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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art and Artists Modern Era Pilot Signatures United States M to Z  Robbins, James |
[UP] - Madden, John - Mayo, Jack - McCarthy, Damian - McKeon, Matt - McPhee, Bill - O'Brien, Bill - Olds, Robin - Rietsch, Manfred - Robbins, James - Scott, Vince - Shepherd, Jake - Stanley, Max - Sullivan, Leo - Tarrant, Kevin - Thorsness, Leo - Tibbets, Dan - Torpy, Mark - Townsend, Chuck - Voris, R - Wharmby, Nick - Whitley, Alton - Whittle, Al - Widmer, Robert - Williams, E - Williams, P - Wooden, Dave |
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.
| Aviation Technician Chief Jame H Robbie Robbins USN - Signed Aviation Art |
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| Text for the above items : |
Antarctic Mayday by Stan Stokes. In 1946 Admiral Richard Byrd lead a 4,000-man mission to Antarctica to map the continent. This was the fourth of Byrds polar explorations, and his most ambitious. The expedition was named, Operation High Jump. One of the ships involved was the USS Pine Island, a PBM seaplane tender under the command of H.H. Caldwell. The three PBMs of the Pine Island were given the task of photo mapping the eastern side of the Antarctic continent, and the ship had moved as far south as possible to establish a base of operations. The ship anchored on the leeward side of a huge iceberg to provide a suitable area for the launch and recovery of the PBMs. The first flight was made by George-1 on December 30, 1946 without incident. The second flight of this aircraft with a different crew would prove to be a life and death struggle. Under the command of Ralph Frenchy LeBlanc, co-piloted by Bill Kearns, and with Captain Caldwell aboard as an observer, the second flight of George-1 began under hazardous sea conditions and at times near zero visibility conditions due to snowstorms. The aircraft was approximately 200 miles from the coast. Because of the bad visibility Kearns was preparing to execute a 180 degree turn and return to the Pine Island, when George-1 crashed into a giant snowdrift. The aircraft was ripped apart by the crash, and a fire began almost immediately. Three of the nine on board perished in the crash. LeBlanc was pulled from the burning cockpit by Jim Robbins and some of the other survivors, none of which were without some injury. The six survivors of George-1 now faced an indeterminate amount of time before any rescue might be possible. Fortunately, the six survivors showed solid American ingenuity, and went about the business of surviving and caring for the injured in the best way possible. With no working radio, the group had no way of knowing if help would ever reach them. It would be 13-days before the survivors would be spotted by the pilot of George-2 Jimmy Ball. Balls crew spotted a signal fire which the survivors had ignited when the second Mariner passed within several miles of the crash site. George-2 dropped supplies for the survivors and a message that a pick-up might be possible if the group could move about six miles to the coast. The trek was not easy, but the survivors finally made it and were picked up by George-3. This limited edition by Stan Stokes is dedicated to the memory of the three men who did not survive the crash; Max Lopez, W.K. Hendersin, and F.W. Williams, and to the commander of George-1, the late Frenchy LeBlanc. Frenchy lost both his legs as a result of the tragedy, but maintained a determination and a sense of humor which has both inspired and motivated the survivors of this Antarctic Mayday for the fifty years which have passed since that fateful day in 1946. |
| Aviation Technician Chief Jame H Robbie Robbins USN Aircraft details |
 PBM | PBM No profile available |
| Aviation Technician Chief Jame H Robbie Robbins USN Squadron details |
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