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| Name | Air Medal |
|---|---|
| Awarded by | the United States of America |
| Type | Medal |
| For | Meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight |
| Status | Currently awarded |
| Established | , May 11, 1942 (as amended by , September 11, 1942) |
| Higher | Meritorious Service Medals:Joint Service, Branch Service |
| Lower | Air Force - Aerial Achievement MedalArmy, Navy & Marine Corps - Commendation Medals |
| Image2 | |
| Caption2 | Ribbon (above), Reverse (below) |
The Air Medal is a military decoration of the United States. The award was created in 1942, and is awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.
Awards may be made to recognize single acts of merit or heroism, or for meritorious service. Award of the Air Medal is primarily intended to recognize those personnel who are on current crew member or non-crew member flying status which requires them to participate in aerial flight on a regular and frequent basis in the performance of their primary duties. However, it may also be awarded to certain other individuals whose combat duties require regular and frequent flying in other than a passenger status, or individuals who perform a particularly noteworthy act while performing the function of a crew member but who are not on flying status. These individuals must make a discernible contribution to the operational land combat mission or to the mission of the aircraft in flight.
Examples of personnel whose combat duties require them to fly include those in the attack elements of units involved in air-land assaults against an armed enemy and those directly involved in airborne command and control of combat operations. Awards will not be made to individuals who use air transportation solely for the purpose of moving from point to point in a combat zone.
Subsequent decorations of the Air Medal are denoted in the U.S. Army by award numerals displayed on the medal and ribbon. The Army originally used oak leaf clusters, however changed to numerals during the Vietnam War when the number of Air Medals awarded became too large to be annotated on a single ribbon. The Army and the Air Force also awards the Air Medal with a Valor device for acts of heroism.
The Secretary of the Air Force approved the award of the "V" Device for valor to Air Medals awarded for heroism effective 21 Oct 2004. It applies to all Air Force members (Active Duty, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard), retirees and veterans, but this change is not retroactive to any earlier date; only decorations approved on or after 21 Oct 2004 are affected by this policy change.
The Air Force does not utilize numerals on the Air Medal. Subsequent awards are annotated with the traditional oak leaf clusters. Enlisted members are also awarded three points toward promotion.
The United States Coast Guard issues the Air Medal with subsequent awards denoted by gold and silver stars. There are no additional devices authorized on the Coast Guard Air Medal.
During World War II, the Air Medal was also awarded to members of the Civil Air Patrol that had been participants in that organization's anti-submarine patrol program.
Description:A Bronze compass rose 1 11/16 inches circumscribing diameter and charged with an eagle volant carrying two lightning flashes in its talons. A fleur-de-lis at the top point holds the suspension ring. The points of the compass rose on the reverse are modeled with the central portion plain for engraving the name of the recipient.
Ribbon: The ribbon is 1 3/8 inches wide and consists of the following stripes:
# 1/8 inch Ultramarine Blue 67118; # ¼ inch Golden Orange 67109; # center 5/8 inch Ultramarine Blue; # ¼ inch Golden Orange; and # 1/8 inch Ultramarine Blue.
Components: The following are authorized components of the Air Medal and the applicable specifications for each:
Designer: Walker Hancock. Hancock had competed for the medal design as a civilian, but prior to the award of the competition had been inducted into the army.
Category:Military awards and decorations of the United States Category:Awards established in 1942
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Steve Ritchie |
|---|---|
| Caption | Steve Ritchie |
| Birth date | February 13, 1950 |
| Birth place | San Francisco, CA |
| Death date | |
| Resting place coordinates | |
| Known for | Flash, Firepower, High Speed |
| Employer | Steve Ritchie Productions |
| Occupation | Pinball designer |
| Website | Steve Ritchie Productions |
Steven Scott Ritchie (born February 13, 1950) is an acclaimed pinball and video game designer. He has been called "The Master of Flow" by pinball aficionados due to the emphasis in his designs on ball speed, loops, and the like.
Mark Ritchie (who designed , Diner, Taxi, and Fish Tales for Williams, and Kingpin for Capcom) is Steve's younger brother. He recently left Incredible Technologies for Raw Thrills, a video game production house headed by former WMS employee Eugene Jarvis. He currently suffers from tinnitus and predicts that he will be deaf by 2013.
After 1981's Hyperball, Steve took a break from designing pinball games to design a video games at his newly-formed company, King Video Design. "Devastator" was the first 68000 microprocessor video game and it was a spectacular 3D flying-shooting game with remarkable graphics. Steve pioneered automated conversion of video-taped color images into objects in the video game system. After that, he returned to pinball with 1986's High Speed, which was based on a true story about him being chased by the police in his Porsche. High Speed's bill of materials was higher than other games, and some rival Williams designers nicknamed it "High Cost". The cost increase was minimal, and the game sold 17,080 units. It was the major title that revitalized the entire pinball market. After that, he released F-14 Tomcat in 1987, and in 1989, he released the sequel to 1980's Black Knight, Black Knight 2000, which was acclaimed for having perhaps one of the best musical soundtracks ever for a pinball game (composed by himself, Brian Schmidt, and Dan Forden). It was also one of the first games to feature a "Wizard Mode", called "The King's Ransom".
