As of 31 December 2024 the Super Sabre Society will be no more. We had a good run and the stories of our F-100 pilots will live on. Many thanks to Jack Paddock of Heart and Soul Web Design (https://heartandsoulwebdesign.com/) for the design and management of our site. After 31 December, the site will be
Peter Robinson was born in Nashville, Tennessee on October 9, 1940, and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan. He earned his private license before his driver’s license. In 1958 he entered the fourth class of the USAF Academy in Colorado.
After graduation in 1962 and pilot training at Webb AFB, he got a fighter training assignment at Luke AFB, Arizona in the F-100 Super Sabre. At the end of this training in 1964, he was assigned to Hahn AB, Germany flying the F-100.
In the winter of 1967, he was assigned to Bien Hoa AB, South Vietnam in the F-100. During that year Captain Robinson flew 310 combat missions over South Vietnam. In the end, he went back to school in Germany at the University of Freiburg on an Olmsted Scholarship. At the end of that time, he had a short checkout in the F-4 Phantom and went back to Thailand to fly another 125 combat missions mainly over Laos.
His Air Force career involved assignments in the Pentagon, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Illinois, and Alabama. It also included attendance at the British Royal College of Defence Studies in London. He again flew the Phantom at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, and there converted to the F-15 Eagle.
Command assignments include the 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Holloman, the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing at Bitburg AB, Germany, and the 313th Air Division at Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan all in the Eagle. Other commands were Chanute Technical Training Center, Rantoul Illinois, the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, and the Air War College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. The Air Force people that he worked with were among the finest in the country, and it was a privilege to work with them.
His last Air Force assignment was running the Air War College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife. He has two adult children in California and New York.
1/1982-4/1983 Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Ramstein AB, West Germany
4/1983-10/1987 36th Tactical Fighter Wing, Bitburg AB, West Germany
10/1987-9/1988 313th Air Division, Pacific Air Forces, Kadena AB, Japan
9/1988-1/1990 Chanute Technical Training Center, Chanute Air Force Base, IL
1/1990-7/1991 Commander, Air Force Operational Test, and Evaluation Center, Kirtland AFB, NM
7/1991-7/1995 Commandant, Air War College/Vice Commander, Air University, Maxwell AFB, AL
7/1/1995 Retired from USAF
Awards & Decorations
Distinguished Service Medal
Legion of Merit with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters
Distinguished Flying Cross with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters
Meritorious Service Medal
Air Medal with 27 Oak Leaf Clusters
Air Force Commendation Medal
General and Mrs. Robinson were recipients of the General and Mrs. Jerome F. O’Malley Award for 1986
Flight Info
F-100
F-4
F-15
Flying Hours: 3,400
435 combat missions
Wall of Honor Location: Foil: 1 Panel: 1 Column: 2 Line: 109
Wall of Honor Level: Air and Space Friend
Military & Civilian Education
Military Education:
1962 BS/Basic and Applied Science, Air Force Academy
1965 Squadron Officer School
1968 Defense Language Institute, Monterey, CA
1978 Air War College
1981 British Senior War College, Royal College of Defence Studies, London, England
Civilian Education:
The University of Freiburg, West Germany (Olmsted scholar in Mathematics)
1977 MS/Planning and Public Administration, Pepperdine University
Peter D. Robinson, MGen USAF, Ret., “Headed West” on December 1, 2023.
Maj Gen Peter D Robinson headed west on Friday afternoon, December 1st. He fought the cancer that was ravaging his body for over two months. He has already been cremated, and he will be interred at the Air Force Academy National Cemetery in the spring of 2024.
News of Pete’s passing was sent to the SSS from Gary Van Valin.