Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create accountShop Small Sale
Shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks. Don’t miss out—purchases support local bookstores.
Shop the saleLimited-time offer
Get two free audiobooks!
Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.
Sign up todayFighter Pilot
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreA larger-than-life hero with a towering personality, Robin Olds was a graduate of West Point and an inductee in the National College Football Hall of Fame for his All-American performance for Army. In World War II, Olds quickly became a top fighter pilot and squadron commander by the age of twenty-two—a double ace with twelve aerial victories. But it was in Vietnam where the man became a legend. He motivated a dejected group of pilots by placing himself under junior officers and challenging them to train him properly. He led the wing with aggressiveness, scoring another four confirmed kills and becoming a rare triple ace. With his marriage to Hollywood actress and pinup girl Ella Raines, his nonregulation mustache and penchant for drink, Olds was a unique individual whose story is one of the most eagerly anticipated military books of the year.
Robin Olds (1922–2007) was a US Air Force fighter pilot. A triple ace, he achieved a combined total of sixteen victories in World War II and the Vietnam War. Born into an army family in Honolulu and raised in Virginia, he was educated at West Point, where he was an All American football player. He was promoted to brigadier general after Vietnam and served as Commandant of Cadets at the US Air Force Academy.
Robertson Dean has played leading roles on and off Broadway and at dozens of regional theaters throughout the country. He has a BA from Tufts University and an MFA from Yale. His audiobook narration has garnered ten AudioFile Earphones Awards. He now lives in Los Angeles, where he works in film and television in addition to narrating.
Reviews
“A tribute to a vanished breed of men.”
“Massively welcomed by his legion of fans.”
“Robin Olds was bold, audacious and courageous; truly one of America’s premier fighter pilots. His captivating story, told in riveting fashion, provides great insights into his life and the attributes that make a great fighter pilot. Warning! If you start to read, you will have trouble putting it down!”
“Robin Olds is probably the greatest aerial warrior America ever produced. He is the real deal, a fighter pilot’s fighter pilot, a consummate military professional, a natural, charismatic leader, and a true, heroic servant of our republic...That men like Olds chose to wear our nation’s uniform does high honor to the profession. I confidently predict that this book will be an instant classic.”
“Triple ace Robin Olds’ legendary leadership and heroic service to the cause of freedom have been an inspiration to our nation and our air force. He is one of our ‘great captains’ and a pioneer of air power.”
“Pilot Robin Olds served 30 years in the Army and Air Force, at West Point, in WWII, and in Vietnam. His action stories of combat flying place listeners right in the cockpit next to him, with flak exploding just outside the plane’s canopy. His exemplary principles of leadership rank him with history’s finest at inspiring cohesiveness in military teams. Narrator Robertson Dean’s booming voice takes a stoic approach to both the serious and amusing escapades. During Olds’s duty at a British base, Dean delivers the Etonian accents of fellow flyers like a native. The author’s story covers a long life, so Dean keeps his first-person voice constant and ageless. With appropriate restraint he portrays this Air Force officer’s anger, nostalgia, and patriotism.”
“A gripping narrative…Compelling reading, likely to become a classic.”
Expand reviews