Frederick L. Anderson

Frederick Lewis Anderson Jr. (Born October 4, 1905 in Kingston , New York , † March 2, 1969 in Houston , Texas ) was an American Air Force officer, most recently Major General .

Life

Anderson graduated from West Point Military Academy in June 1928 and was assigned as a second lieutenant in the cavalry , but began pilot training that fall at Brooks Field , Texas, which he completed the following year at Kelly Field , Texas. He was transferred to the Army Air Corps and served in the following years with the 4th Composite Group in the Philippines . From the mid-1930s he served with bomber units in California and Colorado.

After training at the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field , Alabama, which he graduated in 1940, he was retained as head of bombing training in the teaching staff. In the spring of 1941 he was transferred to the office of the Chief of the Army Air Corps in Washington, DC, where he served in the Training and Operations Division as Deputy Director of Bombardment .

In early 1943, Anderson was on the staff of General Ira C. Eaker in drafting the plan for the Combined Bomber Offensive before he was given command of the 4th Bombardment Wing of the Eighth Air Force in April of that year . As early as July, as the successor to Newton Longfellow , he was given command of the VIII Bomber Command. As commanding general, he planned “Blitz Week” at the end of July, during which Hamburg was attacked as part of Operation Gomorrah , as well as the famous attacks on Schweinfurt and Regensburg ( Operation Double Strike ) in August. In November 1943 he was promoted to (temporary) major general as the youngest American officer during the war. When the United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe were formed under General Carl A. Spaatz in January 1944 , Anderson was appointed Deputy Commander for Operations (A-3).

After the war, Anderson served as Assistant Chief of Air Staff for Personnel for two years before retiring from active service in 1947 and embarking on a career as a businessman. From 1952 to 1953 he served once again as Deputy United States Special Representative in Europe with the rank of ambassador . Anderson was a co-partner in Draper, Gaither & Anderson , one of the first venture capital firms in what would later become Silicon Valley . He died in 1969 at the age of 63 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Awards (selection)

Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster
Silver Star
Distinguished Flying Cross
Air Medal
Legion of Merit

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Leslie Berlin: The First Venture Capital Firm in Silicon Valley. Draper, Gaither, & Anderson. In: Bruce J. Schulman (Ed.): Making the American Century: Essays on the Political Culture of Twentieth Century America. Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 155-170.

personal data
SURNAME	Anderson, Frederick L.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Anderson, Frederick Lewis Jr. (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American Air Force General
DATE OF BIRTH	4th October 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kingston , New York
DATE OF DEATH	March 2nd 1969
Place of death	Houston , Texas

[1] Leslie Berlin: The First Venture Capital Firm in Silicon Valley. Draper, Gaither, & Anderson. In: Bruce J. Schulman (Ed.): Making the American Century: Essays on the Political Culture of Twentieth Century America. Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 155-170.