"My understanding is that General LeMay disliked the M1911A1 and preferred revolvers. He was commanding officer of SAC from its inception around 1947 until 1957 and then became Chief of Staff until 1965."...

Actually not so sure about that. LeMay was responsible for the creation of the chopped down 1911s that became known as Officer's Models when produced by Colt. He also had input on the design of the "LeMay 4 Star Model" 1911s produced by the Randall Firearms Co. in the mid 80s. These were among the first workable production stainless steel truly ambidextrous 1911s made.

Below are a couple of links on some of this and Air Force Marksmenship.

http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/histor...ll_history.htm

http://www.veritasgunworks.com/?p=6

http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/review/randall.htm

tipoc