When LeMay had been a colonel, placed in charge of an air division in Europe in the early years of World War II, he heard reports that many pilots were aborting their missions in the face of heavy fire from German fighter planes or antiair batteries. Upon taking command, he told his airmen that he would ride in the lead plane on every bombing run, and if any plane behind him veered away from battle, its entire crew would be court-martialed. The abort rate plummeted overnight.
