Editing C. R. Smith (section)

==Military career==
[[File:80-G-38534 (25509470472).jpg|thumb|Gen. Smith with [[Elliott Roosevelt (general)|Elliott]] and [[Franklin Roosevelt Jr.]] at the [[Casablanca Conference]]]]
With the outbreak of [[World War II]], Smith was one of two US airline presidents to leave their company and join the military ([[Robert Six|Bob Six]] of [[Continental Airlines]] was the other).<ref name=Serling/> Smith become a colonel in the [[United States Army Air Forces]], eventually rising to the rank of [[Major general (United States)|major general]] in the [[Air Transport Command (United States Air Force)|Air Transport Command]]. Due to his informal but results-oriented management style, Smith won high praise during the war. Referring to Smith and ATC commander [[Harold L. George|General Harold George]], Chief of the Air Force [[Henry H. Arnold|General Hap Arnold]] wrote that, "no matter what mission I gave them, I could count on its being carried out 100%".<ref name="Global">{{cite book |last1=Arnold |first1=Gen. H.H. |title=Global Mission |date=1949 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York |isbn=1299434258 |page=295}}</ref> After the war, Smith returned to run American Airlines.