Sterling Pile, Jr. - Airplane Commander was born in East Orange, New Jersey on June 6, 1915. At the age of four, he and his mother moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico and spent his years there. He moved back east to finish school, graduating from Pomfret School in June 1934. By-passing Yale, he went to work in Baltimore with Shell Oil Company. Later transferring to New York City, Brooklyn and Groton, Connecticut, which led to his promotion to District Manager for his area. Pile learned to fly at Tremball Field, Groton, Connecticut in early 1940. He volunteered for military service March 1941 and after basic training was assigned to Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama. In December of that year he began training as an Aviation Cadet. This training took him through a succession of stations including Gunter Field, Shaw, Orlando, Greenville and George Field in Indiana. In 1942, it was on to navigation school in Louisiana. After 3, 000 hours of navigational school there, Sterling was sent to Hobbs, New Mexico where he flew B-17's. Following an assignment in Texas, he finally wound up in Salina, Kansas in the 39th Bomb Group as P-32's airplane commander. After B-29 training there, P-32 moved with the rest of their Group to North Field, Guam.

Pile will never forget the unnerving experience of having to sign receipt for one million dollars ($1, 000, 000) before he could pick up his crew's aircraft from the factory. The word, responsibility, suddenly had a new and much more personal meaning for him.

After the signing of the Japanese surrender, Sterling flew back to Mather Field, California, then after a brief stay at Ft. Ord, was discharged from the service. He returned to New York and married Leila Chadbourne in September 1946. After resuming his job with Shell Oil Company, he became Aviation Representative for the New York Division. In 1962, reactivated Industrial Developments, a company established and run by his father until the latter's death.

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