Fighter Pilot

Shipping was quick highly recommend.

I had fully expected a great Sierra Hotel book full of combat engagements from a triple-ace, but this memoir is more. Much more. Perhaps the most striking revelation is Robin’s incredible sense of loyalty. When Scat Davis, his best friend at West Point, couldn’t qualify medically for a pilot slot, Robin offered to take him into vicarious combat by naming his planes (every one of them) “Scat”. When his friend Karl Richter was killed in Southeast Asia, he adopted Karl’s pet monkey. When the Air Force tasked his wing to fly nuclear one-way missions in Europe in the event of hostilities, he said he would lead the strike force, even though he abhorred the use of nuclear weapons.
Even though I have experience in the F-4C, D and E, I learned a lot. For example, I had been unaware of the problems in mating AIM-9 missiles to the D model when it was initially sent to Southeast Asia. Robin dealt with that and made it work.
Every fighter pilot is aware of Operation Bolo, but this book gives real insight into everything that went into the planning and execution, and leaves those of us wingmen (who simply put the light on the star) in awe. And every fighter pilot has heard about Robin’s entrance into the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, and how he totally transformed morale in record time. The 8th still proudly calls itself the Wolfpack, the appellation Robin created.
If you’re a fighter pilot, you need to read this book. If you’re not aa fighter pilot, you really need to read this book.

Great deal

Sure, Robin Olds was the archetypical fighter jock. He had the skill, the guts, the style and the swagger, in spades. Son of a fighter pilot, friend of military aviation pioneers, combat leader whose men would, and did, follow him through hell, husband to a movie star.

But what I learned from this book that impressed me much more was what a real gentleman he was, and by gentleman, I mean a man who cares deeply about other people. Whether it was the troops serving under him, the British people suffering wartime danger and postwar privation, military dependents stuck on an airplane on the tarmac for hours, or his beloved Air Force Academy cadets, his sensitivity and compassion and love for others shines through.

This book is many things – a hilarious, rollicking good fighter pilot yarn, a seminar in leadership, an study of what was wrong, and right, with the Air Force and the air war over Norh Vietnam, and an exploration, sometimes painful, of what it means to be a complete man. Highly recommended.

The great story of Air Force Brigadier General Robin Olds. Beginning in his childhood home where his dad introduced him to his famous pilot friends like Eddie Rickenbacker, to the Military Academy at Westpoint, to becoming a WWII Ace flying P-38’s and P-51’s, to the skies over North Vietnam flying an F-4, and finally as the Commandant of the US Air Force Academy. He was beloved for his humor and leadership. He led his Wing over North Vietnam from the front, not from a desk. His new tactics cut our aircraft losses in half and saved many American lives. A true American hero, this is a great book that not only tells of great flying and boisterous Officer’s Club parties, it also tells of his leadership. His large handlebar mustache became famous as his way of flipping the bird to the Pentagon’s arm-chair Generals. His first day as the Air Force Academy Commandant had all of the Cadets wearing fake cardboard handlebar mustaches as a big welcome. Everyone loved him, I expect you’ll love his book too.

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