Robert T. Smith
Encyclopedia
Robert Tharp Smith (February 23, 1918 - August 21, 1995) was born in York, Nebraska
. His family moved to Red Cloud from Hooper, Nebraska in 1927 when his father, Earl W. Smith, was hired as Superintendent of Schools. He graduated Red Cloud High School in 1935. Smith attended the University of Nebraska before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1939, midway through his senior year.
at Santa Maria, California
. During his training, he was given a couple of check rides with Robert L. Scott
, who on May 17, 1942 flew as Smith's wingman on Scott's first combat mission in China. Smith completed basic training with Class 40-C at Randolph Field
, Texas and advanced training at Brooks Field
, Texas. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in June 1940, and returned to Randolph Field where his first assignment was as a basic flight instructor.
American Volunteer Group
(AVG) as a "soldier of fortune" with the Nationalist Chinese Air Force. The Flying Tigers
, as they were soon to be called, were in Burma training in Curtiss P-40s (actually Hawk Model 81-A-2s, or, as the British called them, Tomahawks) when Pearl Harbor
was attacked on December 7, 1941 (December 8 on their side of the International Dateline).
R.T. Smith (sometimes called "Tadpole" after David Lee "Tex" Hill supplied the answer to a question someone posed to Smith, “What’s the ‘T’ stand for?”) saw his first combat action over Rangoon on December 23, 1941, where he was credited with shooting down 1.5 Mitsubishi Ki-21
"Sally" bombers followed on Christmas Day with credit for two more Sally bombers and a fighter. Promoted to flight leader in the Third Pursuit Squadron, "Hell's Angels", Smith was credited with shooting down a total of 8.9 Japanese planes, and was twice decorated by the Chinese government. The AVG continued to fight throughout Burma and southwest China until it was officially disbanded on July 4, 1942.
with the 1st Air Commando Group
, flying occasional P-51 Mustang
missions and commanding that group's B-25 Mitchell
squadron in support of British General Orde Wingate's troops working out of India
and moving behind Japanese lines in Burma (now Myanmar). The story is told of when Smith was flying alone in his P-51 (named "Barbie" after his wife) and saw a crowd gathered around a jeep on the flying field. Someone was making a speech and Smith assumed it was Phil Cochran
, Co-commander (with John Alison
) of the 1st Air Commando Group. He put his P-51 into a dive and buzzed the speaker, nearly taking his hat off, at over 450 miles an hour. It was only after Smith landed that he learned the speaker was Lord Louis Mountbatten
, Supreme Allied Commander, South-East Asia. Lord Mountbatten wasn't angry at Smith, but was angry at his aide for having him make a speech on an active flying field. Smith ("R.T." according to Chuck Baisden, for "Round Trip" while in the 1st Air Commando Group) was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel
in March 1944, flew 55 combat missions over Burma, and was awarded the Air Medal
, Distinguished Flying Cross
and Silver Star
.
when it was actually a river instead of the concrete channel it is today. After flying DC3s and Constellations between Los Angeles
and Kansas City
for a year and a half with Trans-World Airlines (TWA), he wrote radio scripts for the Hopalong Cassidy
Western Adventure Show, Lum and Abner
, and the Clyde Beatty Show
. He also wrote the screenplay (with Frank Taussig) for the movie Perils of the Jungle
staring Clyde Beatty. Smith was co-owner of a toy manufacturing company (Smith-Miller); developed and sold a product for conditioning automobile convertible tops (Top Secret); and worked for Roy Weatherby
as a sales representative for Weatherby rifles and cartridges. A check on eBay will disclose that Smith-Miller trucks have become expensive collector’s items. R.T. and Barbara Smith were divorced in 1955. About this time Smith joined Lockheed Aircraft Corporation as a technical writer, working his way up through the organization, first as a military sales representative for the F-104 Starfighter
, and later to open and manage a new corporate office for Lockheed in Newport News, Virginia
. Smith served at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserve
from 1949 to 1966.
