Frank Bryant Robison

Lieutenant Colonel Frank Bryant Robison August 1, 1918 - July 9, 2014 Frank Robison began life as a baby in a basket on the doorstep of a Seattle, Washington hospital. He died at home on Wednesday, July 9 in Redlands, California at the age of 96, in the embrace of a caring family. Frank was preceded in death by his adoptive parents Garland Robison and Tennie Reynolds Robison who raised him in Seattle, Washington; Newbergh and West Point, New York; and at their ancestral farm in Hope, Arkansas, from where he graduated high school in 1935. He attended Southwestern College in Keene, Texas and Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, working his way through college at a broom-making factory. Growing up, Frank also lived at Fort Amador, in the Panama Canal Zone, under the care of an aunt and uncle, Bennie and Duncan Wing. Uncle Duncan, a veteran of both the Boxer Rebellion in China and World War I, was a mentor to Frank and instrumental in Frank s admission to the U.S. Army Air Corps, which Frank joined in October of 1941, in San Diego, California. He began pilot training at Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas, and remembered being there on December 7, when he got the news that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. Frank Robby Robison then trained further at Cimarron Field, Oklahoma City (now known as Page Field); the former San Angelo Army Airfield, Texas; and Moore Field in Mission, Texas. He piloted the PT-19, a Fairchild aircraft, and the BT-13 (known among fly boys as the Vultee Vibrator) before being commissioned in June of 1942 as 2nd Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Air Corps. 2d Lt. Robison volunteered to a fighter squadron, and was assigned to protect the Panama Canal from potential Japanese attack (which never materialized), and was soon flying over the jungle in a P-39 as a part of the 6th Air Force. Frank Robison was never a big talker, especially about himself, so it was a delight to hear him recount the time an aerial gunnery mission in Panama went awry. He d fired two 50-caliber machine guns, which normally fired between the plane s moving propeller blades. Alas, in this case the mechanical interrupter failed and some of the rounds went inside the hollow part of the blade itself. The resulting imbalance caused extreme vibration, requiring Frank to cut back on the power as much as possible and still maintain flying speed. Fortunately the jungle airfield was not far away. However, Frank would admit wryly, I achieved notoriety as the only pilot in the 6th Air Force who shot himself down. Modest, good humor was characteristic of this man. In 1943 Robison was transferred to the Galapagos. These Pacific islands are volcanic in origin and soon after Robison arrived there was a major eruption at the largest island in the group, creating an enormous 40,000-foot-high cloud of smoke and ash. Frank s four-plane patrol (flying the P-39 and P-40) set out to determine if men at a radar station at the foot of the volcano required evacuation. They assumed a staggered, string formation at four different levels, to enable each pilot to be able to see the plane ahead of him through the dark, dense cloud. Robison brought up the rear in position #4, flying at a safe altitude of about 10,000 feet. (The volcano was at 5,000 feet elevation, with a lava lake forming in its crater.) The rest of the story is well told in Robison s own, crisp writing: We were in the process of heading back to the airbase when the volcano erupted again and we were engulfed in a dense cloud of smoke and ash with extreme turbulence. It was all I could do to keep control of the plane and it was so dark I could barely see #3, less than 100 feet ahead of me. Suddenly, he flipped upside down and disappeared. Now I could only rely on my instruments to try to stay straight and level and get out over the Pacific and away from the volcano. Also, due to the various gases in this cloud, the aircraft engine was unable to run normally. It was missing badly and not producing full power. In addition there was hail, rain, and lightning with so much static that the radio was useless. I knew that if I could maintain a straight course I was bound to get through the cloud in a few minutes, and sure enough I suddenly was out in bright sunshine. Back at the airfield I found #1 and #2 had landed. Both had lost control in the cloud but they were able to recover over the ocean. #3 was never found although we searched diligently for the wreckage for weeks after the eruption was over. We assumed it had fallen into the crater and had sunk down under the hot lava. Fortunately