In this position, he was involved with the planning of the invasion of Europe and participated in the meeting between U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Casablanca, Morocco in 1943.

He was the architect of Operation Tidal Wave, in which 178 B-24 Liberator heavy bombers from five bombardment groups of the 9th Army Air Force flew a 2,400-mile round trip from bases near Benghazi in Libya to perform a low-level bombing raid on the oil refineries at Ploieşti, Romania, on 1 August 1943.

Despite his knowledge of top secret issues, such as plans for the Normandy invasion, he was allowed to fly missions over enemy territory.

He landed and was immediately captured by the Germans and held as a prisoner of war until freed by the forces of General George S. Patton's Army on April 29, 1945.

Upon his repatriation to the US, Smart returned to duty as a top aide to General Arnold,[2] continuing as the U.S. Air Force was formed in 1947.

During the Korean War, Smart served as deputy for operations in the Far East Air Force where he showed his skill as a strategist.

Citation: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Colonel (Air Corps) Jacob Edward Smart, United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Commanding Officer of the 97th Bombardment Group (H), Fifteenth Air Force, while participating in a bombing mission on 10 May 1944, against a vitally important and heavily defended aircraft production center in Wiener-Neustadt, Austria.

With the skill and courage that he had displayed on twenty-seven raids during the period of 18 March 1944 to 10 May 1944, Colonel Smart again was successful in bringing his group through unusually severe weather conditions and augmented aircraft defense to the beginning of the bomb run when his ship was observed to explode.