Lightning ACE!

P-38 Legend Robin Olds

- ROBIN OLDS VIA CHRISTINA OLDS

I knew about Muroc Dry Lake because my father had been involved with building a bombing target there in the late 1930s. It was still there. Considering the ongoing rivalry at that time with the admirals in the surface navy, it didn’t surprise me that the target turned out to be a large wooden replica of a battleship.

In 1943, Second Lieutenant Robin Olds received his silver wings and proceeded to operational training. With another batch of West Pointers, he drew the Lockheed P-38, with an assignment to a remote, forlorn place in California. The following is excerpted from Olds’ autobiography completed by his daughter Christina.

Flying and ground school. Then more ground school, flying, and still more flying. The P-38 was incredible. Our days were filled with the wonder of the machines, even though the bulk of them were bent and battered, not even worthy of the distinguished status of “war wearies.” There were D models and E models. There were even some earlier C models. Each was unique, with instruments never in the same location, the throttle, mixture, and rpm controls mixed around on the power quadrant, and switches all over the place.