An Air Force Legend that faced a President: Robin Olds

foreign if you could take the genes from the consummate military leader and combine them with the genes of the consummate fighter pilot the result might look just like this however if you created a fictional military hero with Brigadier General Robin owl's resume an editor would likely reject it for being beyond believable in 1942 olds was an All-American tackle for West Point in 1943 he was commissioned a second lieutenant and completed pilot training he entered World War II flying a P-38 he named scat1 as he progressed through different iterations of fighter planes he simply kept adding Roman numerals to the scat name he finished the war in a P-51 named scat-7 in addition to becoming a double ace plus with 12 aerial victories he destroyed another 11 and one-half aircraft on the ground [Music] he later became the wingman on the Air Force's first aerobatic jet team in 1966 he became commander of the eighth tactical Fighter Wing at ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base Thailand Robin olds flew 152 combat missions in Southeast Asia and F4 Phantoms 105 of them over North Vietnam he shot down two North Vietnamese mig-17s and two mig-21s [Music] Robin Knowles was famous for something else he never learned to mince words or play politics with the mission of the military as those in the warbirds in review audience learn when holes described his return from Vietnam I got home about the 20 or the last day of September 1st of October on a Friday my family in Washington and I'm on leave phone rang Saturday and get over here to the Pentagon Chief of Staff wants to see you Monday morning I said I'm on leave that doesn't matter the chief wants to see it say yes sir okay I reported into his office he's the one that walked up to me and said take off that mustache yes sir the next thing I knew he briefed me and I'm in the Oval Office of the White House you know I'd God me LBJ was the president so I'm sitting on the end of a couch he's on an easy chair and his aide a colonel Air Force colonel was sitting on my right and Mr President said um uh welcome home colonel you you did well thank you very much sir yeah well uh what's it like to be home that was the weekend that thousands and thousands of hippies marched on the Pentagon I said sir who are all those funny looking people that marched on the Pentagon yesterday he and I'm gonna quote for you folks he said I got 240 000 boys over there in Vietnam when those boys come home they'll tell the American public what's happening and I know wait a minute that's your job not mine of course you don't say that so the best thing I could think of to come up with it sir I've been home since Friday been to a couple of dinner parties no one asked me where I've been or what I've been doing for the past year in case somebody does ask what would you like me to tell them I'm thinking you know end the career he glared at me and then he said well colonel you tell them I'm quoting that we are preventing the North Vietnamese from interfering in the Democratic process in South Vietnam I said I'm sorry sir I can't say that well why not colonel well sir if that's why we're there I don't want to be the one that spreads the word it was groomed for a few minutes but I hand the man full credit he let me talk he listened and he sent me down the next morning to talk to his chief security advisor in the basement of the White House we argued for a couple of hours but this security advisor and I argued at one point I said something he said you know we can't do that that'll bring down the Chinese I said the Chinese and the North Vietnamese have hated each other for a couple of thousand years they fought Wars against each other did haven't you read their history no he hadn't so finally say what do you think we ought to do and I said for God's sakes sir mind the harbors because everything they use came in by Ship Bottom gas you know missiles ammunition everything food his response when I said mind the harbors was we can't do that that's an act of War Amanda this was the about the second or third of October of 1967. I wonder if he ever wondered what the hell we were doing over there no it was uh I maintained we had every reason to be there but we went about it improperly under the leadership of McNamara and Johnson sadly Robin olds passed away on June 14 2007. across the Black River the Red River down the mountain changed to your target so for the pre-strike we went up I said orange five six this is uh Lincoln lead tally ho and this guy said Lincoln take the perch I said what he said take the purge let me tell you what that told me it told me this was a new guy from the states probably his first mission obviously out of sack following the rules and I said Son we don't take a perch around here just holds still we'll be right there but I didn't tell him [Music] was when we came up behind the tanker each of us in f4s are taking turns it was in safe but we're making sure that the ground of The Sidewinder coincides with the sight picture and you're doing his side picture is his engines he didn't know that so we refueled and everything's fine everything's fine I stayed in a bit too long got in the fight with with a bunch of Megs and I'm tapping the burners pretty soon I looked at the fuel gauge and we are way below what we should have been we had three bingoes bingo hard Bingo means you better get back to the and then uh I can't say the word but bingo which meant you better get to the tanker or you're in deep trouble so I thought Robin you have really climbed deep in North six