1. Robert Olds was a general officer in the United States Army Air Forces, theorist of strategic air power, and proponent of an independent United States Air Force.
44 Facts About Robert Olds
1. 2.
Robert Olds became an instructor at the Air Corps Tactical School between 1928 and 1931, the crucial period when the theory of strategic bombardment achieved ascendancy within the Air Corps as the most effective use of airpower.
3.
Robert Olds showcased the capabilities of the new weapon by leading several highly publicized goodwill flights to South America.
4.
Robert Olds's father was an ornithologist employed by the Division of Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture.
5.
Robert Olds had had another child, Carter Nott, from her previous marriage.
6.
Eloise died in 1926 while Robert Olds was assigned to the headquarters of the Air Service in Washington, DC In 1928 he remarried, to Marjorie Langley, a divorcee with two sons from her previous marriage, and they were divorced in 1930.
7.
Robert Olds was "personable and charismatic," and highly outspoken, the latter strongly influenced by his association with General William "Billy" Mitchell.
8.
Robert Olds developed a knack for generating favorable publicity during his tour in Hawaii which resulted in his often being in the public spotlight during his entire career.
9.
Robert Olds's outspokenness resulted in several public rebukes, notably during the Billy Mitchell court martial, and in flaps regarding "imprudent comments" he allegedly made during his goodwill trip to Argentina in 1938 and a congressional junket to Alaska in 1942.
10.
Robert Olds's leadership was professionally esteemed by prominent Air Force leaders and historians, several of whom wrote but for his early death, he would have risen to four-star rank.
11.
Robert Olds was exceptionally capable of inspiring subordinates, and of delegating authority, while remaining a firm disciplinarian.
12.
Robert Olds's home at Langley was a social gathering place for numerous aviation pioneers, war veterans, and air power advocates which included Eddie Rickenbacker, Fiorello La Guardia, Ernst Udet, Roscoe Turner, Elliott White Springs, Jimmie Mattern, and Beirne Lay.
13.
Robert Olds was often in pain but not crippled by the affliction.
14.
Robert Olds had energy to burn, on and off the job.
15.
Robert Olds loved high living, and he loved women, too, for that matter; he'd been married four times by that time.
16.
Robert Olds drove himself furiously and within a year he was a major general.
17.
Robert Olds graduated from Central High School in Washington, DC He enlisted in the Aviation Section, Signal Enlisted Reserve Corps on January 16,1917, became a sergeant, and entered pilot training at the Curtis Flying School, Newport News, Virginia.
18.
In December 1917 Robert Olds was transferred as an instructor to Ellington Field, Texas, where he advanced through various supervisory positions, beginning with solo and formation stages and progressing to Officer-In-Charge Flying and OIC Training.
19.
Robert Olds was promoted to captain on September 3,1918, and sent to France.
20.
On January 14,1919, during demobilization of the American Expeditionary Force, Robert Olds was assigned to the staff of Col.
21.
Robert Olds transferred to Fort Ruger at Honolulu, Hawaii, in October 1919, as Air Service Operations Officer, with concurrent command of the 3rd Balloon Company.
22.
Air Service commanders in Hawaii submitted three letters of recommendation on his behalf, he passed the requisite qualifying examinations, and on July 1,1920, when the law took effect, Robert Olds received commissions as 1st lieutenant and captain of Air Service of the Regular Army.
23.
In July 1921 Robert Olds was assigned operations officer of the 5th Observation Group at Luke Field.
24.
Robert Olds became its commander from April 12,1922, to May 20,1922, and again from November 10,1922, to April 13,1923.
25.
Robert Olds transferred in 1923 to the Office of the Chief of Air Service in Washington, DC, where he worked in the War Plans Division, often as an aide to the Assistant Chief of the Air Service, Gen.
26.
Robert Olds continued his staff duties in the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps.
27.
Robert Olds became a student in the eighth class of the Air Corps Tactical School.
28.
Robert Olds then was selected to attend the two years' course of the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
29.
Robert Olds' appearance before the commission was an act of moral courage, inasmuch as the General Staff tried to discourage the instructors' appearance by refusing to reimburse their expenses.
30.
Robert Olds returned to Langley, where the command staff of the General Headquarters Air Force was stationed, and joined it as Chief of Inspection Section under GHQAF commander Maj.
31.
On March 1,1937, Robert Olds was promoted to lieutenant colonel and selected to command the 2nd BG, which was about to receive the first twelve operational B-17s.
32.
Robert Olds personally led two goodwill flights to South America, first to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in February 1938 and next to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in November 1939.
33.
Robert Olds replied by asking her to provide him with a list of women pilots with commercial pilot ratings.
34.
Henry H Arnold established the Air Corps Ferrying Command on May 28,1941, and selected Olds to organize it, reporting directly to Arnold.
35.
Robert Olds developed a plan for expansion of three airfields in the United States to handle the movement of a thousand planes a month.
36.
Robert Olds's staff drew up and put into action a plan to reorganize and expand the command.
37.
Robert Olds was promoted to brigadier general on January 16,1942, and personally handled the successful negotiations with neutral Brazil for the use of Natal as a key intermediate point.
38.
Robert Olds was incensed, and Arnold immediately authorized creation of a second organization, the Women's Flying Training Detachment, to provide a source of new ferry pilots.
39.
Robert Olds returned to duty on April 25,1942, when he was made commander of III Bomber Command.
40.
Robert Olds moved his headquarters from Spokane, Washington, to a forward location at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona, as Second Air Force expanded into a massive training establishment.
41.
Early in 1943 Robert Olds was diagnosed with pericardial disease and Libman-Sacks endocarditis.
42.
Robert Olds required extensive hospitalization beginning February 25,1943, was placed in temporary retirement, then suffered a second heart attack and pneumonia.
43.
Robert Olds received the 1938 Harmon Trophy, the 1939 Mackay Trophy on behalf of the 2nd Bomb Group's flight to Argentina, and the bronze medal of the International League of Aviators in 1941 for his "contribution to aviation" during the goodwill flights.
44.
The Major General Robert Olds Award, sponsored by the United States Air Force's Air Mobility Command, is presented annually during graduation week at the United States Air Force Academy to the most outstanding graduating cadet majoring in International Affairs.