R.T. Smith married Ronni Burkett in July 1965. During the late 1960s, he joined the Flying Tiger Line
, first as Vice President for Industrial Affairs in Washington, D.C.
and later as Vice President for the Far East headquartered in Tokyo
. He left the Flying Tiger Line and Tokyo in the early 1970s to live and work in Palm Springs, California
R.T. Smith and Ronni were divorced in the mid-1970s. He returned to the San Fernando Valley where he wrote and published Tale of a Tiger, based on facsimiles of his original diary entries and several articles for Air Classics. He also established a mail-order business, selling his book and color photographs he shot while he was in the AVG and 1st Air Commando Group, including this often reproduced formation shot of the 3rd Squadron Hell's Angles taken on May 28, 1942 near the Salween River
along the China-Burma border. He died at age 77 (the number he selected for his first P-40 in the AVG) of lung cancer on August 21, 1995.
Smith was survived by his sister, June, who died in 2001; three sons, Bradford, Robert, and William; and three grandchildren. William Smith is named in honor of his good friend Bill Reed, who died in December 1944 while serving with the Chinese-American Composite Wing.
York, Nebraska
York is a city in York County, Nebraska, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,766. It is the county seat of York County. It is the home of York College and the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women.-Geography:...
. His family moved to Red Cloud from Hooper, Nebraska in 1927 when his father, Earl W. Smith, was hired as Superintendent of Schools. He graduated Red Cloud High School in 1935. Smith attended the University of Nebraska before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1939, midway through his senior year.
Flight Training
He received his primary flight training at the Allan Hancock College of AeronauticsHancock Field (California)
Hancock Field is a former airport and military airfield located approximately south-southeast of Santa Maria, California. Also known as Santa Maria Municipal Airport, the airport was closed about 1959 and today is the site of Allan Hancock College....
at Santa Maria, California
Santa Maria, California
Santa Maria is a city in Santa Barbara County, on the Central Coast of California. The 2010 census population was 100,062, putting it ahead of Santa Barbara for the first time and making it the largest city in the county...
. During his training, he was given a couple of check rides with Robert L. Scott
Robert Lee Scott, Jr.
Robert Lee Scott Jr. was a Brigadier General in the United States Air Force. Scott is best known for his autobiography God is My Co-Pilot about his exploits in World War II with the Flying Tigers and the United States Army Air Forces in China and Burma...
, who on May 17, 1942 flew as Smith's wingman on Scott's first combat mission in China. Smith completed basic training with Class 40-C at Randolph Field
Randolph Air Force Base
Randolph Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located east-northeast of San Antonio, Texas. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 902d Mission Support Group, Air Education and Training Command ....
, Texas and advanced training at Brooks Field
Brooks City-Base
Brooks City-Base was a United States Air Force facility located in San Antonio, Texas, southeast of Downtown San Antonio.In 2002 Brooks Air Force Base was renamed Brooks City-Base when the property was conveyed to the Brooks Development Authority as part of a unique project between local, state,...
, Texas. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in June 1940, and returned to Randolph Field where his first assignment was as a basic flight instructor.
American Volunteer Group
Smith resigned his commission in July 1941 in order to join Colonel Claire Lee Chennault'sClaire Lee Chennault
Lieutenant General Claire Lee Chennault , was an American military aviator. A contentious officer, he was a fierce advocate of "pursuit" or fight-interceptor aircraft during the 1930s when the U.S. Army Air Corps was focused primarily on high-altitude bombardment...
American Volunteer Group
American Volunteer Group
The American Volunteer Groups were volunteer air units organized by the United States government to aid the Nationalist government of China against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War...
(AVG) as a "soldier of fortune" with the Nationalist Chinese Air Force. The Flying Tigers
Flying Tigers
The 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942, famously nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army , Navy , and Marine Corps , recruited under presidential sanction and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The ground crew and headquarters...
, as they were soon to be called, were in Burma training in Curtiss P-40s (actually Hawk Model 81-A-2s, or, as the British called them, Tomahawks) when Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
was attacked on December 7, 1941 (December 8 on their side of the International Dateline).
