My father, Lt Ernest Anders Erickson at Horham, Dec 1943. Merry Christmas dad!! Heres an article I wrote on my dad last year. An Aviators Dream: The Man From Painted Woods Ernest Anders Erickson was born on August 4th, 1922 in Painted Woods, North Dakota. The son of Swedish - born Clara (Nelson) and Frank Erickson of 801 Jefferson Avenue, Bismarck, and brother to Dian (Erickson) Boutrous, he was brought up on the family farm along the Missouri River. He enjoyed fishing and hunting and living life outdoors. When he was 14, Ernest and his family moved to Bismarck where he grew up during the Depression and watched the skies for airplanes. He dreamed of being an aviator and was present several times with his father, Frank, when barnstormers visited the area. His dream would be fulfilled when he joined the US Army Air Corps soon after Pearl Harbor. Upon receiving his orders in 1942, 19-year old Ernest left Bismarck and boarded a train to San Antonio, Texas for advanced flight training at Kelly Field. In mid-1943, Ernest flew with his crew from Virginia up the coast to New York City, Greenland and Iceland before landing at Horham Field in England where he was stationed throughout the war. During World War II, Lieutenant Ernest Anders Erickson flew a “Flying Fortress,” a four-engine bomber dubbed “Lili of the Lamplight,” from Horham Airfield and a base near Ipswich, England on 35 combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe in 1943 and 1944. It was one of the many B-17s flown by the 8th Air Force that devastated Germany. From the beginning of the war, Ernest carried his fathers camera to photograph his fellow flyers and landscapes he encountered. Because he resembled Charles Lindbergh who coincidentally was his childhood hero, his bomber crew nicknamed him “Lindy.” Having dreamed of being an aviator in his youth, he had kept a keen eye on Lindbergh in the news. It was almost prophetic that he too would join the Air Corp. The local newspaper in North Dakota, The Bismarck Tribune, ran his story on October 5, 1944 with the headline: ʻ“Lili of the Lamplight Was Lucky Lady, Pilot Says. The article stated, I wasnʼt so scared the first time we ran into (flak), but that was because I didnʼt know what flak could really do, Lt. Ernest A. Erickson was quoted as saying while home on leave. “Our fourth mission was a rough one to Berlin. Our ship was seriously damaged, shot up pretty good. Although we managed to stay in formation, part of the rudder was torn off, one wing with a couple dozen bullet holes in it and the ship was in bad shape. I learned then what flak could do. It was on our seventh mission when we seriously came in contact with enemy fighters (Luftwaffe Messerschmitt 109s). Things happened so fast most of the time that we didnʼt have much chance to analyze our feelings, we just reacted, although most of us knew what itʼs like to be good and scared. Ernest survived his four flights to Berlin and 31 more while piloting “Lili of the Lamplight.” In fact, he made it through all 35 of his combat missions without so much as a scratch. Some of the flights were more memorable than others. He talked often about the D-Day Invasion which supported tens of thousands of Allied forces invading “Hitlerʼs Europe” en masse on June 6, 1944. They bombed German fortifications inland from the French coast. But what he remembered most about that day was not the bombing by his squadron, but the incredible number of ships that packed the English Channel in support of the invasion forces. Ships dotted the Channel as far as you could see. Among the more interesting missions he flew were a half dozen flights to bomb the German V-1 and V-2 rocket bases hidden in French and Belgium forests along the Atlantic coast. Defended heavily by anti-aircraft guns and fighter planes, the American bombers who attacked these high value targets paid heavily in blood and planes. On a shuttle bombing run which started from the base at Horham Airfield, they made their first target and then landed to refuel at the 15th Air Force base at Foggia, Italy. They proceeded to bomb targets in Poland and Romania before flying to Russia. The crew spent four days in Russia. On their return, they landed at an airfield near Naples where they attended briefings and stayed in the city for a few days and then flew back to England. An 8th Air Force headquarters report stated in local newspapers throughout the U.S., “Heavy bombers of the 8th Air Force which yesterday bombed a German factory in Poland on their way to Russia, today landed at a 15th Air Force base after pounding two enemy airdromes in the Ploesti area of Romania on the second leg of their triangle-shuttle flight. All aircraft landed in Russia without loss yesterday after attacking a Nazi factory at Rahmel, 10 miles northwest of the Polish port of Gdynia. Enemy aircraft were encountered, and flak was reported heavy at many points. Lt. Erickson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary achievements for his participation in more than a score of bombing assaults on vital Nazi targets in Europe and support of advances by the ground troops in France. Lt. Erickson was also awarded the Air Medal and four Oak Leaf Clusters. At warʼs end, Ernest took the G.I. Bill and graduated from the University of Colorado with degrees in aircraft designing and engineering. He was hired by Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank, California. He met Bernice Hesslein in the late 1950s, a painter from Brooklyn, New York, at a Spanish language night class at Hollywood High and they were married in Hollywood in 1962, settling into a house in the hills. Mr. Erickson worked in conjunction with NASA, became friends with the test pilot Chuck Yeager, and was with McDonnell Aircraft during their design and construction of the original Mercury spacecraft. By the early 1970s, Ernest had worked on numerous projects as an aircraft and jet designer. He then moved on to the firmʼs storied “Skunk Works” airplane shop. It was a top secret installation that built some of the countryʼs most notable aircraft. For six years, he and his family were stationed in Munich, Germany and Torino, Italy where Ernest worked on projects in collaboration with Fiat and the Italian, German and U.S. Air Force. They visited places he had been in the war. He was also able to pursue his passion of historic and cultural locations like Lascaux, Troy, Pompeii, Stonehedge, the Roman ruins of Rome and North Africa, as well as conducting extensive travels to Greece and Turkey. On his final project, he completed stress analysis drawings and designs for the F-117 “Nighthawk” stealth fighter, a development of the Have Blue technology demonstrator. The F-117 was the first operational aircraft to be designed around stealth technology. The maiden flight for the aircraft was conducted in 1981 and it achieved initial operating capability status in October 1983. The F-117 was finally revealed to the world in November 1988. Ernest had favorite projects which he considered himself fortunate to be involved with over the years. They were the C-130 Hercules, The Constellation (Connie), The Mercury Project, U2 (referred to as the Dragon Lady, originally flown by the Central Intelligence Agency), C-141 Starlifter, L-2000, a Supersonic Transport (SST), L-1011 Tri-Star, and the immense military transport C-5A Galaxy. He easily admitted a true fondness for the F- 104 Starfighter and stated, the Starfighter was the sleekest and most stylish aircraft ever designed. After his retirement in the mid-1980s, Ernest and his late wife, Bernice, resided along the Venice Canals in California, partnering in Los Angeles real estate speculation and travelling extensively. Influenced by the art work of Bernice and her mother, Blanche (Nathan) Hesslein who was a New York City painter, Ernest experimented in painting, drawing, ceramics, and stained glass by periodically taking art classes at a local college. Ernest Erickson passed away on June 7, 2013 in Santa Monica, California at the age of 90. He is survived by his son, Mark, of Oakland and Venice, California: nephews Michael, Nick (Alex), and Attas Boutrous of Bismarck, North Dakota, and Allan and Steven (Stella Carakasi & Lexi) Boutrous of Berkeley, California; many friends along the Venice Canals; and numerous cousins throughout the United States and Sweden. The next time you are flying, Ernest would enjoy it if you peer out the window to be amazed at the clouds and the heavens as you pass so quickly through the clear blue. As Lindbergh once said, Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 16:52:43 +0000
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