Poor weather caused a 24-hour delay, but even then, a solid overcast covered the North Vietnamese airbases at Phc Yn, Gia Lam, Kp, and Cat Bai when the bogus strike force began arriving over the target area, five-minute intervals separating the flights of F-4s. After her fathers death, Christina spent years combing through her fathers notes, diaries and unfinished memoir to complete a captivating, intimate memoir of the consummate fighter pilot. It was a common superstition among airmen to grow a "bulletproof mustache",[96][97] but Olds also used his as "a gesture of defiance. She tells what happened on her yearlong sex . At a time when the Air Force was focused on nuclear strategy, General Olds argued for strengthening conventional warfare capabilities. He was a "triple ace", with a combined total of 16 victories in World War II and the Vietnam War. General Olds, who in the course of a long career flew 65 kinds of military planes, almost perfectly filled the role of hotshot flier. When the MIGs responded by attacking what seemed to be F-105s, the F-4s downed seven of them. Advertisement. That made him one of very few that have recovered from a compressibility event. [79] Olds rewarded Kirk by granting him a transfer to his command in Thailand in March 1967. [32] Olds received his pilot's wings personally from Gen. Henry H. Arnold on May 30, 1943,[33] and graduated on June 1 as a member of the Class of June 1943, 194th in general merit of 514 graduates. 1 Squadron at Royal Air Force Station Tangmere between October 20, 1948, and September 25, 1949,[61] the first foreigner to command an RAF unit in peacetime. He continued attacking in "dead-stick mode", hitting his target in the fuselage and shooting off part of its engine cowling. Despite her impressively long resume, she'll probably always be best remembered for her role in . [73], Most of their 29-year marriage, marked by frequent extended separations and difficult homecomings, was turbulent because of a clash of lifestyles,[113] particularly her refusal to ever live in government housing on base. Gen. Robin Olds once said his magnificent mustache represented his defiance. In June, Olds was one of four pilots who participated in the first one-day, dawn-to-dusk, transcontinental round trip jet flight from March Field to Washington, D.C.[66], The jet demonstration performances with Herbst ended tragically on July 4, 1946, when Herbst crashed at the Del Mar Racetrack after his aircraft stalled during an encore of their routine finale in which the P-80s did a loop while configured to land. Legendary fighter pilot Robin Olds dies Published June 15, 2007 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) -- Legendary fighter pilot, retired Brig. Following a low-level bridge-bombing mission to Montmirail, France, on August 14, Olds shot down his first German aircraft, a pair of Focke-Wulf Fw 190s. He retired in 1973 as a brigadier general. U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Robin Olds (July 14, 1922-June 14, 2007), son of Army Air Corps Major General Robert Olds, is a Triple Ace fighter pilot who flew combat missions in WWII and Vietnam. The class originally designated the Class of 1943 graduated January 19, 1943, as the, Had Olds completed the standard four-year Academy course, he would have been compelled by his height to become a bomber pilot after the AAF imposed height limitations on new fighter pilots to 5'08" [1.73m] or shorter in early 1944. . After brief service at Shaw AFB in South Carolina, Olds was given command of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base. (Five kills are needed to become an ace.) He says "I went on into the fight, got another one, BE (His wing man) got two others with one pass. Very little attention was paid to strafing, dive-bombing, rocketry, stuff like that. Susan Bird Olds was born March 12, 1953 in Cornwall, New York to parents Robin Olds and Ella Raines. [117] On July 12, 2001, Olds was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and resisting arrest near his home in Steamboat Springs. On August 11, Olds conducted a strike on the Paul Doumer Bridge in Hanoi. A triple ace, he achieved a combined total of 16 victories in the Second World War and the Vietnam War. As a result, he missed service in the Korean War despite repeated applications for a combat assignment. 208 cadets including Olds completed the course, while five classmates died in accidents. Yet every confrontation America faced in the Cold War years was a 'bombs and bullets' situation, raging under an uneasy nuclear standoff." Olds observed a Bf 109 of Sonderkommando Elbe attack the bombers and shoot down a B-24. Robin Olds [1] (July 14, 1922 - June 14, 2007) was an American fighter pilot and general officer in the U.S. Air Force. Robin is also best known as, U.S. Air Force fighter pilot who served in both World War II and the Vietnam War. Despite his MiG-killing fame, he was perhaps proudest of the strike against North Vietnams best-defended target: Thai Nguyen steel mill. Gen. Billy Mitchell. and a leading advocate of strategic bombing in the Air Corps. His first wife, Miss Raines, a favorite pinup girl