Major General Orvil Anderson.(United States Air Force)(Biography)

MAJOR GENERAL ORVIL ANDERSON

Retired Dec. 31, 1950. Died Aug. 23, 1965.

Looking back on his experience as a military aviator, General Orvil Anderson would sometimes remind a listener--and most people usually found that they didn't talk with him; they listened--that his aviation career began in World War I, "This is where I entered," he would reminisce, "and I admit that I entered just because I wanted to fly an airplane." Named Orvil Orson Anderson at his birth in Springville, Utah, in 1895, an Army clerical error changed his name to "Orvil Arson" when he left Brigham Young University and enlisted in the Aviation Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps on August 23, 1917.

Although the young Anderson wanted to be a pilot (and thought about joining the Royal Air Force), a U.S. Army recruiting sergeant talked him into enlisting: if he enlisted, the recruiter promised, he would be flying in a couple of weeks--but if he signed up as a cadet his name would be buried beneath 15,000 earlier applications. Once enlisted, Anderson put his flight training request into channels. When nothing happened, he went to balloon ...