Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Didn't know he wrote a book

 


Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds


14 comments:

  1. Operation BOLO.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-I2mwMEd74

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  2. Excellent book about a true leader and great fighter pilot.

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    1. It's in my stack of stuff to read. When I found it, the first thing I did was look up a distant cousin who flew with him.
      ~ Doctor Weasel

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  3. Ed Rasimus is no slouch either, 250 missions in F-105s and F-4s.

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  4. Fun fact: one of Gore Vidal's "four step-brothers includ[ed] Robin Olds from his mother's third marriage to Robert Olds, a major general in the United States Army Air Forces". IIRC, Vidal said in his autobiography that they got along well. Ya wouldn'ta thunk it. Oh, he also was married to a movie star. What a life.

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  5. The little chickens on his collar means he's a cook.

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  6. Spent time volunteering with a man who flew under Olds when Olds was flying over North Vietnam. He didn't talk much about his experience except to say that he would have followed Olds to Hell if Olds had asked him to. This man did a full career in the Air force and flew many planes while serving. I asked him which plane was his favorite and he said that the Phantom II (F4). I asked why? He said that "because it never failed to bring me home from over North Vietnam."
    Dan Kurt
    P.S. His favorite plane to fly was the Northrop F-5.

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  7. Fantastic book. A graduate of West Point to become the commandant of cadets at the Air Force Academy.

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  8. The definition of a "true leader"!!!!! A great book!

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  9. Great Book. Amazing stories in it.

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  10. I served in the 8th under this incredible officer. When Tactical Air Command wouldn't approve his mission plan he just went ahead and did it anyway and the North Vienamese Air Force got slaughtered. He tricked them into believing that the aircraft they saw on their radar were really F 105s - but they were Phantoms. Hungry Phantoms. They came up to play and were very surprised. It was an incredible day for Tactical Air Command.

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  11. See the faces of those men carrying him? We all knew how much he cared about us.

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  12. His daughter and Rasimus finished the book after Olds' death. Rasimus himself died recently.

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