WILLIAM G. STEPHENSON, III, 1LT, USAF

William Stephenson, III '51

Date of birth: March 13, 1929

Date of death: April 10, 1953

Age: 24

Lucky Bag

From the 1951 Lucky Bag:

William G. Stephenson, III

St. Louis, Missouri

"Happy Times" Steve came a long way to us from St. Louis. . . the city of "beautiful femmes" ... an ardent fan of dancing . . . likes his partners savvy, small, and informal . . . but a career in the air is his passion ... a walking encyclopedia of aircraft old and new . . . has designed and constructed numerous model speedsters which due to circumstances beyond his control seem to have trouble becoming airborne . . . Russian proved to be his only stumbling block in the Academic field, but unlike Napoleon, he finally mastered the subject during youngster year and has starred ever since ... fighting spirit combined with unfailing good judgment should prove to be the outstanding factors in Steve's success in all he does.

He was also a member of the 23rd Company staff (fall).

William G. Stephenson, III

St. Louis, Missouri

"Happy Times" Steve came a long way to us from St. Louis. . . the city of "beautiful femmes" ... an ardent fan of dancing . . . likes his partners savvy, small, and informal . . . but a career in the air is his passion ... a walking encyclopedia of aircraft old and new . . . has designed and constructed numerous model speedsters which due to circumstances beyond his control seem to have trouble becoming airborne . . . Russian proved to be his only stumbling block in the Academic field, but unlike Napoleon, he finally mastered the subject during youngster year and has starred ever since ... fighting spirit combined with unfailing good judgment should prove to be the outstanding factors in Steve's success in all he does.

He was also a member of the 23rd Company staff (fall).

Loss

Steve was lost when the F-47 Thunderbolt he was piloting went missing over eastern Lake Ontario on April 10, 1953; he was flying a training mission from Niagara Falls AFB. He was a member of the 47th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

In 1945, William was a student at Georgia Military Academy in College Park, Georgia.
On June 15, 1946, William was best man at his mother’s second marriage to Bennett Stephenson, the brother of her first husband.
William attended Air Force flight training school at Columbus AFB, Mississippi, and received his wings at Reese AFB, Texas, in 1952.
Per Medford Mail Tribune, April 12, 1953: He was last heard from at 10:21 a.m. on April 10, 1953, when he made a routine radio check while on a training flight from the Niagara Falls Air Force base. He had fuel for one hour. Two other pilots were flying with him but lost sign of him eight miles northeast of Olcott, New York. Gusty 50-mile-an-hour winds and rough water prevailed at the time.
The Post-Star, Glen Falls, New York, April 11, 1953: … returning search pilots said gale force winds whipped waves 20 feet high on the lake.

From The Eugene Guard on April 26, 1953:

1ST LT. WILLIAM G. STEPHENSON III. 47th Fighter Interceptor Squadron pilot at Niagara Falls Municipal Airport, N.Y., has been appointed to the Graduate School at Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. Lieutenant Stephenson was awarded a Guggenheim grant for graduate study in jet propulsion. Only 12 such grants are awarded annually. Stephenson is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Bennett Stephenson…

This appointment had been made April 9th, the day before he was lost.

William's father was a 1925 graduate of West Point; he was killed in action at Dieppe, France, on the doomed raid there in 1942. William was survived by his mother, Charlotte. One of his uncles was a West Point '38 graduate.