Robin Olds was many things to many people. To his West Point football coach he was an All American destined for the National College Football Hall of Fame. To his P-38 and P-51 wartime squadrons in WWII he was the aggressive fighter pilot who made double ace and became their commander in nine short months. For the pioneers of the jet age, he was the wingman on the first jet demo team, a racer in the Thompson Trophy race, and the only U.S. exchange officer to command an RAF squadron. In the tabloid press he was the dashing flying hero who married the glamorous movie star. For the current crop of fighter pilots he is best known as the leader of the F-4 Wolfpack battling over North Vietnam. For cadets at the Air Force Academy he was a role model and mentor. He was all of those things and more.
Here's Robin's story in his own words and gleaned from the family and friends of his lifetime. Here's the talent and learning, the passion and leadership, the love and disappointments of his life. Few men have written on the tablets of aviation history with such a broad and indelible brush. Olds was a classic hero with vices as well as virtues, a life writ large that impacted many.
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From the Publisher
Praise for Fighter Pilot: “A gripping narrative...Compelling reading, likely to become a classic.” —Booklist
“Robin Olds is probably the greatest aerial warrior America ever produced. His autobiography tells it like it was...and provides written proof why the people who served with him made him a legend. This book will be an instant classic.” —Stephen Coonts, New York Times bestselling author of The Assassin
“One man’s account of war and, in its way, a tribute to a vanished breed of men.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Excellent...at times, his poetic descriptions reveal a humanity rarely exhibited in public by this swashbuckling, handlebar-mustachioed giant of air power.” —Aviation Weekly
AMERICA IN WWII magazine
“Olds tells his story in an engagingly direct manner. His combat descriptions are gripping but so are his stories of living in England and the day-to-day triumphs and frustrations of fighting in World War II…Yet, one gets the sense from the memoir that the supremely confident Olds was introspective. There is an underlying humanity and generosity to others in his tale. He shares even the darkest, most personal passages without bitterness or acrimony. The warmth of the narrative, the varied settings and the simply amazing things that Olds accomplished all make Fighter Pilot a must read for all aviation enthusiasts.”
Library Journal
Olds, a West Point graduate and All-American football player, became a top fighter pilot in World War II, earning 12 victories. In Vietnam he again shined, leading a wing and scoring four more kills. A larger-than-life personality, Olds worked hard, played hard, married a Hollywood actress, and died in 2007. Christina Olds, his daughter, and Ed Rasimus (USAF, ret.) compiled Olds's writings and turned them into this memoir, sure to be popular among readers of military and aerial war books.