Next up was Rollergames (based on the TV show of the same name which was cancelled well before game production), it was a game with a loud and rowdy soundtrack and the first solid state game to feature mainstream advertising. Ritchie designed , which featured the voice and likeness of Arnold Schwarzenegger. T2 was the first game by Williams to use a dot-matrix display (although Bally's Gilligan's Island beat it to the market, because T2 had a longer production schedule, and management at Williams felt that other games needed it first.) After T2, he designed in 1992, a sequel to 1986's High Speed. In 1993, Ritchie released a widebody game, , which many pinball fans consider to be Ritchie's best game. For the game, Ritchie enlisted the entire cast of , including Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, and Jonathan Frakes to reprise their roles. The game would sell 11,728 units. It was the last pinball machine to sell in the 5-digits. After he was finished with 1995's , Ritchie left Williams, feeling that he could better serve Williams/Bally/Midway by producing video games at the newly-acquired Atari Games. 1996 was the beginning of the decline of pinball with gradually diminishing sales, eventually leading to the extinction of all pinball manufacturers except Stern Pinball.
Ritchie is also known to be an avid fan of pc games, motocross racing, and a dedicated dirt and street motorcyclist as well.
He is a voice actor for many of his own games, as well as Williams and Midway's video games. He is best known for playing the voice of Shao Kahn in the Mortal Kombat series (MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:SM). In an interview for the Australian publication Arcade and Flipper Pinball Review (December 2001 & March 2002 issues) he stated that he was the announcer in MK and MKII, along with coming up with the name of Mortal Kombat, which was just called 'Mortal' before his suggestion. Ritchie was also the voice of the Black Knight in both Black Knight and Black Knight 2000, the "Demon" in No Fear, the announcer in Midway's High Impact Football, the monotoned voice of Firepower, and other small parts in many Williams, Midway, and Stern games.
After completing "24", a pinball machine based on the TV series of the same name, Ritchie was laid off from Stern along with most of the company's other pinball designers. He is currently looking for work in the video game industry.
Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Designers from California Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:Pinball game designers
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Robin Olds |
|---|---|
| Born | July 14, 1922 |
| Died | June 14, 2007 |
| Placeofbirth | Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Placeofdeath | Steamboat Springs, Colorado |
| Placeofburial | United States Air Force Academy |
| Placeofburial label | Place of burial |
| Caption | Col. Robin Olds with trademark mustache, Ubon RTAFB, Thailand. The missile is an AIM-9 Sidewinder with its seeker head covered. |
| Allegiance | |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Serviceyears | 1943–1973 |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Commands | 434th Fighter Squadron No. 1 Squadron RAF 86th Fighter-Interceptor Group 81st Tactical Fighter Wing 8th Tactical Fighter Wing |
| Battles | World War IIVietnam War *Operation Bolo |
| Awards | Air Force CrossAir Force Distinguished Service Medal (2)Silver Star (4)Legion of MeritDistinguished Flying Cross (6)Air Medal(40)British Distinguished Flying CrossCroix de Guerre with Palm (France) |
Robin Olds He retired in 1973 as a brigadier general.
The son of regular Army Capt. Robert Olds, educated at West Point, and the product of an upbringing in the early years of the U.S. Army Air Corps, Olds epitomized the youthful World War II fighter pilot. He remained in the service as it became the United States Air Force, despite often being at odds with its leadership, and was one of its pioneer jet pilots. Rising to command of two fighter wings, Olds is regarded among aviation historians and his peers as the best wing commander of the Vietnam War, both for his air-fighting skills and his reputation as a combat leader.
Olds was promoted to brigadier general after returning from Vietnam but did not hold another major command. The remainder of his career was spent in non-operational positions, as Commandant of Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy and as a bureaucrat in the Air Force Inspector General's Office. His inability to rise higher as a general officer is attributed to both his maverick views and his penchant for drinking.
Olds had a highly-publicized career and life, including marriage to Hollywood actress Ella Raines. As a young man he was also recognized for his athletic prowess in both high school and college, being named an All American for his play as a lineman in American football. Olds expressed his philosophy regarding fighter pilots in the quote: "There are pilots and there are pilots; with the good ones, it is inborn. You can't teach it. If you are a fighter pilot, you have to be willing to take risks."
Growing up primarily at Langley Field, Virginia, Olds came in almost daily contact with the small group of officers who would lead the US Army Air Forces in World War II (one neighbor was Major Carl Spaatz, destined to become the first Chief of Staff of the USAF), and as a result was imbued with an unusually strong dedication to the air service, and conversely, with a low tolerance for officers who did not exhibit the same. On November 10, 1925, his father appeared as a witness on behalf of Billy Mitchell during his court-martial in Washington, D.C.. He brought three-year-old Robin with him to court, dressed in an Air Service uniform, and posed with him for newspaper photographers before testifying.
Olds first flew at the age of eight, in an open cockpit biplane operated by his father. At the age of 12, Olds made attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point an objective to accomplish his goals of becoming an officer, a military aviator, and playing football.
His father was made commander of the pioneer B-17 Flying Fortress 2nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field on March 1, 1937, and promoted to lieutenant colonel on March 7. Olds attended Hampton High School where he was elected president of his class three successive years, and played varsity high school football on a team that won the state championship of Virginia in 1937. Olds was aggressive, even mean, as a player, and received offers to attend Virginia Military Institute and Dartmouth College on football scholarships. Olds completed Millard Prep and applied for admission to West Point. After he received a conditional commitment for nomination from a Pennsylvania congressman, Olds moved to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where he lived in the YMCA and supported himself working odd jobs. He also took and passed the entrance examination. Olds was accepted into the Class of 1944 on June 1, 1940, and entered the academy a month later.
