Carlton was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, on April 14, 1921, and grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from Academy High School in 1939.

He then flew B-29 aircraft with the first group operating against the Japanese mainland from India and China, accumulating a total of 350 combat hours.

He returned to the United States in November 1957 and served the next one and a half years as deputy commander of the 93d Bombardment Wing and the Combat Crew Training School for B-52 and KC-135 aircrews at Castle Air Force Base, California.

Carlton assumed command of the 1st Strategic Aerospace Division, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, in August 1968.

While serving as commander, achievements by Military Airlift Command people resulted in award of the 1972 Benjamin D. Foulois Flying Safety Trophy; the 1973 Harmon International Trophy for the 1972 nonstop HC-130 flight from Ching Chuan Kang Air Base, Taiwan, to Scott Air Force Base, Illinois; the 1974 Mackay Trophy, for the prisoner of war release, Operation Homecoming; the 1974 David C. Schilling Award and the 1974 Harmon International Trophy, both for the American airlift to Israel, in which MAC C-141s and C-5 Galaxies moved 22,395 tons 6,500 miles by air to Israel in 33 days; and a special Humanitarian Award from Milwaukee's Trans-Aire '75 Exposition for MAC's many humanitarian achievements, including the airlift of Vietnamese and Cambodian orphans to their new homes in the United States and the massive airlift evacuation of Vietnamese refugees.

A command pilot, Carlton has more than 12,000 flying hours and has flown the B-47, B-52, including the "H" model, supersonic B-58 Hustler, KC-135, C-141, C-5 and the Mach 3 plus SR-71 strategic reconnaissance aircraft.