which we never usually went out low fortunately no Sams I call him hey orange five six head north he says Lincoln I got a check with Brigham ground I said Brigham is busy head north I'll work The Intercept you know with the radar on the F4 well finally here he came and I'm looking at my fuel gauge in it like this my other three guys were low but I was the worst so I we got the tiger I turned him plugged him I relief they they finished now I came up for my full offload plugged in he pulled the boom and stowed it this is a one of those big tanker Birds and I said hey give me some fuel foreign we're Bingo rtb meaning he was low on his fuel returning to base r2b I said wait a minute I'm going to have to bail out of this airplane in just a minute or two give me some fuel no we're bingo and I said I knew from reading his um you know method of operation he can fly from where we were over Northern Laos all the way to the south of Thailand turn left and go to the Pacific I mean to go to the Philippines and Lloyd her for 20 minutes that was his bingo and my fuel gauge is like this so finally I said okay I got one Sidewinder left I'm going to drop back about 2 000 feet and before I ejection handled I'm going to pull the trigger so put your parachutes on boy that boom came down I plugged in he started fueling me my left engine quit that's how low I was I managed to hang on and get it started he said how much do you want I said fill it up which I didn't want because couldn't land with that much fuel so I did a dirty trick got my offload I pulled right up in front of him about a thousand feet and hit the jettison switch got it got rid of half of that fuel I said you might need it [Applause] I said sir the migs are getting awful frisky as you know I have an idea of something we can do about it he just grounded and I thought oh well end of that but five days later I'm in his office please say okay what's your idea I said sir I want to plan a mission where I'll take my f4s up there and we look like 105s because it makes love to tangle with the 105s so we're planned and plant and planning plan yeah and pull this Mission off on the 2nd of January now the F4 as you may have noticed not an afterburner but in full Mill leaves smoke trails one factor two a friend of mine named Donovan F Smith and seventh Air Force said Robin I'm going to send you QRC 190 like you what the hell is that it's an ECM pardon a jamming emitter against their Sam sites which with the 105s had carried but we never had so there's there's a bit of deception and then Mother Nature got in the ACT morning you morning Mother Nature got in the act and gave us a nice undercast so they couldn't see the smoke trails so we did all this stuff went down right over Vulcan nothing turned around just north of I know it came back my backseater says I got one oops went underneath so I turned around and came back then here arrived my second flight and the first transmission was a lead you got to make 21 on your ass what a way to start a fight but they all popped up through the through the clouds they thought we were 105's but uh we were loaded for bear and we got seven of them found out I heard a transmission of their of their radio chatter the lead says whatever the ground said these aren't 105s these are Phantoms what do we do well there's great confusion in the meantime we're Bang Bang that was fun yeah another another leading question your your interview with President Johnson you're coming back to the States and president do I have to no sir you don't have to well I will uh we're talking about uh Vietnam obviously I got home about the 20 or the last day of September first of October on a Friday my family in Washington and I'm on leave phone rang Saturday and get over here to the Pentagon Chief of Staff wants to see you Monday morning I said I'm on leave that doesn't matter if the chief wants to see it say yes sir okay I reported into his office he's the one that walked up to me and said take off that mustache yes sir the next thing I knew he briefed me and I'm in the Oval Office of the White House you know I got me LBJ was the president so I'm sitting on the end of a couch he's on an easy chair and his aide a colonel Air Force colonel was sitting on my right and Mr President said uh welcome home Colonel uh you you did well thank you very much sir yeah well uh what's it like to be home that was the weekend that thousands and thousands of hippies marched on the Pentagon all right sir um and my daughter Chris had told me what hippies were I said sir who are all those funny looking people that marched on the Pentagon yesterday he and I'm going to quote for you folks he said I got 240 000 boys old then Vietnam when those boys come home they'll tell the American public what's happening and uh wait a minute that's your job not mine of course you don't say that so the best thing I could think of to come up with it sir I've been home since Friday I've been to a couple of dinner parties no one asked me where I've been and what I've been doing for the past year in case somebody does ask what would you like me to tell them I'm thinking you know end the career he glared at me and then he said well colonel you tell them I'm quoting that we are preventing the North Vietnamese from interfering and the Democrat Democratic process in South Vietnam I said I'm sorry sir I can't say that well why not colonel well sir if that's why we're there I don't want to be the one that spreads the word it was Grim for a few minutes but I hand the man full credit he let me talk he listened and he sent me down the next morning to talk