Olds played on the varsity college football team in both 1941 and 1942. At 6 foot 2 inches in height and weighing 205 pounds, he played tackle on both offense and defense, lettering both seasons. Army's record in 1941 was 5-3-1, with wins over The Citadel, VMI, Yale, Columbia, and West Virginia, a scoreless tie with Notre Dame, and losses to Harvard, Penn and Navy. The loss to the midshipmen was followed eight days later by the attack on Pearl Harbor.
In 1942 he was named by Collier's Weekly as its "Lineman of the Year" and by Grantland Rice as "Player of the Year." Olds was also selected as an All-America as the cadets compiled a 6-3 record, beating Lafayette College, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, VMI, and Princeton, and falling to Notre Dame, Penn, and Navy. In the Army–Navy Game of 1942, which was played at Annapolis instead of Philadelphia, Olds had both upper front teeth knocked out when he received a forearm blow to the mouth while making a tackle. Olds returned to the game and reportedly was cheered by the Navy Third and Fourth Classes, which were assigned as the Army cheering section when wartime travel restrictions prevented the Corps of Cadets from attending. In 1985 Olds was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. He walked punishment tours until the day of his graduation in June. The incident left its mark on Olds such that when he became Commandant of Cadets at the Air Force Academy, use of the Honor Code as an instrument for integrity rather than as a tool for petty enforcement of discipline became a point of emphasis in his administration. During his Academy years Olds also acquired a strong contempt for alumni networking, commonly called "ring knocking", to the degree that he went out of his way to conceal his West Point background.
In the middle of Olds' Third Class year, the academy began an accelerated program for those entering in 1940 that shortened the course of study to three years. For those cadets applying to the Air Corps, the new curriculum also provided flying training. He completed primary training in the summer of 1942 at the Spartan School of Aviation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and basic and advanced training at Stewart Field, New York. 206 cadets including Olds completed the course, while five classmates died in accidents. Olds received his pilot's wings personally from Gen. Henry H. Arnold on May 30, 1943, and graduated on June 1 as a member of the Class of June 1943
In early 1944 he became part of the cadre assigned to build up the newly activated 434th Fighter Squadron and its parent 479th Fighter Group, based at Lomita, California. Olds logged 650 hours of flying time during training, including 250 hours in the P-38 Lightning, as the 479th built its proficiency as a combat group. It departed the Los Angeles area on April 15 for Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, and shipped aboard the USS Argentina for Europe on May 3. The 479th arrived in Scotland on May 14, 1944, and entrained for RAF Wattisham, England, where it arrived the next day.
The 479th began combat on May 26, flying bomber escort missions and attacking transportation targets in occupied France in advance of the invasion of Normandy. Olds flew a new P-38J Lightning that he nicknamed Scat II. His crew chief, T/Sgt. Glen A. Wold, said that Olds showed an immediate interest in aircraft maintenance and learned emergency servicing under Wold. He also insisted his aircraft be waxed to reduce air resistance and helped his maintenance crew carry out their tasks. On July 24 Olds was promoted to captain and became a flight and later squadron leader. Following a low-level bridge-bombing mission to Montmirail, France, on August 14, Olds shot down his first German aircraft, a pair of Focke-Wulf Fw 190s.
On an escort mission to Wismar on August 25, his flight was on the far left of the group's line abreast formation and encountered 40-50 Messerschmitt Bf 109s near Wittenberge, flying north at the same altitude in a loose formation of three large vees. Olds turned his flight left and began a ten-minute pursuit in which they climbed to altitude above and behind the Germans. Over Bützow, undetected by the Germans, Olds and his wingman jettisoned their fuel drop tanks and attacked, although the second element of the flight had been unable to keep up during the climb. Just as Olds began firing, both engines of his P-38 quit from fuel exhaustion; in the excitement of the attack he had neglected to switch to his internal fuel tanks. He continued attacking in "dead-stick mode", hitting his target in the fuselage and shooting off part of its engine cowling. After fatally damaged the Bf 109 he dived away and restarted his engines. Despite battle damage to his own plane, including loss of a side window of its canopy, Olds shot down two during the dogfight and another on the way home to become the first ace of the 479th FG.
He made eight claims while flying the P-38 (five of which are sustained by the Air Force Historical Research Agency) and was originally credited as the top-scoring P-38 pilot of the ETO.
After returning to the United States for a two-month leave, Olds began a full second tour at Wattisham on January 15, 1945. He was assigned duties as operations officer of the 434th Fighter squadron. Promoted to major on February 9, 1945, Olds claimed his seventh victory southeast of Magdeburg, Germany the same day, downing another Bf 109. On February 14, he claimed three victories, two Bf 109s and an Fw 190, but the latter was later changed to a "probable".
His final WWII aerial kill occurred on April 7, 1945, when Olds in Scat VI led the 479th Fighter Group on a mission escorting B-24s bombing an ammunition dump in Lüneburg, Germany. The engagement marked the only combat appearance of Sonderkommando Elbe, a German Air Force Squadron formed to ram Allied bombers. South of Bremen, Olds noticed contrails popping up above a bank of cirrus clouds, of aircraft flying above and to the left of the bombers. For five minutes these bogies paralleled the bomber stream while the 479th held station. Turning to investigate, Olds saw pairs of Me 262s turn towards and dive on the Liberators. After damaging one of the jets in a chase meant to lure the fighter escort away from the bombers, the Mustangs returned to the bomber stream. Olds observed an Me 109 of Sonderkommando Elbe attack the bombers and shoot down a B-24. Olds pursued the Me 109 through the formation, and shot it down.
