Education
Hansell entered Sewanee Military Academy, near Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1916, where he acquired the lifelong nickname "Possum." Although his biographers offer a number of explanations behind the nickname, the most likely is that his facial features gave him the appearance of a possum. At Sewanee he developed a fondness for English literature. As a senior Hansell rose to cadet captain and developed a reputation as a martinet. His harshness with the Corps of Cadets, combined with an excessive number of demerits acquired while the school was temporarily quartered in Jacksonville, Florida, following a fire, led to his reduction to cadet private.
Partly as a result of this humiliation, Hansell declined an appointment to the United States Military Academy to attend the Georgia School of Technology, where he was a member of Sigma Nu. Despite problems understanding differential equations, and twice attempting to transfer to another school (which his father would not permit), he overcame his difficulties with complex mathematics and graduated in 1924 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering. While at Georgia Tech he participated in varsity football as a walk-on substitute, and boxing. Hansell was awarded Georgia Tech's highest individual recognition, membership in the ANAK Society.
From 1924 to 1928 he attempted without success to find employment as a civil engineer in California, where his father was now stationed. Instead he worked as an apprentice and journeyman boilermaker with the Steel Tank and Pipe Company in Berkeley, California. Advances in aviation in the 1920s led Hansell to undertake a career in aeronautical engineering, and to gain flying experience, he decided to join the United States Army Air Corps.
Read more about this topic: Haywood S. Hansell
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