William Staats Rader (formerly Raper) was born on May 21, 1914 in Wheeling, West Virginia, and enrolled in a pilot training program at the old Wittenberg College in Ohio. He left college to enlist in the Army Air Corps. He later completed the requirements at the University of Maryland for a degree in military science. He was a graduate of the Air War College.
Gen. Rader flew 17 reconnaissance flights over the Pacific during the Battle of Midway. He and his crew ditched their damaged plane 100 miles from Hawaii and clung to a half-inflated life raft in 30-foot seas for 18 hours before rescue.
He later was in the bomber group that raided locomotive works at Lille, France, in 1942. He and his crew flew 72 missions, usually as the lead plane, targeting ball-bearing plants, submarine pens, shipbuilding works, a foundry and aircraft factories, without losing a plane or a crewman. A tour of duty was considered complete at 25 missions.
He was assigned as Commanding Officer in the 303rd Bomb Group from October 29, 1944 to April 19, 1945.
In the early 1960s, he flew "Looking Glass" missions, which ensured that if the Strategic Air Command was destroyed, there was always a military plane aloft that would serve as a nuclear command post. He retired with 8,000 hours of flight time in B-17 Flying Fortresses and more than 10,000 hours of total flight time.
He retired to Alexandria in 1968 and operated a car rental business in the early 1970s. Later, he was a real estate investor and landlord for area commercial and rental properties.
He died of cardiac arrest on November 5, 2006, at the age of 89 and is now buried in the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA.
Source of information: www.findagrave.com
Source of image: 303rd Bomb group facebook page