William (Bill) J. Crandall was born in Ada, Oklahoma in 1920 and retired in 1975 from the U.S. Air Force Reserves as a Brigadier General. His passion for aircraft developed as a teenaged maintenance worker at the Tulsa Commercial Airport where he received flying lessons in lieu of a paycheck. Bill attended Oklahoma A&M College for two years before entering the U.S. Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet in November 1941. Commissioned as second lieutenant in May 1942, he was a flight instructor for three years at Lemore Army Air Base, California. In 1947, Bill retired from active duty for the first time.
In 1948, Bill's father established International Engine Rebuild, a Garland Texas company rebuilding GMC engines; Bill flew aircraft regionally as its salesman. Additionally, at an adjacent pasture landing strip, Bill's commercial and instructor licenses enabled him to run a part-time flying school where he had two Luscome 8A 65HP side-by-side trainers and later the more powerful Stearman aircraft. In 1949, a new family venture manufactured brass mailboxes. Here, Bill would fly his mother regionally as she marketed the mailboxes. Finally, Crandall Engineering and Manufacturing Company in Irving, Texas manufactured B47 fuel spill-valve assemblies. In 1951, Bill rejoined the US military in the Air Force Reserves.
Since 1938, Bill has accrued 6,500 hours of flying time in both civilian (500 hours) and military (6,000 hours) aircraft. He was qualified on 30 different commercial (10) and military (20) aircraft having a wide range of capabilities. This diversity is exemplified by: a two cylinder 28 HP powered biplane (operational systems included tail-skid "brakes" and manual spark advance control similar to that of the Model T Ford); the Douglas C-124 Globemaster Heavy Lift Transport (4800HP total); the Lockheed C130 Hercules transport (T56 turbo-prop engines), F86-H Sabre Fighter Jet (introduced transonic speeds) and the Lockheed P38 Lightning with its distinctive twin boom fuselage and (2) 1500HP Allison engines.
Bill's U.S. Air Force biography can be located within: http://www.af.mil/information/bios/