WILLIAM
A. ANDERS
Anders was born
in Hong Kong on October 17, 1933, the son of an American Naval officer on the
Yangtze River Patrol. Upon graduation in 1955, as an electrical engineer from
the United States Naval Academy, Anders was commissioned into the U.S. Air
Force, earning his pilot’s wings in 1956. As an Air Force pilot he served in
all-weather fighter interceptor squadrons in California and in Iceland,
where he participated in early intercepts of Soviet heavy bombers who were then
challenging America’s air defense borders.
In 1958 he entered the graduate studies program at the USAF Institute of
Technology, specializing in nuclear engineering while also taking a night school
course in aeronautical engineering from Ohio State University. He graduated with
honors from AFIT with honors in 1962 and was assigned to radiation shielding projects at the Air Force
Weapons Laboratory. In addition he served as a part time instrument and
proficiency instructor pilot in jet aircraft.
In late 1963, Anders was among just 14 men chosen by NASA from a pool of
thousands of applicants for the astronaut corps. After helicopter training and
then serving as backup copilot for the Gemini 11 mission, he was one of the
first astronauts to fly the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle. He was Lunar Module
Pilot on the December, 1968 Apollo 8 lunar orbit mission, the first manned
flight on the giant Saturn V rocket and mankind’s first flight away from the
earth to another body in the solar system. During that Christmastime mission,
the Apollo 8 crew drew the attention of those on earth by reading the first
several verses from the Book of Genesis in a special Christmas Eve
broadcast transmitted live from over 240,000 miles in space. It was while in lunar
orbit that Anders, deviating from the scheduled flight plan, captured the famous
“Earthrise” photograph which has been selected for the December 1999 covers
of Time, Life, and American Photography editions
honoring the most significant images of the twentieth century.
After Apollo 8’s successful return, Anders was named as backup Command
Module Pilot for Apollo 11, the first lunar landing mission. He was then
appointed by the President to be the Executive Secretary of the Aeronautics
& Space Council, a cabinet-level group chaired by the Vice President, where
Anders worked to increase national support for aeronautics R & D and help
lay out plans for the post-Apollo space programs.
In 1973, the President appointed Anders to the Atomic Energy Commission,
where he was made commissioner responsible for all civilian and military nuclear
power R & D. With the breakup of the AEC, he was made the first chairman of
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Following that he was appointed the U.S.
Ambassador to Norway. During his time in the Civil Service, Anders served
pro-bono as an Air Force reservist and remained on active flight status in
NASA T-38 aircraft and Army helicopters, retiring from the Reserves as a Major
General in 1988.
After his departure from Norway and retirement from the Civil Service in
1977, Anders was made a Vice President of the General Electric Company and
General Manager of the Nuclear Energy Products Division and later the Aircraft
Equipment Division. In 1984 he accepted a position as Executive Vice President
for Operations at Textron Corporation where he resumed his active helicopter
flying with their Bell Helicopter subsidiary.
In 1990 Anders joined the General Dynamics Corporation where, as Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer, he led the company’s dramatic turnaround at the
end of the Cold War. For this he was awarded National Security Industrial
Association’s “CEO of the Year” award. Even while serving as Chairman and
CEO, Anders continued his active flying as a part-time test pilot for General
Dynamics’ F16 night attack systems. While
he was Chairman, the corporate board members established the “Anders Chair” at the US
Air Force Academy for education on the economics of the defense industrial base.
Anders retired from General Dynamics in 1993 and moved with his wife to
their present home on Orcas Island in Washington State’s Puget Sound. He has
established the philanthropic Anders Foundation supporting educational and
environmental concerns and the Heritage Flight Museum dedicated to collecting
and flying vintage “warbirds”.
Over his distinguished career Anders was the co-holder of several world
flight records and has received numerous awards including the USAF, NASA, and
AEC’s Distinguished Service Medals. He is a recipient of the Collier Trophy,
the Harmon Trophy, the Goddard Trophy, the Gen. Thomas D. White Trophy, the
American Astronautical Society’s Flight Achievement Award, the National
Geographic Society’s Hubbard Medal for exploration, and several honorary
doctorate degrees. He was chosen to be Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year”
in 1968 along with his Apollo 8 crewmates. In 2000 he was selected as one of the
U.S. Naval Academy’s first six Distinguished Graduates.
He is a trustee of the Battelle Memorial Institute and U.S. Naval Academy Foundation. He is a member of the
National Academy of Engineering, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, and
the Experimental Aircraft Association.
Anders, who has over 8000 hours of flying time in fighter-type aircraft
and helicopters, is still logging 300-400 hours per year as an FAA commercial
pilot with single and multi engine land and sea, helicopter and instrument
ratings and has recently earned his glider rating. He raced his P51 Mustang (“Val
Halla”) and his F8F Bearcat (“Wampus Cat”) in the Reno National
Championship Air Races and flies them in air show formation passes with USAF
(A10, F16, F15) and USN (F18) fighters in their “Heritage Flight” and
“Legacy Flight” shows.
Anders and his wife Valerie have six grown children, two of them flying warbirds in formation on their dad’s wing. Anders’ hobbies: flying, and teaching others about flying and aviation history.