of the era, died in 1988. In 1925 when he was only three, he accompanied his father to Mitchells famed court-martial. The kids on base loved it. Returning to Europe in January 1945, he was promoted to Major the following month on February 9, and received his seventh aerial victory the same day, using his P-51Ds new K-14 gunsight to calculate the deflection and hit a Bf-109 at 450 yards over Magdeburg with his first burst, a result that surprised even Maj. Olds. To protect the F-4s, rules of engagement that allowed the MiG Combat Air Patrol to escort the strike force in and out of the target area were revised in December to restrict MiGCAP penetration to the edge of SAM coverage. [53], After returning to the United States for a two-month leave, Olds began a full second tour at Wattisham on January 15, 1945. Just as Olds began firing, both engines of his P-38 quit from fuel exhaustion; in the excitement of the attack he had neglected to switch to his internal fuel tanks. His father, Maj. Gen. Robert Olds, a World War I combat pilot who helped devise the United States air-power strategy, reared him as a single parent. I tried to contact the flight to get myself recognized, but observed an Me 109 making a pass at me from about seven o'clock high. Robin Olds was born in Honolulu, HI on July 14, 1922. Olds used to say that the two best things about World War II were London and Col. Zemke. Follow-up interceptions over the next two days by MiGs against RF-4C reconnaissance aircraft led to a similar mission on a smaller scale on January 6, with another two MiG-21s shot down. On February 14, he claimed three victories, two Bf 109s and an Fw 190, but one of the former was credited only as a "probable". Robin Olds[2] (July 14, 1922 June 14, 2007) was an American fighter pilot and general officer in the United States Air Force (USAF). Robin taught her to drive on the Academy grounds and ride horses at the equestrian center. What he valued most was the courage and skill of his aircrews. He considered it a dangerously wasteful effort, as the mill had been hit repeatedly, but its smokestacks had remained standing. [19], His father was made commander of the pioneer Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress equipped 2nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field on March 1, 1937, and promoted to lieutenant colonel on March 7. As he wryly noted long afterward, When I shot down my first two airplanes I was relieved to see that they had black crosses on their wings.. Robin Gibb left behind $35 million in his estate for his wife Dwina Gibb and kids Robin . He remained in this role for much of the Korean War despite repeated requests for combat duty. Five P-51s made a pass on the airdrome that April day. When the leaders were only interested in suiting up, he exercised some initiative. He retired in 1973 as a brigadier general, after 30 years of service. [88], The Bolo plan reasoned that by equipping F-4s with jamming pods, using the call signs and communications codewords of the F-105 wings, and flying their flight profiles through northwest Vietnam, the F-4s could effectively simulate an F-105 bombing mission and entice the MiG-21s into intercepting not bomb-laden Thunderchiefs, but Phantoms configured for air-to-air combat. He had . [101], We weren't allowed to dogfight. The free-wheeling environment at Ubon fueled morale, and the Wolfpacks was stratospheric. The Air Force said the cause was congestive heart failure. He was idolized by many people throughout his life, most of all by his family. Compute answers using Wolfram's breakthrough technology & knowledgebase, relied on by millions of students & professionals. Gen. Robin Olds, a World War II fighter ace who became an aviation legend by commanding the Air Force wing that shot down seven MIGs over North Vietnam in the biggest air battle of the. Mar 11, 2023 5th Maryland Regiment at Washington's Tomb $125. Robin Olds was a "triple ace" American fighter pilot with a combined total of 17 victories in World War II and the Vietnam War. Upon reaching the denser air at lower altitudes he regained control of his P-38 and pulled up. WASHINGTON -- Robin Olds, an Air Force brigadier general who was a flamboyant legend of military aviation as a fighter pilot in World War II and Vietnam, died Thursday at his home in Steamboat. [73] In this assignment he prepared a number of papers, iconoclastic at the time, which soon became prophetic, including identifying the need for upgraded conventional munitions (foretelling the "bomb shortage" of the Vietnam War), and the lack of any serious tactical air training in conventional warfare. From 1967 to 1971, he was commandant of cadets at the Air Force Academy. He was popular for being a War Hero. He was not happy. But his report and analysis were not well received, and his recommendations were ignored. As a Colonel, I had to check with some general for permission to visit the latrine., Unlike many pilots who regarded airplanes as tools, Olds could be sentimental about his machines. His instructor was Major William L. Kirk, the 4453rd CCTW's Standardization and Evaluation officer, who had been one of