Robin Olds
Military
IWM, Roger Freeman Collection
Object Number - FRE 9809 - Major General W E Lynd awards the Distinguished Service Medal to Major Robin Olds of the 479th Fighter Group. Handwritten caption on reverse: 'Medals...
His father was a WWI fighter pilot and a key planner of early bombing tactics. He graduated in 1943 from West Point and immediately became a fighter pilot in WWII. He flew P-38 Lightnings and also P-51 Mustangs. He was a commander of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing at Ubon, Thailand.
12.00 + 4 in Vietnam
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 479th Fighter Group 434th Fighter Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-832683
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 479th Fighter Group 434th Fighter Squadron
- Service Numbers: 06939778
- Highest Rank: Chief Master Sergeant
- Role/Job: Crew Chief-750
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: P-38 Lightning
- Nicknames: Peoria Pulverizer Texas Longhorn Scat III
- Unit: 479th Fighter Group 55th Fighter Group 38th Fighter Squadron 434th Fighter Squadron
- Aircraft Type: P-38 Lightning
- Nicknames: Scat II
- Unit: 479th Fighter Group 434th Fighter Squadron
- Aircraft Type: P-51 Mustang
- Nicknames: Scat #5
- Unit: 361st Fighter Group 479th Fighter Group 375th Fighter Squadron 434th Fighter Squadron
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
Honolulu, HI, USA | 14 June 1922 | Source is official Air Force biography: http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Article/106027/brigadier-general-robin-olds.aspx |
|
Died |
Steamboat Springs, CO 80487, USA | 14 June 2007 | |
|
Buried |
US Airforce Academy Cemetery | 30 June 2007 | Ashes interred at the U.S.A.F. Academy Cemetery. |
Revisions
From 434th Fighter Squadron photo of 1944. Personal collection of Stephen G. McChrystal. ID from EOW 479th FS album.
http://www.keytlaw.com/f-4/robin-olds-memorial-service/ downloaded 7/13/2015.
Source: http://www.veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=206 Note that BGen Olds earned the Air Force Cross, not the Distinguished Service Cross, and one of his two Distinguished Service Medals was from the U.S.A.F. and the other from the Army. Interestingly, he did not wear the Army DSM on his Air Force uniform. I wonder why. Other sources include http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Article/106027/… According to the Air Force web site, BGen Olds had eared the Air Medal with 39 oak leaf clusters.
Transferred information from duplicate record. Containing detials from Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Fighter Aces of the U. S. A. and Mustang Aces of the Eighth Air Force
