Posted on 08/26/2018 3:25:38 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
....his military life could have made a pretty good movie... always thought
Tom Selleck as Olds
Note 43 Air Medals.
I met General Olds in 2001. He said he got an unpowered kill on an ME-109 when his engines cut out after forgetting to turn the fuel feed on to his internal tanks.
I love the story about how the graffiti in the bathrooms on the base in Thailand got so bad after repeated crackdowns that he closed all the bathrooms and had open latrines dug in near the fences so guys had to take a crap in view of the Thai civilians outside the base...
I read the book “Fighter Pilot” a long time ago, so I hope I remembered that incident correctly!
Good choice.
There is a lot behind those eyes, but I’ll bet you didn’t want to have the non-humorous eyes turned on you!
Look up OPERATION BOLO
Shot down half the North Vietnam force of Mig 21 January 1967
Oh, crap...I think I got my books mixed up...perhaps that was John Boyd who did the bathroom thing...
My apologies for muddying the water there!
Sigh...it was Colonel Boyd with the bathroom thing, but as the story goes, he only threatened it, didn’t follow through. Apparently, the threat was enough...:)
BG Olds wrote a book called “MIG Hunters “ detailing the air war in Vietnam, it’s an excellent read.
The book is Wolfpack, my bad.
Look for the story called “Pardo Push”
“Pardo Push” That sounds familiar. Cannot recall the book, might have been in “Thud Ridge”
>Sigh...it was Colonel Boyd with the bathroom thing,<
Yes, it was. John Boyd, “Forty Second Boyd,” got behind the tails of all pilots who challenged him in forty seconds or less. Boyd flew wing on only one or two missions in Korea before the war ended. He came home, and because he was the best pilot in the Air Force, he was sent to the AF Top Gun School as an instructor.
Like Robin Olds, Boyd was a maverick. Despite his bucking the system he was sent to the Pentagon to fly a desk. He led the Fighter Mafia that overcame the USAF bureaucracy to design the F-16, which was the best plane of the time. In fact foreign air forces bought and still use it in combat.
Boyd also wrote the text book on air combat that virtually all the world’s air forces use.
But, to me, his crowning achievement was to teach the US Marines how to fight irregular, asymmetrical Fourth Generation warfare.
Boyd retired a colonel. He should have been a general.
Finally, at his funeral only one high ranking USAF officer came to pay his respects. But, the place was packed with Marine officers who understood Boyd’s warrior mentality and achievements. Between Colonel John Boyd and William S. Lind the US Marines know how to fight irregular asymmetrical warfare that conquered Nationalist China, Cuba, and is used by the Muslims worldwide.
Promotion to flag rank is very difficult for a warrior. I’m glad Robin Olds retired as a general, and I wish John
Boyd, who is our greatest military theorist didn’t.
Olds lamented issues as he retired in 1973 that remained operative as he mentored Terry Schwalier in 1981. Top heaviness, micromanagement, loss of combat focus, misprioritization … all are directly addressed or implied in Olds’ letter. All have continued to visit upon the Air Force.
and there it is... across the board
No mention of “Black Man and Robin”.
We could use men like that today.
Robin Olds was Commandant of Cadets when I was at the Air Force Academy.
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