The 7th Air Force historian, Howard Halvorsen, wrote an interesting article on Robin Olds, perhaps America’s most famous fighter pilot and eventual commander of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, heritage of the current wing at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea.

This historian is hardly the first to declare Robin Olds as the greatest aerial warrior and leader in American history.

When learning about his life, it is as if our creator was making the perfect Airman. He was a triple ace who had ideas about tactical air power that were as big as his physique. He was a missionary constantly arguing – not always tactfully – for better fighters, better pilot training, new tactics and the like.

Many people — even the historian author of the article — consider Robin Olds to be the consummate, if not the “first,” fighter pilot.  Halvorsen notes, though, that Read more