Famed WWII fighter pilots, now 100 and 101, to get final rides in sky

A couple of high school buddies who became famous fighter pilots in World War II, adding to the aviation lore of San Diego, will be honored Thursday by being given a final ride in the sky at an airport near Sacramento.

Dream Flights, a Nevada company that celebrates the contributions of veterans, will squeeze Clarence “Bud” Anderson, 100, and Dean “Diz” Laird, 101, into the open cockpit of a Stearman biplane, an aircraft that was once widely used as a trainer by the military.

Neither man will be at the controls. A pilot will alternately guide them into the sky as they sit in the back seat, with the wind whipping through their open cockpit.

“It’s neat that this is happening. They’re true American heroes,” said James Kidrick, president of the San Diego Air and Space Museum, which inducted both men into their International Hall of Fame in 2013.

“They’re going to have a sort of swan song that should be a lot of fun.”

Clarence “Bud” Anderson

(Courtesy of the Anderson family )

Anderson, who did his primary flight training at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field, is known as “Triple Ace”, the title given to a pilot who shoots down at least 15 aircraft in aerial combat. He had 16.25 confirmed kills.

Laird is known as the “Ace of Two Oceans” because he became the first Navy pilot to shoot down enemy planes in both the Pacific and European theaters during the war. He later served at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, helping the Navy usher in the jet age.

They met at Auburn High School near Sacramento and, like thousands of Americans, joined the military not long after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Anderson signed up with the Army Air Corps, which later became the Air Force. At the time, Lindbergh was evolving into one of the busiest military flight training sites on the West Coast.

He ended up in Europe, where he flew P-51 Mustangs, primarily to protect American bombers as they attacked German positions. Anderson developed a reputation as a fearless and gifted pilot who was obsessed with flying.

After the war, Anderson served for many years as a military test pilot, including service at California’s Edwards Air Force Base. And he served as a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War.

Laird chose the Navy, having seen exciting newsreel footage of carrier pilots. He was later assigned to the carrier Ranger, and in 1943 became the first Navy pilot to shoot down a German war plane.

Laird moved on to the Pacific theater, where he shot down Japanese aircraft. By the end of the war, he had downed five planes in aerial combat, earning him the title of ace pilot. He also was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He later joined the Navy’s first jet squadron and was the first pilot to land a jet on the carrier Midway, which is now a museum in San Diego.

His bio also contains a bit of service in Hollywood. He posed as a Japanese fighter pilot in “Tora! Tora! Tora!,” the 1970 movie that dramatized the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Thursday’s flight “should be thrilling,” Anderson told the Union-Tribune by phone. “And it will be good to see Diz.”

Laird said, “Well, I’m looking forward to flying, but not falling out – and if I do, I hope the parachute works. I also hope I don’t get air sick.

“It will be good to see my friend Bud, and it should be fun!”

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