R.T. Smith (sometimes called "Tadpole" after David Lee "Tex" Hill supplied the answer to a question someone posed to Smith, “What’s the ‘T’ stand for?”) saw his first combat action over Rangoon on December 23, 1941, where he was credited with shooting down 1.5 Mitsubishi Ki-21
Mitsubishi Ki-21
The was a Japanese bomber during World War II. It began operations during the Second Sino-Japanese War participating in the Nomonhan Incident, and in the first stages of the Pacific War, including the Malayan, Burmese, Dutch East Indies and New Guinea Campaigns...
"Sally" bombers followed on Christmas Day with credit for two more Sally bombers and a fighter. Promoted to flight leader in the Third Pursuit Squadron, "Hell's Angels", Smith was credited with shooting down a total of 8.9 Japanese planes, and was twice decorated by the Chinese government. The AVG continued to fight throughout Burma and southwest China until it was officially disbanded on July 4, 1942.
1st Air Commando Group
R.T. Smith married Barbara Bradford in June 1943. That fall, he volunteered (having told Barbara that he had been ordered) to return to the China-India-Burma TheaterChina Burma India Theater of World War II
China Burma India Theater was the name used by the United States Army for its forces operating in conjunction with British and Chinese Allied air and land forces in China, Burma, and India during World War II...
with the 1st Air Commando Group
1st Air Commando Group
The 1st Air Commando Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Army Service Forces, based at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. It was inactivated on 3 November 1945....
, flying occasional P-51 Mustang
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and in several other conflicts...
missions and commanding that group's B-25 Mitchell
B-25 Mitchell
The North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engined medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and saw service across four decades.The B-25 was named...
squadron in support of British General Orde Wingate's troops working out of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and moving behind Japanese lines in Burma (now Myanmar). The story is told of when Smith was flying alone in his P-51 (named "Barbie" after his wife) and saw a crowd gathered around a jeep on the flying field. Someone was making a speech and Smith assumed it was Phil Cochran
Philip Cochran
Philip Gerald Cochran was an officer in the United States Army Air Corps. Cochran developed many tactical air combat, air transport, and air assault techniques during the war, particularly in Burma during operations as co-commander of the 1st Air Commando Group...
, Co-commander (with John Alison
John R. Alison
- External links :* The All-American Airman, Walter J. Boyne, March 2000*John R. Alison Papers, 1945–1957*John R. Alison Collection, including extended video interview available online.*" John R. Alison Enshrinee Biography...
) of the 1st Air Commando Group. He put his P-51 into a dive and buzzed the speaker, nearly taking his hat off, at over 450 miles an hour. It was only after Smith landed that he learned the speaker was Lord Louis Mountbatten
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
, Supreme Allied Commander, South-East Asia. Lord Mountbatten wasn't angry at Smith, but was angry at his aide for having him make a speech on an active flying field. Smith ("R.T." according to Chuck Baisden, for "Round Trip" while in the 1st Air Commando Group) was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
in March 1944, flew 55 combat missions over Burma, and was awarded the Air Medal
Air Medal
The Air Medal is a military decoration of the United States. The award was created in 1942, and is awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.-Criteria:...
, Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)
The Distinguished Flying Cross is a medal awarded to any officer or enlisted member of the United States armed forces who distinguishes himself or herself in support of operations by "heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight, subsequent to November 11, 1918." The...
and Silver Star
Silver Star
The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....
.
After Discharge
Smith returned to the States in the late spring of 1944 and was assigned as Director of Flying Training with the 441st Army Air Force Base Unit at Van Nuys, California, a P-38 training base. He resigned from the Air Corps at the conclusion of World War II and bought a home in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California across from the Los Angeles RiverLos Angeles River
The Los Angeles River is a river that starts in the San Fernando Valley, in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, and flows through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the western end of the San Fernando Valley, nearly southeast to its mouth in Long Beach...
when it was actually a river instead of the concrete channel it is today. After flying DC3s and Constellations between Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
for a year and a half with Trans-World Airlines (TWA), he wrote radio scripts for the Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of popular short stories and twenty-eight novels based on the character....