to his chief security advisor in the basement of the Pentagon of the White House and we argued for a couple of hours how come he gets to fly it and I don't but this security advisor and I argued at one point I said something he said you know we can't do that that'll bring down the Chinese I said the Chinese and the North Vietnamese have hated each other for a couple of thousand years they fought Wars against each other haven't you read their history no he hadn't so finally said what do you think we ought to do and I said for God's sakes sir mind the harbors because everything they use came in by Ship Bottom gas you know missiles ammunition everything food his response when I said mind the harbors was we can't do that that's an act of War a mind this was the but the second or third of October of 1967. I wonder if he ever wondered what the hell we were doing over there now it was uh I maintained we had every reason to be there but we went about it improperly under the leadership of McNamara and Johnson this is uh Marius Maxwell Dr Mary sparksville this is his airplane this is actually the first time he's seen it in this paint job and uh that's beautiful it's beautiful it's absolutely beautiful tell us a little bit about this particular airplane oh well I I already would just defer to Robin owls I agree with everything he says always uh it's a lovely airplane uh 1947 P-51 and uh it's got six now and henceforth and that's about all there is to say we'll open it up for questions if uh do you have anything else you'd like to say before we open up for questions you know I think I've already said too much no sir you never say too much but I got a question yeah [Music] thank you I may have missed it in the introduction what was your involvement in Korea obviously you were in World War II got 13 kills Nam four more or more what were you up to in Korea thank you I had a squadron of 86s they're drawing pilots from us my name had at every list turned down every time I never knew why I blamed a colonel that I worked for it took me 20 years to find out my wife then was doing a television show in New York City I mean she was an actress her mother the backer was a very powerful wealthy man whose friend was the Secretary of the Air Force the backer told the secretary don't let him go took me 20 years to find that out yeah I don't think you knew that Chris yes sir where somebody else of the P-38 pilot they put aileron boost on the airplane later but we never had it but it would roll just as fast as you had to roll it under whatever circumstance matter of fact I prided myself being a pretty good P-38 pilot and I could whip a P51 down low you know oh a story about this is kind of a music to me somebody people often ask me said wasn't it wonderful to fly a P-38 with those two engines and I said boy it sure was I came home five times on single engine all shot up love that bird but you know the strangest thing I flew another tour in p-51s I came home single engine every day yeah General you've had an incredible career flying a variety of different aircraft what was your favorite aircraft that you flew over the years well I have to I have to add the F4 but the many years in between I love that bird generals just a quick question in World War II was your more feared adversary the 109 or the 190. I didn't fear either one of them what was your preferred don't get out in front of me no sir I know you're asking a serious question but you know in common you don't have time for that kind of analysis you're fighting another human being which you don't think about another machine you try to anticipate what's he going to do next which way is he going to go so in a big fight there's danger from being shot at their Danger from collisions okay those are the two worst as you know you try to get your people to fight as a team but it doesn't work you're lucky if your wingman can hold on takes an extraordinary wingman to follow the violent Maneuvers and pretty soon you do get split up and it worked War Two we got split up almost every fight you go home with one or two or one I never saw one town or you know a 410 except on the ground next question I'm very uh when you're engaged do you ever watch the controls of the other airplane aircraft that you're engaged with I it's that's how dumb I am okay answer no uh technically maybe too far away but um combat wise you're anticipating his mode depending upon your relative position I mean if he's behind you you can't see you don't want that if he's out here in a turn God if he turns back that way and you're trying to turn inside him if he goes like that you got him so then if who can turn the tightest okay so you you don't really think that way you know what he has to do well it's like one day going in uh [Music] oh I might you mind if I make a story out of this no sir I was commanding the 81st Act of Fighter Wing in England been there a year and a half been a colonel for a long time phone rang somebody from Washington almost whispered you're on the list meaning I was going to be a general this is 65. I didn't want to be a general I wanted to go to Southeast Asia I miss Korea I'm going to go to Southeast Asia what can I do I can't tell the Air Force I don't want to be a general they'll say okay fine get out I know I'm going to make that boss of mine so mad he'll take me off the list he'll want a court-martialed me then I can go to Southeast Asia so I got three guys we put on a formation acrobatic demonstration an f-101 C's that's a single seat bird sorry excuse for wings but I had done that sort of thing on the very first jet acrobatic