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(More customer reviews)This is a substantial book (about 400 pages) about the life of one of the most famous fighter pilots of all time, Robin Olds. It is largely a compilation of Olds' diaries, documents, letters, articles, etc, put together by his daughter, Christina Olds, after Robin's death in 2007. Indeed, before he died, Robin and Christina were able to share a fair amount of time together in preparation for the completion of his unfinished memoirs. Appropriately, the book is written in the first person. It's a well written book, not because it contains highly polished writing (it doesn't), but rather because it reads as you'd expect it to read coming from a maverick fighter-pilot. (I was fortunate to hear Robin Olds speak a number of times, and this book is true to his rather abrupt style of speaking.)
The book begins right where you'd expect a fighter pilot to begin--in the air, in combat ("We had been taking the war to Hitler...")--but then settles back to develop Olds' life story, starting from the beginning. His mother died when he was four, and he grew up the son of an Army officer. (There was no Air Force at that time.) The reader learns about his interest in football (6' 2", captain of his high school team, later played for West Point--including once in front of 100,000 fans at an Army - Navy game, back when that game was a big event to all sports fans).
The heart of this book, like the main theme in his life, is flying, especially in conflict. Olds flew P-38s and later transitioned to the marvelous P-51 (with the Merlin engine) during World War II. On his second P-51 training flight he almost crashed the aircraft trying to land (they didn't call it the Mustang for nothing). His experiences in Europe during World War II and his Air Force career thereafter read almost like a stream-of-consciousness. D-Day. His kills. His eye for women. Taking command of a fighter squadron. V-E Day. His temper. Life in the fast lane. The P-80. His marriage to Hollywood star Ella Raines. Exchange duty with the Royal Air Force, reportedly becoming the only U.S. Air Force officer to command a RAF squadron. The F-86. And so on.
Olds tried hard to get assigned to combat duty during the Korean War, but apparently his wife (and her TV directors) managed to persuade Laurence Rockefeller to use his considerable political influence to get Olds' name off the Korea assignment list every time it came up. Olds almost resigned his commission in 1952 to become a civilian test pilot, but remained on active duty. Then, more stream-of-consciousness. Libya. An assignment to the Pentagon. And more.
But then there was the Vietnam War. Olds was assigned to the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, where he (and close friend Chappie James) became a legend. In preparation for this combat assignment in the F-4C, Olds describes wanting to experience the F-4's noted "adverse yaw" on only his second training flight. In doing so, he lost both engines and almost his life. He wrote, "If I had been a North Vietnamese pilot, I would have been an ace ten times over." (He was only an ace once in the Vietnam War.) The reason he said that was that while the F-4 could fly at Mach 2, dogfights typically don't take place at supersonic speeds, and there was no way an F-4 could turn with a MiG-17. On the cover of the book is a famous photo of Olds being carried on the shoulders of his men--tears in his eyes. Robin Olds was seemingly made for commanding men in combat, and he did that very well. His men loved him, and that probably says it all. Speaking of photos, there are about 16 pages of black-and-white photos in the book that bring back lots of memories.
After returning from the Vietnam War, Olds was promoted to Brigadier General and made Commandant of Cadets at the Air Force Academy, after he shaved off his trademark handlebar mustache. (One of his cadets was Sully Sullenberger.) He tells of an experience when an F-105 was brought to the Academy to be dedicated as a reminder of all those who fought in the air above Vietnam. A flight of F-105s flew over the 4,000 cadets assembled before lunch, and these aircraft accidentally broke the sound barrier, resulting in the equivalent of millions of dollars of broken glass (in today's dollars). I was there at the time, and it was an unforgettable experience.
In closing this review, I'd like to relate one personal experience about Robin Olds. It was during the time he was Commandant of Cadets at the Academy, and he was talking to an auditorium of cadets. While he was speaking, he spotted one cadet with his foot resting on top of a chair. From the stage, Olds proceeded to chew out this cadet for not sitting up straight. When he asked the terrified cadet whether he had anything to say for himself, the cadet responded that his leg was in a cast, and he could not sit up straight. Olds replied, "Well, I'm sure I've been embarrassed this much before--but I really can't remember when." Everyone laughed, and Olds went back to his lecture as if nothing had happened. That's the way I'll remember him: intense, yet human.
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The widely anticipated memoir of legendary ace American fighter pilot, Robin Olds
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