Greetings from Mojave Airport! It’s always a pleasure to see our friends Clarence “Bud” Anderson and his wife Eleanor. I took this photo of Bud and Eleanor Anderson with my husband, Al Hansen, at the Society of Experimental Test Pilots Symposium last September in Los Angeles.

During WWII while serving with the363^rd Fighter Squadron, 354^th Fighter Group in the 9^th Air Force, Bud Anderson flew 116 combat missions (480 hrs) in a P-51 Mustang carrying the name of “Old Crow.” He destroyed 16 and 1/4 enemy aircraft in aerial combat and another one on the ground. Bud has the distinction of being a “Triple Ace.”

He served two combat tours escorting heavy bombers over Europe in the P-51 Mustang, Nov 1943 through Jan 1945.

Let’s back up to the beginning of this fighter pilot’s life as told in his book, “To Fly and Fight.” He was born in Oakland CA in 1922 and spent his early years on a rural farm near Newcastle CA with his parents, two brothers and one sister. His parents struggled through the Depression and had to sell most of their fruit orchards to survive.

Airplanes flew over the Anderson Orchards on their way to Sacramento and San Francisco, so Bud was fascinated with airplanes long before entering the Army Air Corps.

In 1929, a terrible plane crash occurred in an orchard near their home. Bud, age 8 and his best friend, Jack Stacker, age 7, went to the crash site and picked up small pieces of the plane off the ground. After that incident, all they could talk or dream about was flying and airplanes.

The two boys were inseparable. They were in the Boy Scouts together, fished and hunted together, rode motorcycles and “girlwatched” together. Bud says in the book, “We dreamed and talked bravely of flying together.”

Bud attended Placer Union High School, Sacramento Jr College and George Washington University.

He learned to fly at age 19 gaining his private pilots license in 1941 through the Civilian Pilot Training Program while attending college. “When I finally did get my pilot’s license, I gave Jack his very first ride, in a two-place J-3 Cub,” Bud explained. “He threw up!”

In Jan 1942 he entered the US Army Aviation Cadet Program receiving his wings and commission in Sept 1942. He received his test pilot training by completing the AMC Performance Course (1948) and the Stability and Control Course (1949) while at Wright-Patterson AFB Ohio.

Bud served for 30 years in the U.S. Air Force accumulating over 6,700 flying hours, first as a Triple Ace in WWII, then as a Commander of a squadron of F-86’s in postwar Korea; and a wing of F-105 Thud’s on Okinawa during the mid-1960’s. In 1970. he flew 25 combat missions in F-105’s as a wing commander in Thailand during the Vietnam War.

He is married to the former Eleanor Cosby of Auburn CA, and they have been married over 60 years and have two children and four grandchildren. (Al’s sister, Maude Ann Taylor attended Scripps College with Eleanor and was a guest at their wedding!)

During his 30 years of distinguished military service, Colonel Anderson accumulated over 6,700 flying hours. Following military retirement in 1972, he joined the McDonnell Aircraft Company as their facilities manager at Edwards AFB. He retired from McDonnell in 1984 and moved to Auburn, CA.

I really love the way this book is written. It is so easy to visualize every word. He writes as if he is just sitting across from you telling about the love of his ’36 Ford V-8 truck and that “big guttural (and highly illegal) bellow” it made when he pulled on the cutout. That meant he was running straight headers, no muffler. For those of you who love the sound of horsepower, it is sweet music!

The foreword of the book is written by Gen. Chuck Yeager and here’s a quote: “In an airplane, the guy was a mongoose. It’s hard to believe, if the only Bud Anderson you ever knew was the one on the ground. Calm, gentlemanly. A grandfather. Funny. An all-around nice guy. But once you get him in an airplane, he’s vicious. Shot down 17 airplanes. Best fighter pilot I’ve ever seen. He’s also the best friend I have in the world. We go back 47 years, Andy and I.”

Al and I laughed at many of the stories Bud tells and I must admit it’s not hard to find yourself shedding a tear when he tells of some of the experiences during the war. I admire his patriotism and love of America and his devotion to his parents, his wife and his family. He knows the meaning of the word commitment.

Great book, great guy, someone you would be proud to call friend. Go buy this book or go to his website www.cebudanderson.com and order the book. I guarantee you will enjoy it as we have. His website is full of beautiful photos of P-51’s and stories of other fighter pilots from the 357^th Fighter Group.

I ordered a personalized copy of this great book for Al because I wanted to have a signed copy for our aviation library. Too many times I have waited too long before I had a photo autographed or a book signed. I was always going to have Pete Knight sign a couple of pictures of the X-15 for my grandsons. Now it’s too late. Don’t wait when you feel the urging to do something.

Until next week…….”Keep ‘em flying!”