World War II triple ace Clarence E. “Bud” Anderson received an honorary promotion to the rank of brigadier general during a ceremony at the Aerospace Museum of California last Friday. Anderson flew 116 combat missions during WWII and is credited with shooting down 16 ¼ enemy aircraft. He joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and retired from the Air Force in 1972 at the rank of colonel. Anderson went on to join the McDonnell Aircraft Company, serving as manager of the company flight test facility at Edwards Air Force Base for 12 years.
“To all the young people that have the ambition to join the Air Force, have at it!” Anderson said during the ceremony. “You can be what you want to be and you should know that when you like what you do, you can excel, be a better person at your job to do it better.”
At 100 years of age, Anderson is currently the oldest living American fighter ace and the last surviving WWII triple ace. Among the decorations he has received are two Legion of Merit awards, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, 16 Air Medals and the Bronze Star Medal. Anderson flew over 130 different types of aircraft and logged more than 7500 flight hours over the course of his flying career.
Wow… 116 missions… that was a serious bit of flying there. During WWII an Air Medal was issued for completing 5 missions and a flying cross was issued for every 25 missions. This was because of how dangerous the missions were during WWII.
The rank of General usually means no more flying. Probably why he decided to move to the civilian world of flying.
How do you shoot down ¼ aircraft?
Shot down 1 aircraft with the help of 3 other planes, or detached a wing and that was calculated to be ¼ of an aircraft?
1 aircraft shot down, and 4 aircraft shooting at it. I heard his story about that at Oshkosh one year.
Congratulations on a well-deserved honor, General Anderson. Twenty or so years ago I had the honor and great fortune to meet Gen. Anderson at the National Biplane Fly-in held at Bartlesville OK. He was the featured guest speaker that year. In one-on-one conversation, he was a quiet, low-key individual, with no trace of self-promotion. Let the Air Force bestow promotions!
Not long into our conversation, it came to light that we had a mutual friend. It’s interesting to note that the often-cited “six degrees of separation” principle operates at factors less than “six” in the aviation world, revealing points of commonality in the lives of people from amazingly varied backgrounds.
Congratulations General Anderson!! Well deserved. If you haven’t read his book, I highly recommend it. Hard to put it down.
Such a great man and inspirtation.
Yes, of the books I have read written by aces, “TO FLY AND FIGHT: MEMORIES OF A TRIPLE ACE” is my favorite. It has a wonderful forward by his close friend Chuck Yeager. Some of his dogfighting recollections are very real …. felt like I was there with him…
I met him, Yeager and Robin Olds in a quiet setting of the NC mountains…they were there dedicating the opening of a new subdivision. I Was in the presence of royalty for sure.
Yes, of the books I have read written by aces, “TO FLY AND FIGHT: MEMORIES OF A TRIPLE ACE” is my favorite. It has a wonderful forward by his close friend Chuck Yeager. Some of his dogfighting recollections are very real …. felt like I was there with him…
I met him, Yeager and Robin Olds in a quiet setting of the NC mountains…they were there dedicating the opening of a new subdivision. I Was in the presence of royalty for sure. Paul logue
Anyone searching out the book, note that in the title, “MEMORIES” should be “MEMOIRS”. One or two letters off makes a huge difference in doing a google or library search!