Christina Olds - Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds

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Contents

To the warriors who go forth to find and defeat our nations enemies, those Ive shared the skies with, those Ive known over the years, and those who hopefully will follow the tradition in years to come: American fighter pilots

Acknowledgments

I had the great joy and privilege of living with my father as he neared the end of his life. He spoke often about his unfinished memoirs and was adamant that no one would put words in his mouth. When I promised to compile his writings and complete his book, he pointed that famous Robin Olds lecture finger at me and asked if I knew what I was getting into. I innocently replied, Of course! Silly me. During the final weeks of his illness, I gathered multiple boxes of diaries, military documents, films, letters, interviews, articles, and photographs and brought them to a workspace around his old green leather recliner in the living room. We sat for hours on end talking about his life, what it had all meant to him, what he hoped he had given to the people who had given so much to him. To the stack of his written memoirs he added tales of events that he hadnt committed to paper. I took notes, asked questions, labeled photographs, and reminded him his favorite jokes wouldnt make it into print. We laughed a lot. The day after finally admitting he was tired, he died peacefully in my arms. There are no words to describe what a gift my father was to my life and what an honor it is to carry out his last orders.

Friends from all over the world rallied to Robins side during his last months, and these same wonderful people continued as my guardian angels through the long year it took me to finish his memoirs. I am grateful to all of them. Without question, my deepest love and thanks go to Thomas Rex Ingram. His unwavering love, support, and belief in me enabled this book to be written. My father said Rex would have made a hell of a fighter pilot. He was right.

Offers of assistance and guidance came from dozens of people as I wove my way through the chronological events of Robins incredible life. Right from the start, I knew Id need expert help and was lucky beyond belief to find Ed Rasimus. Ed patiently kept me in formation and on target. Mission accomplished. For stories of Robins childhood through West Point, Uncle Fred Olds, Margaret McNeil, and my dads lifelong best friend, Benjamin B. Cassiday, provided invaluable insight. Woody Woodward introduced my father to my mother back in his P-80 days and Im certain spared me half the stories. My sister Susan helped me reconstruct our lives as air force brats, my daughter Jennifer helped me whip boxes of loose papers into chronological order, Morgan Olds Hundley filled in gaps, Kate Sheldon assisted with transcription, and Candi Garrison held me together on weekly hikes. What a team!

General Bill Kirk was my go-to guy for Wheelus through Vietnam. J. B. Stone, Bob Pardo, Doc Broadway, Ruby Gilmore, Gerald Finton, Dave Waldrop, Joe Kittinger, and many others from 81st TFW, the 8th Tac Fighter Wing, and the River Rats kept me on track through Vietnam. Enduring thanks and admiration to each of them. Air Force Academy stories were contributed by Ed Eberhart, H. Ownby, John Young, Fred Strauss, Mike Dunn, Darrell Whitcomb, and Nino Balducci. May your high jinks remind USAFA cadets that all work and no play do not an air force officer make.

This manuscript would not have been possible without reading through many historic reports, biographies, squadron logs, magazine and newspaper articles, interviews, official reports, books, letters, meeting transcripts, speeches, and tributes to Robin written through the years by the likes of Walter Boyne, Bob Titus, J. B. Stone, Barrett Tillman, Scrappy Johnson, Lars Anderson, Ted Sturm, Mark Berent, Ralph Wetterhahn, Bob Ettinger, Ron Catton, Mike Faber, Lou Drendel, and so many, many more. What an education Ive had. Special thanks go to History Channel producer Cynthia Harrison for capturing Robins antics just in time, to General Bob Earthquake Titus for proofing and commenting along the way, and to the able staff of St. Martins Press, especially Marc Resnick, for bringing my fathers story back where he wanted itwith his fellow fighter pilots.

To my brothers Tom and Joe Abbott, Fred and Candi Garrison, Mike and Linda Curzon, I. J. and Carol Fisher, Jack and Anita McEncroe, Ron and Alice Lewis, Jack and Marit Perkins, Verne and Nancy Lundquist, Ron Sluggo Torgler, and the whole Aspenosium gang for taking good care of the old man of the mountain, an enormous THANK YOU . And to Tony E. T. Murphy for pulling off the greatest missing-man formation anyone has ever seen, deepest thanks for taking Robin back up into the wild blue.

Lead is gone on the wings of love.

Christina Olds

December 2008

Preface

There is only one witness to a life. That is the person who lived it. No one else will ever know the totality of that life. A wife may bond completely with her spouse, but she sees only those portions of the man that theyve shared. A family may think they know their siblings, but the thoughts within are the individuals alone. Close friends can sit comfortably in silence with each other, but the events past and the experiences outside the friendship can be understood only by the man himself. We show many different faces to the people around us.

Biographers inevitably fail if their objective is to tell the story of the whole man. We are fortunate in this instance because this isnt a biography. This is the chronicle of a life in the words of the man himself. Many of us knew Robin. Some knew him in childhood, some as classmates, others as military superiors or subordinates, still others as friends. Each saw a facet of the life, but without the writings and insights of Robin himself there would be no picture of the whole man.

I spoke with Robin several years ago, and we discussed his obligation to get his story from his own personal perspective into a book. I asked him if I could help himedit his story, ghostwrite it if necessary, or simply help him to get it to a publisher. He was getting older and his story couldnt die with him. His reply to my overture was classic Robin.

Ive already written it. Its taken care of. Ive done it already. Somehow I harbored doubts about that. I asked him if I could read it and help him to get it ready for publication. He confirmed my suspicions when he replied that it wasnt quite ready for that yet. To punctuate the conversation he gave me the glare, which told me Id best tread carefully, friend or not. Nobodys going to put words in my mouth, either.

No doesnt always mean no, and the story was too important to let languish. Every time I encountered him, I brought up the book again. I spoke with other close friends of his, Bob Titus, Bill Sparks, Les Pritchard, Jack McEncroe, Stan Goldstein, about his memoir. Jack said he had seen parts of it, at least rough notes. He described it as a jumble of bits and pieces, scattered here and there, jotted down over the years. I asked him to prevail upon Robin to get it moving. The whole group agreed with me, but Robin continued to procrastinate. The story went that even Gen. Chuck Horner had come to Steamboat with Tom Clancy to try to convince Robin to let the famed author help him. It never came to pass.