Olds achieved the bulk of his strafing credits the following week in attacks on Lübeck Blankensee and Tarnewitz airdromes on April 13, and Reichersburg airfield in Austria on April 16, when he destroyed six German planes on the ground. He later reflected on the hazards of such missions:
I was hit by flak as I was pulling out of a dive-strafing pass on an airfield called Tarnewitz, up on the Baltic. Five P-51s made a pass on the airdrome that April day. I was the only one to return home...When I tested the stall characteristics of my wounded bird over our home airfield, I found it quit flying at a little over indicated and rolled violently into the dead wing (note: the right flap had been blown away and two large holes knocked in the same wing). What to do? Bailout seemed the logical response, but here's where sentiment got in the way of reason. That airplane (note: "Scat VI") had taken me through a lot and I was damned if I was going to give up on her...why the bird and I survived the careening, bouncing and juttering ride down the length of the field, I guess I'll never know.
Olds had not only risen in rank to field grade but was given command of his squadron on March 25, less than two years out of West Point and at only 22 years of age. By the end of his combat service he was officially credited with 12 German planes shot down and 11.5 others destroyed on the ground.
In April 1946, he and Lieutenant Colonel John C. "Pappy" Herbst formed what may have been the Air Force's first jet aerobatic demonstration team. In late May, the 412th was ordered to undertake PROJECT COMET, a nine-city transcontinental mass formation flight. Olds and Herbst performed a two-ship acro routine that thrilled the crowds at every stop, the highlight being a three-day layover in Washington, D.C. In June, Olds was one of four pilots who participated in the first one-day, dawn-to-dusk, transcontinental roundtrip jet flight from March Field to Washington, D.C. The jet demonstration performances with Herbst ended tragically on July 4, 1946, when Herbst crashed at the Del Mar Racetrack after his aircraft stalled during an encore of their routine finale in which the P-80s did a loop while configured to land. Later that same year Olds took second place in the Thompson Trophy Race (Jet Division) of the Cleveland National Air Races at Brook Park, Ohio over the Labor Day weekend. In this first "closed course" jet race, six P-80s competed against each other on a three pylon course 30 miles in length.
In October 1948, he went to England under the U.S. Air Force/Royal Air Force Exchange Program. Flying the Gloster Meteor jet fighter, he eventually served as commander of No. 1 Squadron at Royal Air Force Station Tangmere,
Olds was assigned to command the 71st Fighter Squadron, then an Air Defense Command unit stationed at Greater Pittsburgh Airport, Pennsylvania, and as a result missed service in the Korean War, despite repeated applications for a combat assignment. Discouraged and at odds with the Air Force, in which he was seen as an iconoclast, Olds reportedly was in the process of resigning when he was talked out of it by a mentor, Maj Gen Frederic H. Smith, Jr., who brought him to work at Eastern Air Defense Command headquarters at Stewart AFB.
Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on February 20, 1951, and Colonel April 15, 1953, Olds served unenthusiastically in several staff assignments until returning to flying in 1955. At first on the command staff of the 86th Fighter-Interceptor Wing at Landstuhl Air Base, Germany, Olds then commanded its Sabre-equipped 86th Fighter-Interceptor Group from October 8, 1955, to August 10, 1956. He then was made chief of the Weapons Proficiency Center at Wheelus Air Base, Libya, in charge of all fighter weapons training for the United States Air Forces Europe until July 1958.
Olds had administrative and staff duty assignments at the Pentagon between 1958 and 1962 as the Deputy Chief, Air Defense Division, Headquarters USAF. In this assignment he prepared a number of papers, iconoclastic at the time, which soon became prophetic, including identifying the need for upgraded conventional munitions (foretelling the "bomb shortage" of the Vietnam War), and the dearth of any serious tactical air training in conventional warfare. From November 1959 to March 1960, his section worked intensely to develop a program reducing the entire structure of the ADC with the purpose of generating $6.5 billion for classified funding to develop the SR-71 Blackbird. Following his Pentagon assignment, Olds attended the National War College, graduating in 1963.
Olds next became commander of the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing at RAF Bentwaters, England, an F-101 Voodoo fighter-bomber wing, on September 8, 1963. The 81st TFW was a major combat unit in United States Air Forces Europe, having both a tactical nuclear and conventional bombing role supporting NATO. Olds commanded the wing until July 26, 1965. James and Olds worked closely together for a year as a command team and developed both a professional and social relationship which was later renewed in combat.
Olds formed a demonstration team for the F-101 using pilots of his wing, without command authorization, and performed at an Air Force open house at Bentwaters. He asserted that his superior at Third Air Force attempted to have him court-martialed, but the commander of USAFE, General Gabriel P. Disosway, instead authorized his removal from command of the 81st TFW, cancellation of a recommended Legion of Merit award, and transfer to the headquarters of the Ninth Air Force at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.