Western Adventure Show, Lum and Abner
Lum and Abner
Lum and Abner was an American radio comedy network program created by Chester Lauck and Norris Goff that aired from 1931 to 1954. Modeled on life in the small town of Waters, Arkansas, near where Lauck and Goff grew up, the showed proved immensely popular...
, and the Clyde Beatty Show
Clyde Beatty
Clyde Beatty joined the circus as a cage cleaner as a teen and became famous as a lion tamer and animal trainer. He also became a circus impresario who owned his own show that later merged with the Cole Bros. Circus to form the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros...
. He also wrote the screenplay (with Frank Taussig) for the movie Perils of the Jungle
Perils of the Jungle (1953 film)
- Cast :*Clyde Beatty as Clyde Beatty*Stanley Farrar as Grant*Phyllis Coates as Jo Carter*John Doucette as Gorman*Leonard Mudie as Grubbs*Joel Fluellen as Kenny*Roy Glenn as Korjah*Olaf Hytten as Mac*Tudor Owen as Commissioner*Shelby Bacon as Boy King...
staring Clyde Beatty. Smith was co-owner of a toy manufacturing company (Smith-Miller); developed and sold a product for conditioning automobile convertible tops (Top Secret); and worked for Roy Weatherby
Roy Weatherby
Roy E. Weatherby was the founder and owner of Weatherby, Inc., an American rifle, shotgun and cartridge manufacturing company set up in 1945. Weatherby created an entire line of custom cartridges, and was one of the people responsible for the industry interest in high-speed cartridges...
as a sales representative for Weatherby rifles and cartridges. A check on eBay will disclose that Smith-Miller trucks have become expensive collector’s items. R.T. and Barbara Smith were divorced in 1955. About this time Smith joined Lockheed Aircraft Corporation as a technical writer, working his way up through the organization, first as a military sales representative for the F-104 Starfighter
F-104 Starfighter
The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is a single-engine, high-performance, supersonic interceptor aircraft originally developed for the United States Air Force by Lockheed. One of the Century Series of aircraft, it served with the USAF from 1958 until 1969, and continued with Air National Guard units...
, and later to open and manage a new corporate office for Lockheed in Newport News, Virginia
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
. Smith served at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserve
Air Force Reserve Command
The Air Force Reserve Command is a major command of the U.S. Air Force with its headquarters at Robins AFB, Georgia.It stood up as a major command of the Air Force on 17 February 1997....
from 1949 to 1966.
R.T. Smith married Ronni Burkett in July 1965. During the late 1960s, he joined the Flying Tiger Line
Flying Tiger Line
Flying Tiger Line, also known as Flying Tigers, was the first scheduled cargo airline in the United States and a major military charter operator during the Cold War era for both cargo and personnel .- History :...
, first as Vice President for Industrial Affairs in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and later as Vice President for the Far East headquartered in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. He left the Flying Tiger Line and Tokyo in the early 1970s to live and work in Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
R.T. Smith and Ronni were divorced in the mid-1970s. He returned to the San Fernando Valley where he wrote and published Tale of a Tiger, based on facsimiles of his original diary entries and several articles for Air Classics. He also established a mail-order business, selling his book and color photographs he shot while he was in the AVG and 1st Air Commando Group, including this often reproduced formation shot of the 3rd Squadron Hell's Angles taken on May 28, 1942 near the Salween River
Salween River
The Salween is a river, about long, that flows from the Tibetan Plateau into the Andaman Sea in Southeast Asia. It drains a narrow and mountainous watershed of that extends into the countries China, Burma and Thailand. Steep canyon walls line the swift, powerful and undammed Salween, one of the...
along the China-Burma border. He died at age 77 (the number he selected for his first P-40 in the AVG) of lung cancer on August 21, 1995.
Smith was survived by his sister, June, who died in 2001; three sons, Bradford, Robert, and William; and three grandchildren. William Smith is named in honor of his good friend Bill Reed, who died in December 1944 while serving with the Chinese-American Composite Wing.
External links
- R.T. Smith photos and art at San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives