Wolf 01

Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF
July 14, 1922 – June 14, 2007

General Olds is another of my heroes, he gets mentioned around here a lot. I'm currently reading his memoirs and they are interesting, intense and, much like the man, direct and to the point.

When General Olds passed away back in June of 2007, I posted his picture outside of my cubicle, bordered in black. This one as a matter of fact:

Colonel Olds preflighting his F-4C Phantom before a combat mission in Southeast Asia, circa Sept 1967, while serving as the Commander of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing at Ubon Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand.

At his funeral there was a missing man formation executed by four F-4 Phantoms. Normally the element lead will pull up and out of the formation (see next diagram)

At General Olds' funeral at the Air Force Academy, the flight lead executed the maneuver. A tribute to General Olds leadership.

Photo of the missing man formation for General Olds.
(Fuzzy but it's all I could find...)

The following video actually features gun camera footage from General Olds' aircraft in World War II.

We could use a few more like him in the modern Air Force, hell, we could use a lot more like him!