Olds turned his flight left and began a ten-minute pursuit in which they climbed to altitude above and behind the Germans. He said "It sounds like an exaggeration but I managed to pull out, right above this wheat field near the town of Rostock." The mustache became my silent last word in the verbal battleswith higher headquarters on rules, targets, and fighting the war. Upon reaching the denser air at lower altitudes he regained control of his P-38 and pulled up. 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. He was a "triple ace", with a combined total of 16 victories in World War II and the Vietnam War. 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. He continued attacking in "dead-stick mode", hitting his target in the fuselage and shooting off part of its engine cowling. In contrast, todays sedate, sober young professionals are superbly educated, highly competent, and terrified that they might say something that somebody would find objectionable. Robin Olds (1922-2007) was a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot. But partly because his manner of defiant individualism was a thorn in the side of superiors, he was unsuccessful in efforts to be assigned to Korea, and did not return to combat for 22 years. While he knew that he would be capable of effectively using them, he was also aware that none of his pilots were trained in the use of a gun or dogfighting. Robin Olds [1] (July 14, 1922 - June 14, 2007) was an American fighter pilot and general officer in the U.S. Air Force. (later Maj. Gen.) Robert Olds and his wife Eloise, who died when Robin was four. Shifting to Smiths Eastern Air Defense Command, Olds languished in several staff assignments until receiving an assignment to the 86th Fighter-Interceptor Wing at Landstuhl Air Base, Germany in 1955. Col Olds had several general assemblies with the support staff and they were always motivational. At a time when the Air Force was focused on nuclear strategy, General Olds argued for strengthening conventional warfare capabilities. This done, Olds was posted to the 479th Fighter Groups 434th Fighter Squadron with orders for Britain. [18] At the age of 12, Olds made attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point an objective to accomplish his goals of becoming an officer and a military aviator, as well as playing football. After bagging another MiG-21 on May 4, Olds shot down two MiG-17s on the 20th to raise his total to 16, including the four MiGs over Vietnam. Robert Olds had asked his son the status of the U.S. Air Force and got a detailed debriefing on whats wrong with the service. Because do you know what that is? As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. [24] In the ArmyNavy Game of 1942, which was played at Annapolis instead of Philadelphia, Olds had both upper front teeth knocked out when he received a forearm blow to the mouth while making a tackle. He pulled behind the two FW-190s and at 400 yards behind the trailing plane, he fired a six-second burst, hitting the left wing and then pulling his gunfire onto the fuselage. He was an All-Star player for the West Point Academy football team, a husband and father of two daughters. An enemy round tore a hole the size of a basketball in his right wing, but the fire went out and he made it home. Olds had administrative and staff duty assignments at the Pentagon between 1958 and 1962 as the Deputy Chief, Air Defense Division, Headquarters USAF. In 1946, while based at March Field, Olds met Hollywood actress (and pin-up girl) Ella Raines on a blind date in Palm Springs. He was a stepbrother of famed author, Gore Vidal. Despite his MiG-killing fame, he was perhaps proudest of the strike against North Vietnams best-defended target: Thai Nguyen steel mill. Robyn Brown was in the credits for just one show. It was a long list. Olds, then 84years old, appeared as a commentator. Turning his attention to the second plane, he did not see the first one hit the ground. 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. His mother, Eloise, died when he was 4. What to do? He was commissioned on June 1, 1943, and completed his pilot training later that year. [101], We weren't allowed to dogfight. [68], Olds was assigned to command the 71st Fighter Squadron, which was soon detached from the 1st FG to the Air Defense Command and based at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport in Pennsylvania. For his part, Olds was not upset with the order, recalling: To tell the truth, I wasn't all that fond of the damned thing by then, but it had become a symbol for the men of the 8th Wing. After damaging one of the jets in a chase meant to lure the fighter escort away from the bombers, the Mustangs returned to the bomber stream. His initial twin-engine training at Williams Field, Arizona, was in the Curtiss AT-9, followed by transition fighter training[35] to the Lockheed P-38 Lightning in its P-322 variant. The son of an Army Air Corps general, Robin Olds (July 14, 1922 - June 14, 2007) is best known as a Triple Ace combat pilot who was willing to break a few rules to get the job done. Two weeks later, on May 20, he destroyed two MiG-17s in what one of his pilots described as a "vengeful chase" after they