Warbird Information Exchange

I attended the dedication of the statue of Colonel "Bud" Anderson and the Veterans Memorial at Auburn Airport (CA) this Saturday, 16 May.

Great event attended by hundreds. I put on a small display of WWII aviation items.

For those who don't know him, Bud is a local hero. He flew with the 357th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force in WWII. He had 16-1/4 victories against the Luftwaffe. All BF-109 and FW-190 kills (except for the 1/4 shared kill against a HE-111.) He is a great guy, very friendly and soft-spoken, a true gentleman. I have had the pleasure of talking with him a number of times.

Four P-51s showed up, not bad for a little airport! Incuded "Old Crow" which flew out all the way from Georgia!

There were also three AT-6s that did a flyover and a YAK demonstration team.

The statue of Bud was done by a renowned local sculptor and is beautiful. They are stiill raising funds for the materials used.

Some photos posted below. Not the best but I had to fight the crowd and watch my display at the same time.

Here is a little fact sheet I made up for the display:

Colonel Anderson’s Air-to-Air Victories

03/08/1944 – one BF-109, northwest of Hanover
04/11/1944 – one BF-109, ¼ credit of He-111, west of Hanover
04/30/1944 – one FW-190, southeast of Orleans, France
05/08/1944 – one FW-190, Soltau
05/12/1944 – one BF-109, northeast of Frankfurt (Ace)
05/27/1944 – two BF-109, northwest of Strasbourg
05/30/1944 – one BF-109, east of Schonebeck
06/29/1944 – three FW-190, southwest of Leipzig (Double Ace)
07/07/1944 – one BF-109, north of Leipzig
11/27/1944 – two FW-190, west, northwest of Nordhausen
12/05/1944 – two FW-190, west of Berlin (Triple Ace)

If you have never read Bud's book "To Fly and Fight" pick one up, a great read!


If you ever stop at Auburn airport check out the Memorial!

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Lightninglover

Nice, couldn't make it up there, thanks for posting this and the pictures.

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Roger Cain
www.sfahistory.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stearman/


We must limit politicians to two terms:
one in office and one in jail.

Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing! I really like the coloring of the statue and the Old Crow on top! I had a friend who was involved in the statue process send me these pictures...











All photos courtesy of John Carr.

Whose '65 Mustang is that? Nice ride. And is that an H-model I see?

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Great pics. He's a great man and very humble. Nice choice of real P-51s. The H model P-51 is not only a rare treat but also a tip of the hat to his decades of test pilot work and he flew he H model in some of those tests. No doubt he appreciated all of it.

Great stuff my hat is off to whom ever got money together and 51 guys who showed up.

Here is a pic of the H model. The 65 Mustang is the photographers (lovingly restored over a few years). He is also involved in the statue project. There have been fund raising events and lots of donations over the last few years. Started with re-naming the street by the airport there in Auburn and culminating with the statue placement and dedication. I will try to get some of the flying pics from him as well.

A newer company that I was not aware of carried the event live...not sure if you can go to their site and re-watch it but there is some nice history notes and list of folks involved.

http://www.flyingondemand.com/BudAnderson.html