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In the Winter of 1935 this photograph was taken of my father Ernest Anders Erickson at fourteen years of age in his full Charles Lindbergh aviator threads. A leather jacket, pants, shirt and a pair of very cool high laced boots rounded everything out. He was looking pretty snappy in the middle of the Depression in Dakota. Ernest Anders is standing with his cousin Robert (Bob) Nelson and his grandfather, Anders Nelson on the family farm in Painted Woods, North Dakota. Click to view a High Resolution image 
Ernest Anders in 1937 at fifteen years of age continuing to look ready to be an aviator. And indeed he became one five years later in 1942 when he joined the Air Corps and began flight training at Kelly Field, Texas. By early 1944 he would be assigned to the 95th Bomb Group and stationed at Horham Airfield in England. Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson completed 35 missions by September 26th, 1944. He returned to the states in October awaiting transfer to fly B-29s, the Super Fortress. Ernest Anders is standing with his folks Clara Amelia (Nelson) and Frank G.S. Erickson in Bismarck, North Dakota.  An article in the Bismarck Tribune dated October 5th, 1944 titled: "Lili of the Lamplight was Lucky Lady" Pilot Says. |