By Seth Ahonen
Fighter pilot is an attitude. It is cockiness. It is aggressiveness. It is a streak of rebelliousness, and it is competitiveness. — Robin Olds
Born in July 1922 to Maj. Gen. Robert Olds, Robin spent the majority of his childhood at Langley Field in Virginia. Growing up around aviation legends like Eddie Rickenbacker, Carl Spaatz and more set in motion what would become the trajectory of his life; he became enthralled.
In 1940, Olds checked into West Point, where he played football on the varsity team. During this time, he was selected as an All-American. During the Army-Navy game of 1942, Robin’s two front teeth were knocked out, removing him from the game. Choosing to return with a vengeance, he located the culprit and proceeded to knock the dogshit out of him. Following the violent blow of justice, Robin leaned down and said, “How’d that feel, asshole?” He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1985.
In 1944, Robin deployed to RAF Wattisham, gettin’ it on with the Nazis over Western Europe. They flew mainly bomber escort missions as well as attack runs on supply vehicles. In June, Robin watched the Normandy landings from his P-38, a sight he would not soon forget.
A Combat Ace is Born
On August 14th Robin shot down his first aircraft, a German Fw-190. It would be the first of 13. Much can be said about Robin’s exploits in World War II, like the fact that he became an Ace on both tours and was the only pilot to do so in both the P-38 and the P-51. Olds is also credited with another 11.5 shoot downs that were destroyed on the ground; he flew 107 missions. Remarkably, he made major and took command of a squadron at 22 years old. Robin was quickly establishing himself among the best in the Air Force, so naturally, he was ordered to be an assistant football coach at West Point.
Robin wiggled out of it though and got back to a Fighter Group, where he and Lt. Col. John Herbst formed the first-ever AF fighter demo team. They performed air shows all over the country until Herbst died in a crash in April 1946.
In 1947, Robin married actress Ella Raines while stationed in California. Robin would accompany Ella on her film and TV sets where he became friends with the likes of John Wayne, Burt Lancaster and many more.
When the Korean War broke out Olds was a squadron commander under Air Defense Command, precluding him from the communist hunting festivities. He tried desperately to go to the show, but nothing would take. Numerous applications for reassignment were turned down to the point he decided he would leave the Air Force. He stayed in, but later found out that Ella had suffered a miscarriage in late 1950, induced by fear of Robin deploying, after which she and a friend lobbied, having every request Robin submitted denied.
Robin spent most of the 1950s in an uphill battle against the bomber generals who, after WWII, had taken over the Air Force. In the late ’50s while stationed at Wheelus Air Base, Libya, Robin noticed a complete lack of legitimate fighter training in the newer generation of pilots. A revelation that would soon prove to be fatal for many pilots.
1958 would bring a new assignment at the Pentagon. Throughout this time, Robin would rot in the basement, occasionally going upstairs just to be mocked by bomber generals and told that he was an outdated cowboy, that bombers were the future, fighters the past. Sadly, Robin wasn’t listened to and the Air Force paid for it in Vietnam. Not all of Robin’s time was for naught though. During his tenure, he and others gained over $6.5 billion for a secretive project that would go on to become the SR-71 Blackbird.
A Legendary ‘Stache
In September of 1966, Robin became the commander of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, “Wolfpack,” at Ubon Air Base, Thailand, flying missions into Vietnam. Robin immediately gained respect as a hands-on leader. While at Ubon, Robin became infamous for growing a notoriously out of regs mustache that would make Ron Burgundy himself jealous, citing that “it became the middle finger I couldn’t raise in PR photographs.”
Throughout his time there he would shoot down four MiGs, bringing his total to 17, making him a triple ace. Olds knew that if he shot down a fifth MiG or flew above 100 missions he would be sent home and used for publicity. So, despite ample opportunities, he never shot down that fifth MiG and ended up flying 152 missions, lying about the last 52. He masterminded Operation Bolo, tricking the Vietnamese radars into believing their F-4s were 105s and shooting down nine MiGs, crippling the NVA’s Air Force. Upon landing from his last mission, he was hoisted up onto his men’s shoulders, all cheering and carried into the officer’s club.
After returning home from Thailand and being ordered to shave by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Robin became the commandant of cadets at the Air Force Academy. Upon arrival he was met by practically everyone wearing fake mustaches, to which he responded with a middle finger. They also surprised him with four red MiG stars on his black leather chair like those painted on his F-4.
Throughout this time, he enforced his moral code, honesty and integrity above all else. His middle finger made a few more appearances too, most notably at a dinner between Annapolis and the Air Force Academy just before the Air Force-Navy game, where in response to an unruly Navy crowd he stood up and flipped off everyone.
He then worked for the Inspector General and returned to Southeast Asia in 1971 to assess fighter crews, and as one does when strolling through Southeast Asia, he flew a few unauthorized combat missions too. Robin decided to retire after his offer to give up his rank to go back to Vietnam was declined.
Robin was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2001 and passed away from cancer in 2007. A man who genuinely embodied what he believed it meant to be a fighter pilot.
