Cliff Anderson Memorial

Cliff was born in White Earth Village, North Dakota, moved with his family to Yankton, South Dakota and spent his early years dreaming of flying. When the Anderson family moved to Southern California, Cliff got his chance. He soloed in 1929, at the age of 16 at the Santa Ana Airport, formerly known as Eddie Martin Airport. He followed the excitement of flying as a career by flying WWI replicas and camera aircraft for Hollywood movies and television shows. Eventually he became involved with crop dusting as “there was more money in it.” He began Anderson’s Flying Service in Hanford in 1966, and first began to build aircraft and frequent airshows. He sold his crop dusting business in 1974 devoting more time to airshows and completing two “home-builts,” a monoplane and the 16 foot 900 pound Starduster he used in thrilling airshow fans.

It was the Starduster, though not considered an aerobatic aircraft, that Cliff, “The Flying Grandfather of Hanford” was flying on August 28, 1976 at the Fifth Annual Gathering of War Birds at Chandler Airfield, Fresno. The Starduster went up steeper and steeper, responding to Cliff ’s precise touch on the controls. Partially hidden by colored smoke, he began a vertical snap roll, but then the airplane fell onto its back, entering an inverted spin, also known as a “death spiral.” The airplane spun once, twice, three times. The crowd applauded their appreciation, then slowly a hush fell over the onlookers as a feeling caught that something might be wrong. Knowledgeable pilots knew something definitely was wrong. They watched helplessly as the airplane spun closer and closer to the ground, hoping that this act was part of Cliff’s routine, others saw control surfaces responding and heard the 135 hp engine begin to scream in response to Cliff’s demand for power. Shouts began for him to pull out...but to no avail. At approximately 1448 hours, Saturday, August 28, 1976, Cliff Anderson’s ill-fated Starduster spun inverted into an open field on-Chandler Airfield and burst into flames. The 62 year old airshow hero was dead on impact. He was said to be one of the finest natural pilots around and was idolized by pilots both young and old