Kaj Aage Gunnar Strand

Kaj Aage Strand begins a distinguished academic career in Denmark before the war. He is in the United States when the war starts and volunteers for the U.S. Army in 1942. He is in service in the U.S. Army Air Force in 1942-45 and among other things involved in the test of B-29 Superfortress.

Kaj Aage Strand is born on 27 February 1907 in Hellerup. He is the son of gold smith Viggo Peter Strand and Constance Strand.

He does his A-levels at Ordrup Gymnasium in 1926 and graduates from the University in Copenhagen with a master’s degree in 1931. In 1931-33 he works at the Danish Geodetic Institute. In 1933-38 he is attached to the university in Leiden, Holland. In 1938 he obtains a doctorate from the University in Copenhagen, dr.phil.

On 23 October 1938 Kaj Aage Strand arrives in New York. In the following four years he is Research Associate at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania.

On 4 November 1942 he enlists for the U.S. Army in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (33344764). At some point he transfers to the U.S. Army Air Force and flies as Captain and chief navigator on B-29 tests. He becomes head of the Navigational Department, Eglin Field, Florida, and is involved in the operational training of special air crews, including the first atomic bomb crew.

After the war he is appointed Major (of the Reserve) and is reattached to Swarthmore College. He has a long and distinguished career in the United States after the war and is from 1963-1977 Scientific Director of the U. S. Naval Observatory.

Documents suggest that Kaj Aage Strand becomes U.S. Citizen at some point between 1942 and 1946.

(Krak, 1949; ad.usno.navy.mil; Finn Buch)