This Military Service Page was created/owned by
SSgt Robert Bruce McClelland, Jr.
to remember
White, Robert Michael, Maj Gen USAF(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town New York City, NY
Last Address Orlando, Florida
Date of Passing Mar 17, 2010
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
He flew 52 combat missions in WWII, was shot down, and became a POW. He was the first pilot to fly an aircraft at Mach 4, 5, and 6. He flew 70 combat missions in the Vietnam War.
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 Robert M. White (AFSN: 0-24589A), United States Air Force, for extraordinary heroism in military operations against an opposing armed force as an F-105 Mission Commander and Pilot of the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, Takhli royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, in action near Hanoi, North Vietnam, on 11 August 1967. On that date, Colonel White led the entire combat force against a key railroad and highway bridge in the vicinity of Hanoi. In spite of 14 surface-to-air missile launches, MiG interceptor attacks, and intense anti-aircraft artillery fire, he gallantly led the attack. By being the first aircraft to dive through the dark clouds of bursting flak, Colonel White set an example that inspired the remaining attacking force to destroy the bridge without a single aircraft being lost to the hostile gunners. Through his extraordinary heroism, superb airmanship, and aggressiveness in the face of hostile forces, Colonel White reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.
Indeed, were it not for the noise, the relentless hurricane-force wind sometimes mixed with bullets of rain in the face, the occasional bug in the mouth, the near impossibility of communication, the danger of hypothermia, the unshielded exposure to the sun's deadly gamma rays, the non-existent baggage space, the low-pressure airflow over the cockpits that can suck out charts and papers, the dismal forward visibility, and its otherwise shameless impracticality, an open-cockpit biplane might just be the most ideal aircraft ever conceived - surely the most magnificent of all of man's wondrous machines. Author Unknown
The PT-13 was typical of the biplane primary trainer used during the late 1930s and WW II. Whereas it was powered by a Lycoming engine, the same airplane with a Continental engine was designated the PT-17, and with a Jacobs engine, the PT-18. A later version which featured a cockpit canopy was designated the PT-27.
Of 10,346 Kaydets ordered for the U.S. and its Allies, 2,141 were PT-13s for the AAF. Following WW II, the Kaydet was phased out in favor of more modern trainers.
SPECIFICATIONS Span: 32 ft. 2 in. Length: 24 ft. 10 in. Height: 9 ft. 2 in. Weight: 2,717 lbs. loaded Armament: None Engine: Lycoming R-680 of 220 hp.. Cost: $11,000
PERFORMANCE Maximum speed: 125 mph. Cruising speed: 104 mph. Range: 450 miles Service Ceiling: 14,000 ft.
