F-106 DELTA DART

Pilot, Commander 48th FIS Det 2.Also was the pilot who took the famous pictures of the flight of four 456th FIS Sixes over Lake Tahoe, NV.

His son Eric writes in Apr 2009: My father, Ret. Col. Charles E. Anonsen, flew the F-102 at the 317th FIS at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage Alaska from 1959-1963. My brother Marc and I were born there. His Commanding Officer was Joseph Rogers, who on December 15, 1959 (50 years ago next year!) broke the world single engine jet fighter speed record in a F-106 at 1,525 mph over an 11 mile long course to beat the Russians speed record. After Rogers set the record, which still stands today, he went to Anchorge to command the 317th FIS and patrol Russian airspace. There, he and my father became great friends as they flew together every day.After 4 years, Joe went back to testing jets at Edwards AFB in California, and was one of the first SR-71 pilots. Joe gave my father, who later gave to me and my brother, tie pins made from the titanium rotor blades from the engine of the SR-71. I still own that tie pin. After Anchorage we moved to Castle AFB and the 456th FIS from 1963-1966, where Dad was a flight commander and captain of the 1965 William Tell Team. Some of my best memories are playing baseball as a young boy in Atwater and seeing my dad take off with those yellow tailed F-106s. In 1966 we moved to Duluth, MN and joined the 11th FIS “Red Bulls”.Dad went to Viet Nam for a year as a FAC, flying an O2-A out of Ban Me Thuot, and came back and rejoined the 456th. We then moved on to Langley AFB, VA and the 48th FIS in 1970 and then to Homestead with the 2nd Detachment of the 48th FIS in 1972 where he was Squadron CO. I still have a picture of his F-106 on the tarmac next to Air Force One, and it’s signed by Richard Nixon!I’m sorry to say that my father’s health is deteriorating but he still has his F-102 and F-106 models and patch-board in his room at the ARC Retirement Facility in San Antonio where he and my mother live.