Richard C. Sanders

Richard Condie Sanders (August 19, 1915 – September 20, 1976) was the youngest general officer in the history of the United States Air Force. Born in 1915, in Salt Lake City, Utah, he graduated from the University of Utah in 1937, with a Bachelor of Science degree, and was appointed a second lieutenant, Field Artillery Reserve on September 4, 1936, while still in college. He served on extended active duty from July 28, 1937, to June 30, 1938, and from July 5, 1938, to September 30, 1938. He then enlisted as a flying cadet on October 4, 1938, and, on completion of his training, was commissioned a second lieutenant, Air Reserve, on August 25, 1939. He was called to active duty the next day and was commissioned a second lieutenant, Air Corps, Regular Army, on July 1, 1940.

In July 1937, he was ordered to Fort Lewis, Washington, serving with the 10th Field Artillery as a battalion reconnaissance and supply officer. He was with the 5th Infantry Brigade on Civilian Conservation Corps duty at Camp Soda Springs, Yakima, Washington, from July to September 1938, when he began his primary flying training at Randolph Field, Texas. Upon graduation from the Air Corps Primary Flying School, he went to Kelly Field, Texas, for advanced training, and upon graduation from the Air Corps Advanced Flying School in September 1939, was assigned to Mitchell Field, Long Island, N.Y., as assistant squadron adjutant, 18th Reconnaissance Squadron. He later served at Langley Field, Virginia, and Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina, with the 18th Reconnaissance Squadron as intelligence and engineering officer. In February 1942, he was assigned to the Tenth Air Force at Patterson Field, Ohio, and Fort Myers, Florida.

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