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This Day in History – June 10, 1969 – The X-15 gets a place in history

10 June 1969: The U.S. Air Force donated the first North American Aviation X-15, serial number 56-6670, to the Smithsonian Institution for display at the National Air and Space Museum. The first of three X-15A hypersonic research rocketplanes built by North American for the Air Force and the National Advisory Committee (NACA, the predecessor of NASA), 56-6670 made the first glide flight and

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Robinson, Peter D.

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  • Robinson, Peter D.

Peter D. Robinson

Preferred Name: Pete
Date of Birth: October 9, 1940
Highest Military Grade: 0-8 – Major General
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Headed West Date: December 1, 2023
Biography
Pilot Information
Headed West
Album

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.

(source: https://airandspace.si.edu/support/wall-of-honor/peter-d-robinson)

Units Assigned

  • 1962-1963 Pilot Training, Webb AFB, TX
  • 1963-1964 F-100 Training, Luke AFB, AZ (F-100)
  • 6/1964-12/1966 81st Tactical Fighter Squadron, Hahn AB, Germany
  • 12/1966-12/1968 90th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Bien Hoa AB, Vietnam
  • 12/1968 Defense Language Institute
  • 10/1968-7/1970 University of Freiburg
  • 7/1970-11/1970 F-4 Phantom training, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, AZ
  • 11/1970-11/1971 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Udorn Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand (F-4)
  • 11/1971-9/1974  Headquarters, Staff officer in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel U.S. Air Force, Washington, DC
  • 9/1974-12/1975 Headquarters, Military assistant to the Air Force, Assistant Secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, Washington, DC
  • 12/1975-1/1978 49th Tactical Fighter Wing/9th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Holloman Air Force Base, NM (F-4)
  • 1/1978-1/1979 49th Tactical Fighter Wing/9th Tactical Fighter Squadron (F-4,-15 Eagles)
  • 1/1979-6/1980 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Commander, Holloman AFB, NM
  • 12/1980 Royal College of Defence Studies
  • 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
Distinguished Service Medal
Legion Of Merit
Legion of Merit with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Cross with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters
Meritorious Service Award
Meritorious Service Medal
Air Medal
Air Medal with 27 Oak Leaf Clusters
Air Force Commendation Medal
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.

MG PETER D ROBINSON

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.

 

No other information is available at this time.

Robinson_Peter service era photo
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Wall of Honor Location

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