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Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Air Corps 1942 - 1945
Photographs * Articles * Letters 


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Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson * 95th Bomb Group
35 Missions * Horham Airfield * England
March 27th - August 26th, 1944



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An Aviator's Dream: The Men From Painted Woods - Biography
Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson - 95th Bomb Group - Air Corps - 1942 - 1945
Pvt. Frank Gustaf Severin Erickson – 308th Infantry - Lost Battalion - 1917 - 1919
Pfc. Ernest Julius Erickson - 361st Infantry – Meuse Argonne Offensive - 1917 - 1918



Time holds still in our memory, and if we pay attention, the days we spend with our families will provide stories we can hold onto from childhood through adulthood.

The life we lead reflects the lessons held in these memories. They push us forward - legends in our minds which over time become truths upon which we rely, and upon which we base our life’s most important decisions. “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend,” suggested the newspaper reporter in the film “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” one of my father's favorite westerns. We reflect on past adventures, even as they become part of our future.

For my father, like most others of his generation, memories of his experiences in World War II formed the truths upon which he based the important decisions of his life. He shared many of these memories with me during his lifetime, and these shared memories have helped define my life, as they had my father’s.

Since his death in 2013, I have learned more about his wartime experiences piloting a B-17 bomber by looking through his memorabilia, reading about the experiences of his contemporaries, and corresponding with other researchers. The more I have learned, the more I have come to appreciate the extraordinary challenges he and his wartime companions faced, and the extraordinary courage they demonstrated.

My father, Ernest Anders Erickson - known to his wartime buddies as “Lindy” and to his colleagues at Lockheed Aircraft/Skunk Works as “E Squared” (E2), was born in Painted Woods, North Dakota. That place on the edge of the Missouri River in the Dakotas became a mythical land in my mind as I was growing up.

It was a land filled with Indian lore and western cowboy tales, plus his childhood wanderings along the river. In my imagination I visited the Missouri plains both before and after Lewis and Clark journeyed into the land of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota and Dakota Sioux.

Raised on their family farm on the banks of the Missouri River, Ernest was the son of Swedish born parents -- my grandmother Clara Amelia (Nelson) and grandfather Frank Severin Gustaf Erickson; and brother to my aunt Dian (Erickson) Boutrous.

Ernest enjoyed fishing, hunting and living life outdoors. When my dad was fourteen, the family moved to Bismarck. Growing up during the Depression, Ernest watched the skies for airplanes as he walked home from school each day. He enjoyed going with his father Frank to see the barnstorming flyers who put on exhibitions in the area. His childhood hero was Charles Lindbergh, and he kept a keen eye on Lindbergh in the news. It was almost prophetic that he too would one day join the Army Air Corps.


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World War II Veteran's Memorial Registry


Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson June 1944
Flying Combat and the Days of Flak
Lili of the Lamplight (44-6085)

Lt. General Jimmy Doolittle &
Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Horham - England 1944

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
334th Squadron 95th BG
Foggia, Italy 1944

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson receiving
Distinguished Flying Cross
England - June 1944

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
334th Squadron - 95th BG
Foggia, Italy 1944

Clara Amelia (Nelson) & her son
Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
October 1943

Mayhem Over Berlin
Lili of the Lamplight 44-6085
Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
May 24th, 1944

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Lili of the Lamplight Was Lucky Lady
Bismarck Tribune - October 5, 1944

Crew of The Lili of the Lamplight (44-6085)
England 1944

The North Atlantic Crossing 1944
Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Red Feather Club - Horham, England

An Aviator's Dream:
The Men From Painted Woods
Air Corps Biography of Lt. Ernest Erickson
Lost Battalion's Pvt. Frank G. S. Erickson
361st Pfc. Ernest Julius Erickson

Letter written on June 6th, 1944
Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
35 Missions - 12 B-17s Piloted List
March 27th thru August 26th, 1944
95th Bomb Group - Horham, England

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
An Aviator's Dream - Man From Painted Woods

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
An Aviator's Dream - Man From Painted Woods

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
35 Bombing Mission List
March 27th - August 26th, 1944 - England

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
95th Bomb Group celebration
200th Mission

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
35 Mission & 12 Aircraft Piloted List
March 27th - August 26th,1944; England

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Berlin Mission Diary Entry; April 29, 1944

Frank & his daughter Dian Marcella
& son Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Bismarck, North Dakota Spring of 1945

The B-17 Ole Worrybird
(42-102678) photograph

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
334th Squadron - 95th BG
Foggia, Italy 1944

Dian Marcella Erickson
Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
October 1943
Bismarck, ND

Last Flight of the 'Lili of the Lamplight'
(44-6085)
August 25th, 1944
Politzan der Oder
Rechlin/Larz
Germany/Poland

Salerno Harbor - Italy 1944
Photograph by Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Bismarck Tribune 1944

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Blackland Airfield - October of 1943

Paris Occupation 1939-1944; Excerpts
from "Conversations with Picasso"

Frank Severin & Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Bismarck, ND - October 1943

Ernest Anders Erickson's Air Corps
Induction Letter - March 1942

The Ties That Bind
article by Phil Samponaro
95th BG Memorial Foundation

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Blackland Army Air Field
October 1943

Cadet Ernest Anders Erickson
Kelly Field - San Antonio 1943

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
B-17 (42-97858) Lady Fortune
Horham Airfield - England - June of 1944

