Gen. Robin Olds: The Triple Ace with a Bullet-Proof Mustache

WW2 Ace, Vietnam Ace, Legend with attitude

As my son is a firefighter (with mustache extraordinaire) this American hero Ace caught my attention. Behind the mustache was the story of a pure fighting man of exceptional brilliance. The majority of his kills were in WW2 flying the P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang fighter planes where he became a double ace. Denied a chance to fight in the Korean War, he was a Wing Commander in Vietnam and was responsible for upgrading the fighter wing and setting traps for North Vietnam Mig -17s and Mig-21s. Radically changing the procedure for a lackluster fighter performance in Vietnam, he flew with his fellow fighter pilots completing a whopping 259 combat missions: 107 in WWw2 and 152 in Southeast Asia. (Note: no one was supposed to complete more than 100 missions in Vietnam while he flew 152.) His mustache became legendary as well as his flaunting of orders of his superiors who had little knowledge of day to day operations. This resulted in most of the base growing a mustache in support of his unorthodox methods. He was later directly ordered by a superior to shave it (to which he complied). He also served with the Royal Air Force commanding a squadron of Gloster Meteor fighters.

General Robin Olds died in 2007 at age 84, a hero gone but not forgotten. Valor is in you. Set it free.