Warbird Information Exchange

Chief & Ed, Thank you for your service. I stand with great respect! Chief, what happened to the picture of the stab? Shows deleted or removed. Gentlemen, please keep the historical information coming. I'd love to see a long, ongoing "blog" hosted by you two. Thank you again!

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

John B.

Robin Olds was in England flying P-38's during December 1943. He had graduated from West Point in June 1943, immediately checked out on the P-38 and went directly to England and stayed there until the end of the war.

S Dennison,

Here it is again

I am in the process of reading the book myself ... It was loaned to me by a fellow volunteer at the Air Froce Museum ...

He flew 101 combat missions in the front seat of an F-4 and talked about his meeting with both Robin Olds and Chappie James ...

I enjoy volunteering with him in the SEA War Gallery as I get to pick his brain and some interesting info.

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Jerry
S/Sgt. - USAF Radio Operator '52-'56
C-119 "Flying Boxcar" - Korea & Japan

Volunteer: National Museum of the US Air Force (2007-2016)
LTM 381st Bomb Group Memorial Association

GEEEEESH!!!!

Did either of these crews punch out?

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S.

Reference the GEEEEESH!! comment from the 330thbg.

The guys in this F-4, 64-0788, both safely punched out. The other crew in 63-7586 returned to base and landed without incident.

This is a photo I took from the opposite side while the wreckage was still smoking. It shows the local natives in the upper right corner of the photo who had already dragged both wings off into the jungle. They were returning to see what else they could get when we arrived.

Later on as we were searching the surrounding area we saw a native with a hack saw blade attempting to cut one of the AIM-7 missiles in half. We never could figure how he got an intact AIM-7. It must have separated from the fuselage on impact and bounced away from the aircraft.

So,nobody got hurt,only thing that matters.

Except maybe the guy cutting AIM-7 missile in half with a hack-saw!

Looks like the hook was reusable !

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"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

Yeah, that's not gonna buff out... ! Great stuff in this thread though, thanks Ed and Chief for sharing your experiences!

Lynn

where has this site been all my life... (as usual, i'm late to the party)...

first of all, BIG THANKS for posting those pics and relating your experiences... you guys were there during a special time in history, and despite the historical circumstances, i would've loved to have been a part of...

i didn't join the AF until '72... as an enlisted supply clerk, and my first duty station was Ellsworth SD... supply was close enough to the flight line so i could see the buffs takeoff and land... although i managed to get a joyride in a tanker it would take me another 2 years before i could crosstrain as a C-130 loadmaster (wanted to get a gunner's slot in buffs, but no slots would be available for a while)...

the war was winding down (late to the party ) by then, and there were no longer rotations over to SEA...

i spent the rest of my time in 130s and 141s...

you guys were lucky(? ) enough to actually experience that time and meet the guys (Olds, James) that i've only been able to read about... you were part of something that'll (for better or worse) never happen again...

i envy you...

again... thanks for putting up the site... i'll visit often...

--Mike Hense

I agree with Mike, what a great thread. Thanks Chief for sharing the historic photographs, and it's great to see you here as well, Ed. I didn't join the USAF until '87 (F-16 crew chief), so I was well after Robin Olds' time, but he was still someone that was well known and looked up to by many, enlisted and officer alike.

I never was fortunate enough to meet Robin, and I'll always regret that. On the other hand, I was able to pick up a couple of objects from his estate auction. Nothing "expensive" but worth the world to me, knowing from where they came. (If any of you see me at an airshow and I've got a Phantom pin on my hat, yes, it's that pin....)




This original artwork, signed "Mason '67", is now very proudly up on my wall. As an old crew chief, if I squint a little, I can almost picture myself there on the flightline at Ubon RTAFB, ready to strap the then Colonel in.





I was able to buy his 1949 edition of Winston Churchill's "Their Finest Hour". I don't know if I felt more "privileged" to be reading about the day to day decisions made during WWII from one of the people that actually made them, or the fact that I was reading them from the same book that Robin Olds read them.

As I said, I never met Olds, but if the book could speak. Did the wear on the cover come from the volume traveling traveling around the world with him? On exchange in England? Maybe at Wheelus in Libya? Perhaps while based in Thailand with the 8th TFW during Vietnam? The turned over corners on pages with especially interesting passages, the a torn address (on Sunset Blvd) from an envelope that was used as a book mark and even the cigarette ashes between the pages all tell a story...

Mike Kopack

I got to briefly meet him once when he visited the NMUSAF. The put the steps up to his F-4 and let him get in it again. They took a bunch of photos. It was pretty cool to see.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Mike,

Don't feel bad about not getting into the action or into the war or a "part of history". We were just doing our jobs. War is not fun. After many years, we reflect on and think about only the better memories; not the bad.

If you like aircraft and want to be a part of aviation, go out and get involved in an old war bird group. We always need help and it will give you the opportunity to volunteer with and rub elbows with someone who will share their experiences with you. We are currently working hard down in Texas getting FIFI through her winter maintenance, training and getting ready for our Florida tour next month. Come out and volunteer with us this year.

I was lucky enough to meet him in 2002 along with two other vets Donald Strait and Gerry Johnson.
I have a picture of them and a picture of me with them, but unfortunately I am not able to post photos onto the forum which for this one I would happily do.

Fantastic guys with all their experiences would just keep me enthralled for days if i'd had the opportunity.
We are all very fortunate that we had these fellows on our side looking after our interests even before we were born.