BULLET BACKGROUND PAPER

ON

BRIGADIER GENERAL ROBIN OLDS

PURPOSE

To focus on the analysis of Brigadier General Robin Olds including the aspects of that
individuals life, military career, and impact on the military/world.

DISCUSSION

- His Early Life

-- Born July 14, 1922 in Honolulu, HI, Robin Olds was the son of then-Captain Robert Olds
and his wife Eloise.

-- The oldest of four, Olds spent the majority of his childhood at Langley Field in Virginia
where his father was stationed as an aide to Brigadier General Billy Mitchell.

-- Forced by his father in 1939 to stay in Millard prep school, Olds was accepted to West
Point and entered the service in July 1940.
--- A football star at West Point, he was named an All-American in 1942 and later was
enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.
- Learning To Fly
-- Selecting service in the US Army Air Forces, Olds completed his primary flight training in
the summer of 1942 at the Spartan School of Aviation in Tulsa, OK.
-- Receiving his wings from General Henry "Hap" Arnold, Olds graduated from West Point
on June 1, 1943 after completing the academy's accelerated wartime curriculum.
-- Commissioned as a second lieutenant, he received an assignment to report to the West
Coast for training on P-38 Lightnings.
- Wartime Accomplishments
-- Rated a triple ace, having shot down a total of 17 enemy aircraft during World War II and
the Vietnam War.

C/3C Carlos Rivera/AFROTC DET 855/910.551.1423/car/26 Feb 17

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-- He began his combat flying in a P-38 Lightning named "Scat 1" during World War II, and
at the end of the war he was flying "Scat VII," a P-51 Mustang, and was credited with 107
combat missions and 24.5 victories, 12 aircraft shot down and 11 1/2 aircraft destroyed on
the ground.

-- During the Vietnam War in October 1966, General Olds entered combat flying in Southeast
Asia in "Scat XXVII," an F-4 Phantom II.
-- He completed 152 combat missions, including 105 over North Vietnam. Utilizing air-to-air
missiles, he shot down over North Vietnam two Mig-17 and two Mig-21 aircraft, two of these
on one mission.
- Leadership Positions
-- His duty assignments in England, Germany, Libya, Thailand and the United States have
included positions as squadron, base, group and wing commander; staff assignments in a
numbered Air Force, Headquarters U.S. Air Force and the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff.
-- He is a graduate of the National War College in 1963.
-- In October 1948 he went to England under the U.S. Air Force - Royal Air Force Exchange
Program and served as commander of No. 1 Fighter Squadron at Royal Air Force Station
Tangmere.
-- He assumed duties as commander of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing at Ubon Royal Thai Air
Force Base, Thailand, in September 1966.
-- He returned to the United States in December 1967 and served as commandant of cadets at
the U.S. Air Force Academy through January 1971.
-- General Olds assumed the position of director of aerospace safety in the Air Force
Inspection and Safety Center at Norton Air Force Base, Calif., in February 1971.
- Military Decorations and Awards
-- The Air Force Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star with three oak leaf clusters,
Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with five oak leaf clusters, Air Medal with 39
oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, British Distinguished Flying Cross,
French Croix de Guerre, Vietnam Air Force Distinguished Service Order, Vietnam Air
Gallantry Medal with Gold Wings, Vietnam Air Service Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam
Campaign Medal. He is a command pilot.