In September 1966, Olds was tapped to command an F-4C Phantom wing in Southeast Asia. En route he arranged with the 4453rd Combat Crew Training Wing, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, (where Col. James was now Deputy Commander of Operations) to be checked out in the Phantom, completing the 14-step syllabus in just five days. His instructor was Major William L. Kirk, the 4453rd CCTW's Standardization and Evaluation officer, who had been one of Olds' pilots at RAF Bentwaters, and who later commanded the United States Air Forces Europe as a full general. Kirk accompanied Olds for practice firing of AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles on the Point Mugu missile range while Olds was en route to Travis Air Force Base for his charter flight overseas. Olds rewarded Kirk by granting him a transfer to his command in Thailand in March 1967.
In October 1966, strike force F-105 Thunderchiefs were equipped with QRC-160 radar jamming pods whose effectiveness virtually ended their losses to surface-to-air missiles. As a result, SAM attacks shifted to the Phantoms, unprotected because of a shortage of pods. To protect the F-4s, rules of engagement that allowed the MiGCAP to escort the strike force in and out of the target area were revised in December to restrict MiGCAP penetration to the edge of SAM coverage. MiG interceptions increased as a result, primarily by MiG-21s using high speed hit-and-run tactics against bomb-laden F-105 formations, and although only two bombers had been lost, the threat to the force was perceived as serious.
The Bolo plan reasoned that by equipping F-4s with jamming pods, using the call signs and communications codewords of the F-105 wings, and flying their flight profiles through northwest Vietnam, the F-4s could effectively simulate an F-105 bombing mission and entice the MiG-21s into intercepting not bomb-laden Thunderchiefs, but Phantoms configured for air-to-air combat.
After an intensive planning, maintenance, and briefing period, the mission was scheduled for January 1, 1967. Poor weather caused a 24-hour delay, but even then, a solid overcast covered the North Vietnamese airbases at Phuc Yen, Gia Lam, Kep, and Cat Bai when the bogus strike force began arriving over the target area, five minute intervals separating the flights of F-4s. Leading the first flight, Olds overflew the primary MiG-21 base at Phuc Yen and was on a second pass when MiGs finally began popping up through the cloud base. Although at first seemingly random in nature, it quickly became apparent that the MiGs were ground-controlled intercepts designed to place the supposed F-105s in a vise between enemies to their front and rear. He was awarded a third Silver Star for leading a low-level bombing strike on March 30, 1967, and the Air Force Cross for an attack on the Paul Doumer Bridge in Hanoi on August 11, one of five awarded to Air Force pilots for that mission. He flew his final combat mission over North Vietnam on September 23, 1967.
His 259 total combat missions included 107 in World War II and 152 in Southeast Asia, 105 of those over North Vietnam. Scat XXVII was retired from operational service and placed on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
For his part, Olds was not upset with the order, recalling:
To tell the truth, I wasn't all that fond of the damned thing by then, but it had become a symbol for the men of the 8th Wing. I knew McConnell understood. During his visits to Ubon over the past year he had never referred to my breach of military standards, just seemed rather amused at the variety of 'staches sported by many of the troops. (It) was the most direct order I had received in twenty-four years of service.
The incident with the mustache is given credit as the impetus for a new Air Force tradition, "Mustache March", in which aircrew, aircraft maintainers, and other Airmen worldwide show solidarity by a symbolic, albeit good-natured "protest" for one month against Air Force facial hair regulations.
"We weren't allowed to dogfight. Very little attention was paid to strafing, dive-bombing, rocketry, stuff like that. It was thought to be unnecessary. Yet every confrontation America faced in the Cold War years was a 'bombs and bullets' situation, raging under an uneasy nuclear standoff." The Vietnam War "proved the need to teach tactical warfare and have fighter pilots. It caught us unprepared because we weren't allowed to learn it or practice it in training."When Operation Linebacker began in May 1972, American fighter jets returned to the offense in the skies over North Vietnam for the first time in nearly four years. Navy and Marine Corps fighters, reaping the benefits of their TOPGUN program, immediately enjoyed considerable success. In contrast by June, as Olds had predicted, the Air Force's fighter community was struggling with a nearly 1:1 kill-loss ratio. To the new Inspector General, Lt. Gen. Ernest C. Hardin, Jr., Olds offered to take a voluntary reduction in rank to colonel so he could return to operational command and straighten out the situation. Olds decided to leave the Air Force when the offer was refused (he was offered another inspection tour instead) and he retired on June 1, 1973.
Awards and decorations
Robin Olds' ribbons as they appeared at retirement.
{| |- | colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"| |- | | colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"| |- | | | | |- | | | | |- | | | | |- | | | | |- | | | | |- | | | | |} From top, and from left to right: Command pilot.
Row 1: Air Force Cross; Air Force Distinguished Service Medal. Row 2: Silver Star, three oak leaf clusters; Legion of Merit; Distinguished Flying Cross, five oak leaf clusters. Row 3: Air Medal, with 39 oak leaf clusters. Row 4: Air Force Commendation Medal; Presidential Unit Citation, with oak leaf cluster; Outstanding Unit Award, with two oak leaf clusters; American Defense Service Medal. Row 5: American Campaign Medal; European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with six campaign stars; World War II Victory Medal; National Defense Service Medal, with third award star. Row 6: Vietnam Service Medal; Air Force Longevity Service Award, with six oak leaf clusters; Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Medal; Légion d'honneur. Row 7: Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom); Croix de Guerre (France), with star; Vietnam Air Gallantry Medal with Gold Wings; Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.