team back in 46 I was wingman so I kind of knew what I was doing we put on a wonderful show bomb burst a whole nine yards well my boss heard about it I bet his missile badge burned him trying to go down to London chewed out tore up my Legion of Merit my Effectiveness report was all wrong he waved a piece of paper in my face and said and this says you'll never be a general and I thought oh now we're getting somewhere and he chewed and chewed and waggled his Waddles at me and finally in the most disgusting voice he said and you are the kind of Air Force officer that ought to be in Southeast Asia and I jumped up out of the chair and said yes sir thank you very much General about faith and Lefty he's still shouting at me okay one more question over here wait wait wait wait oh you're not done I told you to be a long one so we're going up the Gulf of Tonkin one day I've got a backseater named Steve croker turned inbound and kept headed for the Northeast Railroad [Music] we got hit by about 16 makes there were eight of us round and round longest dog fight I was ever in got one early lead was doing figure eights down I could see him down below us so I told everybody get out rtb you know bingo made a circle to see my guys got out then I left and I thought about that guy said nope going back in back in about 25 feet there he is headed for his bathe but there's a little range of hills and I told the backseater I said Stevie you watch him he's got three choices he can bail out he can hit that Ridge or he can get it over the Ridge and give me some air space and I'll get a Sidewinder he chose the ladder Sidewinder boom down he went I plugged into that tanker with 300 pounds of fuel left oh now that was a disconnected story because I forgot why I was going to tell you about that goddamn General [Laughter] Sam is this gentleman's been patiently waiting over here over here same to you right okay first of all I want to thank you for the service you give to our country and uh thank you and I've always wondered about the 51 versus the me109 could he outturn you or could you outturn him in a dog fight good I hope you all heard the question I wish I could answer that question I honestly think it depended upon the pilot in the cockpit the birds were fairly equal as for us no we'll see and then he died of transfying as a retirement studying yeah yeah he worked for a friend of mine I'm sorry what was the question General please finish the story about the goddamn General it was a couple of years after the after that encounter and uh I'm now a commandantic cadets at the Air Force Academy with a baby star up here at one and I'm talking to my old boss four-star general Spike moonmeyer who was seventh Air Force Commander in Saigon another friend three stars then he was then commanding a training command George simler both of those gentlemen of course have spent their time in Southeast Asia so while we were talking here came the general from London that it chewed me on waddling across the floor and I said excuse me sir excuse me sir now I know that both of these gentlemen had read my derogatory file because it's rather thick and good reading and excuse me oh General Hardy how nice to see you again sir you remember that magnificent chewing out you gave me and Darren rice slip back in 1965. oh yes these two four-star three-star kind of listening I said sir you told me something that day that I've always wondered about you said I was the kind of Air Force officer that ought to be in Southeast Asia and I've wondered ever since in your estimation what kind of Air Force officers should not be in Southeast Asia I thought simmer was going to fall on the floor laughing and even momire laughed which I never heard before as general Hardy Whirled about red-faced walked away I reached between these two gentlemen said gotcha all right folks thank you for coming and please stand up and give this true American hero of a man here [Applause] I took a hit through the hinge on this door and the door flew back like a flap and I wonder why won't the airplane go you know and I'm dragging this thing just like a big flap I got as far as Brussels Landon saw what was wrong had to take the door off the hydraulic jack was bent so I took it off found a fitting on a wrecked airplane and put the hydraulic lines together like this yeah I know I'm just a pilot okay filled it up with hydraulic fuel fluid took off a gear handle wouldn't move what I had done was about 1200 PSI against each other there wasn't much response when you tried to move something I got back to base my maintenance officer said what was your hydraulic pressure I said him he said well you do you do know where the gauge is don't you he said is that is down there right but if on the lower panel I said oh is that what that is thank you all very much thank you very much thank you Robert [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you foreign [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: DroneScapes

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Keywords: robin olds, fighter pilot, vietnam war, robin olds ace, who was robin olds, robin olds fighter pilot, world war ii, air force, robin olds usaf, robin olds quotes, robin olds mustache, military history, operation bolo, robin olds interview, forgotten history robin olds, robin olds vietnam, robin olds documentary, robin olds dogfights, robin olds f4 phantom, robin olds operation bolo, vietnam war stories, fighter pilot podcast, AdKey:3-Xg6wP8wBnrop, P-51 mustang

Id: 1xzeSt8s-cM

Length: 35min 20sec (2120 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 26 2022