Olds' pilots at RAF Bentwaters, and who later commanded the United States Air Forces Europe as a full general. His Air Force Cross Citation reads: [56][57] South of Bremen, Olds noticed contrails popping up above a bank of cirrus clouds, of aircraft flying above and to the left of the bombers. They married in Beverly Hills on February 6, 1947, and had two daughters, Christina and Susan, and a son, Robert Ernest, who was stillborn in 1958. With the end of this assignment in late 1949, Olds became the operations officer for the F-86 Sabre-equipped 94th Fighter Squadron at March Field in California. En route he arranged with the 4453rd Combat Crew Training Wing, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, (where Col. James was now Deputy Commander of Operations) to be checked out in the Phantom, completing the 14-step syllabus in just five days. Olds took to the air war over North Vietnam in an F-4C Phantom he nicknamed "Scat XXVII", in keeping with his previous combat aircraft that all carried the "Scat" name.[87]. That made him shutter into a high speed stall, the air combat equivalent of locking the brakes. Olds did not want to live in that world. To make a wonderfully long story short, they lost.. ChristinaOlds is the daughter of Robin Olds, an Americanfighter pilotand general officer in theU.S. Air Force. He is most remembered for 16 victories in World War II and the Vietnam War. He nursed his crippled Mustang back to base but found that it stalled at 175 mph, rolling violently. Robin's oldest daughter, Susan lead off the remembrances with stories of being a teenager living at the Academy while Robin was Commandant of Cadets for 3 years. He is also remembered for his extravagantly waxed and non-regulation handlebar moustache he wore during his tour in Southeast Asia,. As a young man he was also recognized for his athletic prowess in both high school and college, being named anAll-Americanas a lineman incollege football. Raised mostly in Washington D.C., England and Colorado, she graduated from Vassar College with a BA in English/Creative Writing in 1974 and spent 25 years living in San . Olds was also selected as an All-American as the cadets compiled a 63 record, beating Lafayette College, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, VMI, and Princeton, and falling to Notre Dame, Penn, and Navy. The infraction reduced him in rank from cadet captain to cadet private, characterized by Olds in his memoirs as "only the second cadet in the history of West Point to earn that dubious honor. He found what he feared: most Air Force fighter crews couldnt fight their way out of a wet paper bag. Commander John Nichols, a Navy MiG killer brought to Udorn, Thailand to teach dogfighting to the Air Force blue suits, saw Olds taxi his F-4 into the chocks after a practice mission. Olds was a team player as long as the team wanted to play. Anyone can read what you share. Robin Olds was born on the 14th of July, 1922. On his second transition flight, at the point of touchdown during landing, Olds learned a lesson in "false confidence" when the powerful torque of the single-engined fighter forced him to ground loop after the Mustang veered off the runway. Required fields are marked *. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, he received an assignment to report to the West Coast for training on P-38 Lightnings. Olds toured USAF bases in Thailand (flying several unauthorized combat missions in the process) and brought back a blunt assessment. (later Maj. Gen.) Robert Olds and his wife Eloise, who died when Robin was four. My left window blew out, scaring the hell out of me. Olds expressed his philosophy regarding fighter pilots in the quote: There are pilots and there are pilots; with the good ones, it is inborn. He passed right over me and I slipped over in an Immelmann. But teach me fast and teach me good, because Im a quick learner.. The son of U.S. Army Air Forces Major General Robert Olds, educated at West Point, and the product of an upbringing in the early years of the U.S. Army Air Corps, Olds epitomized the youthful World War II fighter pilot. But his greatest moment came on Jan. 2, 1967, when, as a colonel, he created an aerial trap for enemy MIGs. He also insisted his aircraft be waxed to reduce air resistance and helped his maintenance crew carry out their tasks. He had earlier been treated for prostate cancer. His inability to rise higher as a general officer is attributed to both his maverick views and his penchant for drinking.[4]. He is survived by two daughters, Christina Olds of Vail, Colo., and Susan Scott-Risner of North Bend, Wash.; a half-brother, Fred Olds of Virginia Beach; and a granddaughter, Jennifer Newman of Santa Monica, Calif. General Olds once said his magnificent mustache represented his defiance. 1 Squadron at RAF Tangmere and flew the Gloster Meteor. He retired in 1973 as a brigadier general. He was a "triple ace", with a combined total of 16 victories in World War II and the Vietnam War. 6/15/2007 - U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) -- Legendary fighter pilot, retired Brig. 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