Air Force Cross citation
:Colonel Robin Olds :U.S. Air Force :Date Of Action: August 11, 1967
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Title 10, Section 8742, United States Code, takes pleasure in presenting the Air Force Cross to Colonel Robin Olds (AFSN: 0-26046), United States Air Force, for extraordinary heroism in military operations against an opposing armed force while serving as Strike Mission Commander in the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, Ubon Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, against the Paul Doumer Bridge, a major north-south transportation link on Hanoi's Red River in North Vietnam, on 11 August 1967. On that date, Colonel Olds led his strike force of eight F-4C aircraft against a key railroad and highway bridge in North Vietnam. Despite intense, accurately directed fire, multiple surface-to-air missile attacks on his force, and continuous harassment by MiG fighters defending the target, Colonel Olds, with undaunted determination, indomitable courage, and professional skill, led his force through to help destroy this significant bridge. As a result the flow of war materials into this area was appreciably reduced. Through his extraordinary heroism, superb airmanship, and aggressiveness in the face of hostile forces, Colonel Olds reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.
Personal
Olds was briefly a stepbrother of author Gore Vidal after Olds' father married for the fourth time in June 1942, to Nina Gore Auchinloss. His father died of pneumonia on April 28, 1943, after hospitalization for constrictive pericarditis and Libman-Sacks endocarditis, at the age of 46, just prior to Olds' graduation from West Point.In 1946, while based at March Field, Olds met Hollywood actress (and "pin-up girl") Ella Raines on a blind date in Palm Springs. They married in Beverly Hills on February 6, 1947, and had two daughters, Christina and Susan, and a son, Robert Ernest, who was stillborn in 1958. particularly her refusal to ever live in government housing on base. Robin Olds and Ella Raines separated in 1975 and divorced in 1976. Robin married Abigail Morgan Sellers Barnett in January 1978, and they divorced after fifteen years of marriage.
In his retirement at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Olds pursued his love of skiing and served on the city's planning commission. He was active in public speaking, making 21 events as late in his life as 2005 and 13 in 2006.
Olds' fondness for alcohol was well-known. John Darrell Sherwood, in his book Fast Movers: Jet Pilots and the Vietnam Experience,
Days later, on July 21, 2001, Olds was enshrined at Dayton, Ohio, in the National Aviation Hall of Fame class of 2001, along with test pilot Joseph H. Engle, Marine Corps ace Marion E. Carl, and Albert Lee Ueltschi. He became the only person enshrined in both the National Aviation Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.
In March 2007 Olds was hospitalized in Colorado for complications of Stage 4 prostate cancer. On the evening of June 14, 2007, General Olds died from congestive heart failure in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Olds was honored with a flyover and services at the United States Air Force Academy on June 30, where his ashes will be kept. General Olds will also be remembered as the Class Exemplar of the Academy Class of 2011, which had begun Basic Cadet Training, the first step towards becoming Air Force officers, two days before Olds' funeral.
References
;Notes;Bibliography
Boyne, Walter J. (November 1998) AIR FORCE Magazine">"Mig Sweep", AIR FORCE Magazine Sherwood, John Darrell. (1999) Fast Movers: Jet Pilots and the Vietnam Experience, Free Press, ISBN 978-0-312-97962-1 Anderson, Lars. (2004) The All Americans, St. Martins Press, ISBN 978-0-312-30887-2 Fairfield, Terry A. (2004) The 479th Fighter Group in World War II: in Action over Europe with the P-38 and P-51, Schiffer Military History, ISBN 978-0-7643-2056-9 Michel, Marshall L. (1997). Clashes: Air Combat Over North Vietnam 1965-1972, Naval Institute Press, ISBN 978-1-55750-585-9 Nordeen, Lon O. (1986) Air Warfare in the Missile Age, Smithsonian Institution Press, ISBN 978-0-87474-680-8 Olds, Robin. (2010) Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds , St. Martin's Press, ISBN 978-0-312-56023-2 ;Online
USAF in SEA: Aces and Aerial Victories - 1965-1973 - No. 146 AFHRA USAF Credits - WWII -No. 85 Brigadier General Robin Olds. USAF biography College Football Hall of Fame. Hall of Famers: Robin Olds includes photograph of Olds as a cadet
External links
Photostatic copy of Olds' victory claim report of 14 Feb 45 with links to other reports Olds´ P-38J-15 43-28431 Scat II, August 1944 Profile image of Scat VI P-51K TIME Magazine June 6, 1967">"The Old Man and the Migs", TIME Magazine June 6, 1967 Ace Pilots.com - Col. Robin Olds - Operation Bolo Ace Pilots.com - Maj. Robin Olds - WW2 The History Channel - Dogfights - "Air Ambush" premiered 10-Nov-2006 8th Tactical Fighter Wing Vietnam Era Website Memorial Service for Brigadier General Robin Olds @ U.S. Air Force Academy, 30 June 2007 Air Force Times obituary 8TFW.com Photo Gallery tribute
Category:1922 births Category:2007 deaths Category:People from Honolulu, Hawaii Category:American World War II flying aces Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United States) Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (United States) Category:Recipients of the Silver Star Category:Recipients of the Legion of Merit Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Category:American military personnel of the Vietnam War Category:Army Black Knights football players Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees Category:United States Military Academy alumni Category:United States Air Force generals Category:Military brats Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France) Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure Category:Recipients of the Air Medal
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| Name | Jake Brown |
|---|---|
| Caption | Jake Brown in San Diego in 2010 |
| Birth date | September 06, 1974 |
| Birth place | Sydney, Australia |
| Occupation | Skateboarder |
}}
Jake 'Ironman' Brown (born 6 September 1974) is an Australian skateboarder who competes in the X Games. He began competing in 1996, turning pro the following year.
