Fighter Pilot Coming Soon

“Fighter Pilot: Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds” by Robin Olds with Christina Olds and Ed Rasimus; St. Martin’s Press, New York NY, April 13, 2010. 384 pages.

Robin held the title for longer than most of us and will always personify what it means to be a Fighter Pilot. Most of us knew him from our reunions. Some served with him in the Wolf Pack. Some were close friends. Some served under his leadership, some benefitted from his support on staffs and in flying assignments. But did any of us really know Robin? Fortunately he was a prolific writer and he left us memories of his remarkable life in boxes, notebooks, desk drawers and tales told to friends and family over a lifetime. Fighter Pilot tells the story from Robin’s early experiences in a military home surrounded by the founders of modern aviations through his time at West Point and his flying training to his remarkable wartime experiences. The modern military pilot will be dumbstruck by the disorganization of a nation at war then dazzled by the air battles in Europe starting a few weeks before D-Day through the end. Stories of victories and losses, combat and friendships, bombings and the blitz will show readers aspects of the war they probably weren’t aware of.

Becoming a double ace and rising from new lieutenant wingman to squadron commander major in nine months of war would be enough for most lifetimes, but Robin had just begun. A quick assignment to purgatory as assistant football coach at West Point was a momentary bump on the way to the new jet squadron and the first jet demo team in P-80s. A whirlwind romance with a movie star, transition through F-86s, an exchange tour to become the first US exchange officer to command an RAF squadron, then through Landstuhl, the building of the Wheelus gunnery complex and the bowels of the Pentagon with a famous wife and two daughters; it’s all in this remarkable story which often reads like Tom Clancy fiction.

Robin’s writing formed the foundation, but the title calls it memoirs—plural not singular. Christina offers insights into the family and interviews with those who knew him well fill out the narrative which seamlessly weaves it all into a first-person story that is often beyond belief. We are all flawed at some level and Robin was no exception yet every life is a balance and few would disagree that the life of the Fighter Pilot related here is heavily weighted on the side of greatness. It’s a rip-roaring roller-coaster of a book available now on Amazon.com for pre-order.