In-flight photograph
Haard Luck (42-97334)
Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson 1944

Cadet Ernest Anders Erickson
Kelly Field 1942

Cadet Ernest Anders Erickson
Advanced Flight Training
Blackland 1943

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson 1944
95th Bomb Group - 334th Squadron
The Tale of the Two Flights to England

Cadet Ernest Anders Erickson
Kelly Field, Texas 1942

Lili of the Lamplight
article by Andy Garner;
95th Bomb Group

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson 1936 & 1944
Painted Wood, ND & Horham Airfield, England

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson's
A-2 jacket
Lili of the Lamplight (44-6085)

Ernest Anders Erickson
Dreams of a Future Aviator
Clara Amelia (Nilsson-Nelson) Erickson

1944 A-2 jacket - 95th's Red Feather patch
Lili of the Lamplight (44-6085)

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
article by Don Moore (War Tales)
Charlotte Sun Newspaper - August 5, 2013

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson 334th Squadron
95th BG Foggia, Italy 1944

Machinist Mate Benet Ripin
U.S. Navy - ETO & Pacific Theater
USS Jeffers - 1944 - 1945

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson receiving
the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross)
September 29, 1944 newspaper article

Lt. John F. Kearney & Lt. John F. Kennedy
Tulagi, Solomon Islands 1943


In-flight photograph
Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Shuttle Missions 1944

In-flight photograph
Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Shuttle Missions 1944

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
& crew of the B-17
"Lili of the Lamplight" (44-6085)

Only known photograph of the B-17
"Lili of the Lamplight" (44-6085) over Europe 1944

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
334th Squadron - 95th BG
Foggia, Italy 1944

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson's
hand written Flight Equipment List
1944

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
flak pieces 1944

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson's drawing
A-2 Jacket 95th BG - June 1944

95th BG newsletter article; Lili of the Lamplight (44-6085)
August 26, 1944

Aerial Eyewitness Describes D-Day
newspaper article - June 7, 1944

Forts Hit France From Italy on
Last Leg Back From Soviet newspaper
article dated August 13, 1944

Russian mechanics - Lili of the Lamplight
(44-6085)
Poltava - Ukraine - August 1944

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Blackland Army Airfield Class of 1943

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
in October of 1943
Blackland Army Airfield

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
receives Silver Pilot's Wings
Bismarck Tribune article - October 3, 1943

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Miami Beach 1943

Warrant Officer Harry Irons
Royal Air Force
Bomber Command Memorial
November 13th 2016
at Green Park, London

Technical Sergeant William 'Bill' Eugene Nassif
301st Bomb Group - 352nd Squadron
15th Air Force based in Lucera, Italy
The Last Mission: December 26th, 1944
over Blechhammer, Germany
Aboard the B-17 - 'Kandy' (44-6337)
Prisoner of War:
December 26th, 1944 through May of 1945

Sgt. Lynn 'Lenny' Nicola
15th Air Force
301st Bomb Group * 32nd Squadron

334th Officers Barracks
95th Bomb Group
Horham, England 2018

The Bombardier's View
By Bob Rathgeber
February 3rd, 2011
The News-Press

Staff Sergent Marion Futrell Pratt
Ball Turret Gunner
Lili of the Lamplight (44-6085)

Zena Abbie (Henninger Wanner) Erickson
Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson 1943
Bismarck, ND

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Staff Sergent Lyle W. Porter
Staff Sergent Len S. Fletcher
Horham Airfield, England 1944

Ted, George &
Jimmie Boutrous
The Bismarck Tribune
January 2nd, 1943

Lt. Richard J. Reinfried 1944
95th Bomb Group
334th Squadron

German Luftwaffe poster
Viermotoriges Kampfflugzeug
(a four engine fighter airplane)
The B-17 Flying Fortress

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
467th Bombardment Squadron
Bombsight Pass 1943
Dalhart AAB Texas
Officers Club Card 1944
Yuma Army Air Field

Instructions For Officers & Men
of the Army Air Corps in the Event
of Capture or Landing in a Neutral Country

General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Order of the Day
June 6th, 1944

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Officers Pay Data Card
September 27th, 1944

Brigadier General Ira Eaker 1942
by Margaret Bourke-White

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Western Union Telegrams
September 30th, 1943
November 9th, 1944

General William Billy Mitchell
Father of the Air Force

Lt. Adolph Tom Abraham 1943
Seething Airfield, England
448th Bomb Group - 713rd Squadron

B-17s Over Telegraph Avenue
Berkeley, California
Mark & Elena Erickson

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
Postal Telegraph & Western Union Telegrams
October 20th, 1942
September 30th, 1943
November 9th, 1944

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
95th Bomb Group - 334th Squadron
Somewhere Over Italy August 1944
B-17 Propeller Abstraction

95th Bomb Group
Memorials Foundation Museum
Red Feather Club - Horham, England

Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson
95th Bomb Group - 334th Squadron
May 24th, 1944 Berlin, Germany

Cadet Ernest Anders Erickson
95th Bomb Group - 334th Squadron
Curtis Field, Texas 1943

95th Bomb Group Celebration
200th Bombing Mission
September 7th - 10th, 1944

95th Bomb Group
Mission #199
August 26th, 1944



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