William “Bill” Dean was born in Minneapolis on April 18, 1920, the son of William J. and Mary Armstrong Dean. His family moved to Eden Prairie when he was twelve, and he graduated from Eden Prairie High School, where he lettered in basketball and baseball and played in the band. He earned his wings as a Marine Corps aviator in July 1941.
Bill served two combat tours in the Pacific flying the TBF Avenger torpedo bomber. At Guadalcanal in November 1942 he flew in the attacks that helped sink the battleship Hiei, and on February 1, 1943 he was wounded when a Japanese Zero riddled his plane, which he brought home safely. He was promoted to major at 23 and commanded Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 242 through Bougainville, Tinian and Iwo Jima, where it was the first Marine combat squadron based on the island.
After the war Bill resigned his commission to complete his education at Principia College, where he received further decorations for his wartime service. He became test pilot and an officer of the Helio Aircraft Corporation, whose safe, slow-flying Courier later served the U.S. armed forces. On January 30, 1954, caught in a snow squall near Concord, Massachusetts, he stayed with the airplane trying to save it and was killed. He was 33.
“Bill had a way of saving himself. He could have let the airplane settle… he would have been all right.”Dr. Lynn Bollinger, chairman of Helio Aircraft, 1954
Distinguished Flying Cross
Air Medal
Purple Heart