Category:1974 births Category:Australian skateboarders Category:Living people Category:X-Games athletes
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| Name | Hamid Javed |
|---|---|
| Placeofbirth | Rawalpindi, Punjab (Pakistan)|Punjab]], Pakistan |
| Allegiance | Pakistan |
| Branch | Pakistan Army |
| Serviceyears | 1965–2001 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Commands | XXXI Corps ReserveDG Heavy Industries Taxila |
| Unit | 15 Lancers, Pakistan Army Armoured Corps |
| Battles | Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 |
| Laterwork | Chief of Staff to the President |
In spite of his close association with Musharraf, Hamid Javed is thought to have been against the idea of the emergency imposed in the country on 3 November 2007, and this is considered the main reason for his resignation. He served president Musharraf till 1 November 2007 where after he is living a retired life.
The same evening, the president hailed Lt-Gen Hamid Javed as an honest, upright, dedicated, hard-working and a balanced officer and man, with clarity of approach and thinking.
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| Name | Danny Way |
|---|---|
| Headercolor | #99bdcc |
| Birthdate | April 15, 1974 |
| Birthplace | Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Sport | Skateboarding |
| Country | |
| Height | |
| Weight | |
| Medaltemplates |
Way started skateboarding at age 5 at the Del Mar Skateboard Ranch. At age 6, he won the first contest that he entered and shortly after he received sponsorship from Hosoi Skateboards and Vision Skateboards.
Category:X Games Category:X-Games athletes Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:People from Portland, Oregon
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| Name | Bobby Brown |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Robert Barisford Brown |
| Born | February 05, 1969 |
| Origin | Roxbury, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Genre | R&B;New jack swingHip hopDance-pop |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter DancerActor |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Label | MCAInterscope Records |
| Associated acts | New EditionHeads of State Whitney Houston Damien Marley |
| Url | www.bobbybrownonline.com |
In 1989, he contributed two songs (including "On Our Own", which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100) to the Ghostbusters II soundtrack, in addition to making a cameo in the film. Brown has subsequently dabbled in acting.
In between the "On Our Own" single and the release of Brown's next album, a remix album, Dance! Ya Know It! was released to capitalise on Brown's huge success at the time. A non-album "megamix" single was released to promote the project. The European dance-oriented version (sampling beats by Snap!) was titled "The Freestyle Megamix" and was a hit in the UK, reaching #14 on the Gallup charts. A more R'n'B oriented version called "Every Little Hit Mix" (b/w "Roni) hit the Australian top 10
Brown's third album, Bobby, did not arrive until 1992. It reached #2 on the Billboard album charts and produced the hit singles "Humpin' Around" (#3 on the Billboard Hot 100) and "Good Enough" (#7) as well as a smaller hit in "Get Away" (#14). The album was eventually certified 1x platinum (1,000,000 units sold). on the project quoting, "Actually came to the studio, since he doesn't live far, and knocked out his recording in two hours. We're friends and his one-year-old son is my godson. His fiance, is one of my best friends in the whole world. I met Bobby a long time ago, but we really got to know each other through her.". Bobby Brown is working on his 5th solo album The Masterpiece that is set to be released early 2011 with production from producers such as Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Teddy Riley, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Derek "DOA" Allen, Benjamin Franklin, & some of his nephews.
Bobby Brown had cameo guest appearances in many movies. Panther (1995) starring Courtney B. Vance and Chris Rock. Earlier, he played all three characters of Three Blind Mice in Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme (1990). In 1989 was Brown's first solo guest cameo appearance in Ghostbusters II playing the Mayor's Doorman.
1985 Krush Groove Character Name: Himself
1989 Ghostbusters II Played The Mayor's Doorman
1989 His Prerogative Interview and Videos
1990 Mother Goose Rock 'N' Rhymes Character Name: Three Blind Mice
1992 Bobby Brown: Humpin' Around Making of the Video
1993 Bobby Brown: Bobby Played Himself
1995 Panther Character Name: Rose
1996 A Thin Line Between Love and Hate Character Name: Tee
2001 Two Can Play That Game Character Name: Michael
2002 Go For Broke Character Name: Jive
2003 Gang of Roses Character Name: Left Eye Watkins
2004 Nora's Hair Salon Character Name: Bennie
2008 Nora's Hair Salon II Character Name: Old Man Butter
He has a total of five biological children. In chronological order the oldest being his son Landon Brown age 24, La'princia Brown age 21, Robert(Bobby)Brown Jr. age 18, Bobbi Kristina Brown, age 17 and Cassius Brown age, 1. Brown had a brief intimate relationship with pop superstar Janet Jackson during the Don't Be Cruel era. Brown married Whitney Houston in July 1992. Together they have one daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, born on March 4, 1993. On September 13, 2006, Houston's publicist announced that after 14 years of marriage, Houston had filed for a legal separation from Brown. One month later, Houston officially filed for a divorce from Brown. It was ruled by a judge on April 4, 2007 that their marriage would be definitively dissolved on April 24, 2007, and that Whitney would receive custody of their then 14-year-old daughter. Bobby now has a new son named Cassius Brown with his new wife, Alicia Etheredge-Brown, born 3 years after his divorce from Houston.
