Ambassador of American Airpower

<p>Robert Olds became a true ambassador of American airpower during the 1920s and 1930s enabling his country to develop bonds that ultimately ensured success for the United States and its allies in World War II. At a time when traditional military thinking held that airpower would contribute to the isolation of America Olds understood the importance of viewing airpower in terms of its globalizing effect. In many respects Olds took on the role of America's airpower ambassador throughout his career. His experiences as a junior officer set the stage for future accomplishments. A week-long deployment to the isolated island of Molokai Hawaii in particular marked Olds' first opportunity to act as an emissary. Later as commander of Second Bombardment Group--the only organization in the Army Air Corps equipped with B-17 bombers--Olds led a pair of pioneering goodwill flights to Argentina and Brazil helping to strengthen relationships among the American nations in their opposition to foreign aggression.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>