shot down his wingman during a large dogfight,[90] bringing his total to 16confirmed kills (12 in World War II and four in Vietnam) and making him a triple ace. [93], His 259total combat missions included 107 in World War II and 152 in Southeast Asia, 105 of those over North Vietnam. American Military Serviceperson Robin Olds was born Robert Oldys, Jr. on 14th July, 1922 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA and passed away on 14th Jun 2007 Steamboat Springs, Colorado, United States aged 84. He retired in 1973 as a brigadier general. [50], The 479th FG converted to the P-51 Mustang in mid-September. The oldest of four, Olds spent the majority of his childhood at Langley Field, Virginia where his father was stationed as an aide to Brig. Robin Olds was an American fighter pilot and general officer in the United States Air Force. Robin Olds, known for his brash personality, became an endearing figure thanks to his leadership, forward-thinking in aerial warfare and love for fellow Air Force pilots. Robin Roberts is an anchor on ABC's Good Morning America. 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. Dubbing his P-38J aircraft the Scat II (every fighter he flew in combat was named Scat and numbered sequentially), Olds worked closely with his crew chief to learn about aircraft maintenance. Olds was placed on one year probation, and ordered to pay almost $900in fines and costs, attend an alcohol education course, and perform 72hours of community service. (1936), born from his father's third marriage to Helen Post Sterling and an older maternal half-brother, Carter Nott (19191998), born from his mother's first marriage to Frederick Dickson Nott. [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. ", David Hartman, Aviation writer and original host of Good Morning America. He also insisted his aircraft be waxed to reduce air resistance and helped his maintenance crew carry out their tasks. [104][105], Robin Olds' ribbons as they appeared at retirement. [94][95], Olds was known for the extravagantly waxed (and decidedly non-regulation) handlebar moustache he sported in Vietnam. September 26, 2022 by John Groove. Olds toured USAF bases in Thailand (flying several unauthorized combat missions in the process) and brought back a blunt assessment. [106], In 1968, Olds received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. Angela Bassett won big at this year's 2023 NAACP Image Awards.As she was accepting the Entertainer of the Year award, the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star showed love to Ariana DeBose's viral rap from the BAFTA Awards when she accepted her Entertainer of the Year award.Angela said, "I guess Angela Bassett did the thing!" Angela also won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Film . It was more about people he knew.. He brought three-year-old Robin with him to court, dressed in an Air Service uniform, and posed with him for newspaper photographers before testifying. He really was "larger than life." His father Robert was an aviation pioneer from the WW I era so the boy grew up in the company of airpower greats like Hap Arnold, Billy Mitchell, and Tooey Spaatz. Olds and Herbst performed a two-ship aerobatic routine that thrilled the crowds at every stop, the highlight being a three-day layover in Washington, D.C. This training ended a year later by Christmas 1942. [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. The fact that his book remains unfinished represents a major loss to aviation literature. Most everybody grew a mustache. As children in Manchester, Gibb and his brothers began committing crimes such . 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]. 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. Pataky addressed the hit tune . He went through the normal in-processing routine like any other newbie, paid close attention and spoke little. "[99] Returning home, however, marked the end of this flamboyance. Please check back often for the newest additions. Recently the ABC anchor revealed that she was "grateful for all of her co-stars" in an Instagram post that showed her receiving a major "honor" from the National Press Foundation. 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. Think about it, before you give one. Retiring to Steamboat Springs, CO, he became active in public affairs. 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". Apparently resented by many on the staff for his rapid rise in rank and plethora of combat decorations,[61] Olds transferred in February 1946 to the 412th Fighter Group at March Field, California, to fly the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, which began a career-long professional struggle with superiors he viewed as more promotion- than warrior-minded. He flew with his father aboard an open cockpit biplane when he was just eight years old. Olds and Ella Raines separated in 1975 and divorced in 1976. 39 Robin Olds Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO 39 Robin Olds Premium High Res Photos Browse 39 robin olds stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Is an anchor on ABC & # x27 ; s Good Morning America P-38 and up! 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