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Brown's legal and substance abuse troubles threatened to overshadow his music. In late 2003, Brown was arrested for misdemeanor battery, allegedly for striking Houston while shouting epithets. In February 2004, Brown was arrested and jailed in Georgia on a parole violation related to a previous drunk driving conviction. Whitney Houston has also publicly stated that Brown's choice of drug was marijuana laced with cocaine.
In June 2007, Brown took part in the ITV television series "24 hours with...", a chat show format as celebrity and interviewer spend an intense 24 hours locked in a room together. The show's host, Jamie Campbell, asked Brown questions about his career and private life, and infamously joked about making "sexual moves" towards the singer. Brown was furious and threatened to beat Campbell up live on air.
Brown's eldest son, Landon Brown, appeared on the MTV show Rock the Cradle. On February 3, 2009, it was announced Brown was expecting his fifth child with his then girlfriend. His fifth son, a boy named Cassius, was born May 30, 2009.
He has been appearing on cable-televised reality T.V. shows such as Celebrity Fit Club, Gone Country, and his own show entitled Being Bobby Brown.
Bobby Brown made a guest appearance on The Monique Show with fellow group mates Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant to promote their ongoing tour across the globe to sold out shows. Bobby also discussed how he overcame his struggles. He told the world how happy he is to be in love with his new wife Alicia Etheredge-Brown. The trio Heads of State performed medleys of their classic legendary hits to an audience full of die hard New Edition fans.
On May 7, 2010, Brown proposed to his long time girlfriend while performing at the Funk Fest in Jacksonville, Fla. He asked her to marry him while giving his performance on stage. He got down on one knee and when she joined him on stage along with their child she accepted his proposal. He is currently signed to Geffen Records/Interscope Records.
Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:African American singers Category:American dance musicians Category:American male singers Category:American pop singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musicians from Massachusetts Category:New Edition members Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:People from Boston, Massachusetts Category:Whitney Houston Category:MCA Records artists Category:People convicted of alcohol-related driving offenses Category:Celebrity Fit Club participants Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics
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| Name | Bob Burnquist |
|---|---|
| Caption | Burnquist skating in Brazil, 2008 |
| Birth date | October 10, 1976 |
| Birth place | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Birth name | Robert Dean Silva Burnquist |
| Occupation | SkateboarderCo-owner of Burnquist Organics |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Citizenship | United States and Brazil |
| Height | |
| Spouse | Verônica Nachard |
| Children | 2, Lotus O'Brien Silva Burnquist, Jasmyn |
| Website | BobBurnquist.com |
Burnquist's specialties are in switch stance skateboarding and creating innovative vert tricks. He has always tried to find new ways to make his tricks more creative and more difficult. He has a signature trick called "one-footed smith grind". Burnquist has also been featured in the hit video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and appeared in all of its sequels with the exception of Pro Skater 3, due to license restrictions as a result of his appearing in another skating game, X-Games Skateboarding, during that year. He returned as a featured character in the series starting again with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 and has since appeared in all the series' games following that.
Burnquist also won a gold medal in the 2005 X-Games Best Trick vert contest.
Burnquist is the only skater to go over a loop ramp with a gap in it (OP King Of Skate). Not only was the loop gapped, but Burnquist also did the gap switch. He is also the first skater to go through a loop while riding switch stance, and the first to go all the way around a full pipe just by pumping up to speed inside it. In 2000, Burnquist won the X-Games' best trick contest, with his famous fakie 5-0 with a fakie Kickflip off of the grind bar. He created a trick called "Burntwist", which is in the Tony Hawk's series.
Burnquist completed a BASE jump after attempting a 50-50 into the Grand Canyon. The first attempt nearly cost Burnquist his life after he missed the rail and fell out of control before regaining himself and successfully deploying his parachute. After some adjustments to the take-off ramp his second attempt went off flawlessly. This stunt was shown in an episode of the television show Stunt Junkies.
He formerly lived with professional skateboarder Jen O'Brien, and their daughter Lotus. He now lives with Veronica Nachard and their daughter Jasmyn (born 2007) in Vista, California, where he has a world-renowned vert ramp in his backyard. This ramp has been skated by dozens of famous skateboarders, including Colin McKay, Tony Hawk, Rune Glifberg Bucky Lasek, and Lincoln Ueda, and has been featured in hundreds of magazines and videos, including Tony Hawk's Trick Tips and Thrasher Magazine. Burnquist's latest addition to his backyard skate-park is one of the world's few permanent Mega Ramps.
He had also started the Bob Burnquist Foundation to bring knowledge about organic farming and gardening to schools, and was one of the founders of the Action Sports Environmental Coalition, a nonprofit organization that brings ecological awareness to skateboarders, surfers and BMXers.
Category:American skateboarders Category:American vegetarians Category:Brazilian skateboarders Category:Brazilian vegetarians Category:Laureus World Sports Awards winners Category:American people of Brazilian descent Category:Brazilian people of Swedish descent Category:Brazilian immigrants to the United States Category:American sportspeople of Swedish descent Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:X-Games athletes Category:People from Rio de Janeiro (city) Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States
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