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| Aviation Art Collecton - Aviation Technician Chief Jame H Robbie Robbins USN |
James H. Robbins, known as Robbic to his friends, was born in San Diego, California on April 28, 1926. He enlisted in the Navy on his seventeenth birthday. After completing all training necessary to become a T1317 Combat Air Crewman, he was transferred to ASW Tailhook Sqdn. (VC-36) based at NAS Pungo Field, Virginia. Robbie was deployed on the USS Mission Bay where his squadron flew convoy escort and anti-sub missions. Robbie participated in the sinking of a German refueling submarine, and his squadron participated in missions to provide air cover for the task force which took President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Malta Summit. VC-36 was decommissioned in July 1945 after VE Day. Robbie was then assigned to a PBM Mariner Air Crew Training unit at Bannana River, Florida. Following his training he reported to VP-19 based at NAS Norfolk, Virginia. Robbie volunteered for Operation Nanook in the summer of 1946, and he flew numerous Arctic exploratory missions while assigned to the USS Norton Sound anchored in Thule Harbor, Greenland. Later in 1946 Robbie was headed to the opposite pole, this time as part of Admiral Byrd's Operation High Jump. The purpose of this large scale operation was to map the Antarctic continent for the first time. Robbie's first and only flight during Operation High Jump ended in tragedy as his P13M crashed on the tip of the Thurston Peninsula. Three of the nine on board died in the crash and explosion which followed. The six individuals which survived owed a great deal to Robbie, who being one of the least injured, played a major role in the survival and eventual rescue of the survivors after thirteen days on the ice. Robbie's account of the flight, ordeal, and rescue is entitled Antarctic Mayday and is available from the Mariner/Marlin Association. He received the Navy Marine Corps Medal for heroism displayed during this mission. Robbie continued flying P13Ms for several more years logging more than 5000 hours. His love of the P13M, and the close knit pilot/crew relationships which developed, remain foremost in his memories. Robbie was medically grounded in 1952, but remained in the Navy, serving at NAS Point Magu, NATTC Memphis, Midway Island, NAS Miramar, and NAS North Island, until his retirement in 1965. Following his retirement from the Navy as Aviation Chief Technician, Robbie had a second career working for the Naval Electronics Systems Engineering Center in San Diego as a civilian employee for twenty-three years. Robbic is now happily retired and lives with Dale, his bride of more than forty-nine years, in Palm Desert, California. Robbie has a son Jim, and two grandchildren.  |
| Based on many years of experience in dealing with thousands of aviation signatures, we have estimated the value this signature adds to a print as £35 |
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