Neil R. Anderson 1933-2006

              Neil Anderson was a longtime air race and air show pilot, and one of the original partners of Trojan Phlyers, Inc. A mentor to many a fledgling pilot, he set a gold standard in aviation, specifically in air shows and air racing. Neil was deeply involved in air racing since the late 1970’s and raced in numerous air races to include competing at the Reno National Championship where in 1983 he won the prestigious Reno Unlimited Gold Championship in “Dreadnaught”, a Hawker Sea Fury. Neil worked extensively as a chief test pilot on many aviation projects accumulating over 15,000 flight hours in more than 200 different aircraft.

After graduating from St. Louis University in 1961 with a degree in aeronautical engineering, Neil’s flying career started as a Marine Corps aviator flying Douglas AD-5 Sky Raiders and Grumman F9Fs. He moved from active duty to the Marine Corps Reserve (from which he retired in 1974 as a Lieutenant Colonel after serving as Commanding Officer of VFMJ-4) where he continued flying in F8 Crusaders while also working for Convair designing Atlas missile silos. Later he worked for Chrysler Corporation’s Space Division as a rocket design engineer on the Saturn 1B, then on to NASA where he trained astronauts. Finally in 1967 he joined General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) where he was a test pilot on the F-111 program and one of two chief test pilots on the F-16 program. Neil retired in 1996 as a Director of International Marketing having flown the F-16 at hundreds of air shows around the world.

            Additionally, Neil served as a FAA designated flight examiner in the T28, T33, F86, and other aircraft. He is survived by his wife, Jean, his three adult sons, Ken, David, and Chuck, and an extended family. It would be hard to put in to words the many and varied contributions that Neil made to aviation, suffice it to say that aviation lost a great pilot when Neil left us. His legacy lives on through the pilots of Trojan Phlyers that he trained so well, and the T28 aircraft that he worked so hard to restore and maintain.

 God speed Neil.