II, 978-80.Army Air Forces Historical Studies: No. 31, "Flexible Gunnery Training in the AAF," Assistant Chief of Air Staff. Intelligence, Historical Division, March 1945, Chapter III: THE PATTERN OF TRAINING, pages 37–38. The original of this monograph and the documents from which it was written are in the USAF Historical Division, Archives Branch, Bldg. 914, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
"Throughout his tenure, Spivey demanded that all officers and enlisted men 'live and think only of gunnery.' Often Spivey was seen on the firing ranges and visiting students in classrooms to provide inspiration and leadership.""Units Assigned to Buckingham Air Field [During World War II Only]," Buckingham Field File, Archive Room, Southwest Florida Museum of History. Col. Spivey remained in command of Buckingham Field until March 23, 1943, when he was designated the A-3 operations officer of the Southeast Training Command at Maxwell Field, remaining there until June 1943.
Assigned with the Eighth Air Force in Europe, on August 12, 1943, while serving as an observer on a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress of the 92d Bomb Group, piloted by Eugene M. Wiley, on a mission to hit the rail marshalling yardsBowman, Martin W., "Home by Christmas?: The Story of US Airmen at War", Patrick Stephens, 1987, , page 23. at Gelsenkirchen, Germany, in the industrial Ruhr region,Gilbert, Adrian, "POW: Allied prisoners in Europe, 1939–1945", John Murray Publishers, 2007, page 31. Colonel Spivey was shot down. As the USAAF expert on aerial gunnery, he was on this mission to evaluate how to improve gun turrets.Katsaros, John, "CODE BURGUNDY: The Long Escape", 2009, , Chapter 8, "Emergency Orders", page 39.
Hit by flak, which knocked out the number one engine, and fighters, which set number three afire, the bomber, B-17F-85-BO, 42-30081,Andrade, John M. U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909. Earl Shilton, Leicester: Midland Counties Publications, 1979. , page 44. 'P-YO', named "USS Aliquippa", of the 407th Bomb Squadron, 92d Bomb Group, crash-landed near the Dutch border at Ahaus, NW of Münster. All eleven crew were captured. (MACR 655) One source credits Lt. Fritz Karch in a Bf 109G-6 of JG 2/6 with the kill. With his capture, Spivey became the highest ranking prisoner of war in the ETO.
POW
When Colonel Delmar T. Spivey entered [the camp] in late July, [sic] 1943, he was a full colonel and twice the age of most of his fellow inmates. The senior staff immediately realized that his seniority and West Point training would catapult him into prominence as a leader. To reduce the chances of his inadvertently giving away important secrets to the Germans, the staff quickly briefed him on the entire spectrum of camp activities, including the vital covert intelligence and escape work that had been painfully developed during the three years since the first Allied fliers were captured by the Germans.Durand, Arthur A., Col., USAF (Ret.), "Stalag Luft III – The Secret Story", Louisiana State University Press, New Ed edition, October 1999, Introduction.
This included the three escape tunnels well underway, Tom, Dick and Harry. During the succeeding days he learned about the prisoners' forgery operation, covert communications with London and Washington, education and theatrical programs, and play on the athletic field.
Two weeks later Spivey assumed command as Senior American Officer (SAO) of Center Compound. Still dazzled by what he had seen, he reflected on the need to record for posterity the amazing activities he saw at every turn. If nothing else, he reasoned, the account might make it easier for the next generation of prisoners and save them the trouble of having to 'invent the wheel all over again.' As logical and intriguing as the idea sounded, Spivey knew there were great risks. The Germans obviously would love to get their hands on so revealing a document. He nonetheless decided to proceed with the effort, knowing that everything hinged on the careful observance of numerous precautions and safeguards.
This coded and carefully hidden history was retrieved and carried at no little risk when the camp was hastily evacuated in late January 1945, as the Germans marched the prisoners away from the rapidly advancing Russian armies. The documents served as the basis and initial impetus for "Stalag Luft III – The Secret Story", a definitive history of the camp, by Col. Arthur A. Durand, USAF (Ret.).
When word reached the camp that 50 of the 76 escapees had been shot after the break out of March 24–25, 1944, Spivey called the prisoners together and told them "Gentlemen, we're helpless and hopeless."Miller, Donald L., "Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany", Simon & Schuster, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, 2006, Library of Congress card number 2006050461, , page 391.
Evacuation and diplomatic intrigue On January 27, 1945, the prisoners of all three compounds of Stalag Luft III were hastily evacuated as the Soviets advanced from the east and the camp complement and guards began a march in a blizzard to the garrison town of Spremberg, a sixty mile journey that took three days, and which was as hard on the guards as it was for the prisoners. There, Spivey and General Arthur W. Vanaman, the highest ranking American prisoner to be captured during the war, were separated from the POWs, the "kriegies" going by train to a large camp at Moosburg, in Eastern Bavaria, and the two officers taken to Berlin to meet with representatives of SS Lieutenant General Gottlob Berger, who was still in charge of Luftwaffe prison camps.