the men at the radar station were safe after all and the period of eruptions was over. After further training stints in Florida and Mississippi, Lt. Robison deployed to WWII in 1944 as a P-51 Mustang reconnaissance-fighter pilot, joining the 109th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron. As the eyes in the sky of the 1st Army, the 109th went ahead of the ground forces, located and sometimes photographed enemy activity across France, Belgium and into the middle of Germany, then rushed the information back to the artillery. That year Robison received the Air Medal in France, at an airfield cleared from an apple orchard about 5 miles inland from Omaha Beach. By the end of the following year he d completed 84 combat missions, and become Squadron Commander with the rank of Major. His decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross and the French Croix de Guerre, awarded for acts of heroism. After the war Major Robison served in various posts, including a pivotal assignment to the Pentagon. That s where he met Dorothea Mathers (September 16, 1922 - August 4, 1994) of Boston. Frank and Dorothea were married August 30, 1946 and began a family. They had two sons, Glenn and Tom. Now a Lieutenant Colonel in the U. S. Air Force, Frank Robison concluded his military career (1953) with stations at Wright Field, Photographic Flight Test Division, Dayton Ohio; and at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, California, where he inspected aviation photo systems. The Robisons settled in San Bernardino, and Frank started an aerial photography business. Pictorial Crafts Inc. was located at Riverside Municipal Airport, where Robison became well-known in the photogrammetric community as a producer of high-quality photomapping film. Such a process is the first step in any sizeable surveying and earth-measuring activity, and the business thrived in lockstep with the nation s burgeoning interstate highway construction. Pictorial Crafts six employees and two planes completed projects from Canada to Mexico and from New York to Guam. Frank developed a love of composition and photography, and enjoyed the process of dye transfer color printing. His images captured the beautiful aspects of nature he saw throughout his travels (after a trip to Alaska, he d visited every state in the union). At age 75, Robison volunteered his skills to Earthwatch Magazine for a scientific expedition headed out of La Paz, Bolivia. The scholarly group sampled pollen and soil throughout the Andes, destined for Nevado Sajama, the 21,000 foot tall snow and ice-covered volcano within Bolivia s first national park. At 80, Frank, a widower, married Connie Sowell of Redlands. The two cruised the Pacific, the Mediterranean and the Danube among other escapades, and always attended the annual Hermosa Beach reunion with their many children, grand- and great-grandchildren. Frank bicycled, hiked and had vigorous good health and an inquisitive mind for over ninety years. Mr. Robison served on the Board of Directors at RAFE Federal Credit Union in Riverside until recently, and was a longtime member of Trinity Lutheran Church of San Bernardino. Frank s faith in Jesus Christ has been a comfort to Frank, his family and friends. Frank was known for his integrity, and people often went to him with their problems. He had a quiet, but adventurous spirit. He led a simple, but rich life before embarking, with exemplary dignity and courage, on his ultimate journey. For an orphaned baby who began with no known family, Frank Robison finished as admired patriarch of several generations. He is survived by his wife, Cornelia Robison of Redlands; son, Glenn Robison, and his wife, Rita, of Fontana; and son, Tom Robison and his girlfriend, Kelly Hecht, of Long Beach; grandchildren, Jessica DeLosh, and Jayme Robison of Long Beach, and Kevin Hopkins, and his wife, Lori, of Escondido; and great-grandchildren: Hayden Presley DeLosh, Kylin Hernandez, Brynn Robison, Miranda Hopkins and Allison Hopkins. His family-by-marriage also wants to claim Frank, including: a sister, four sons, four daughters, two nephews and two nieces; twenty-five grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. Frank was willing to be this clan s head of family, and they are grateful. Two granddaughters have been waiting for Grandpa Frank on the other side. Memorial Services will be held at Emmerson-Bartlett Memorial Chapel, 703 Brookside Avenue, in Redlands, on Friday, July 18, at 2:00 p.m., Reverend Jeff Johnson officiating, followed by a reception on the premises. A Memorial Gathering will also convene at Plymouth Village Retirement Community, The Brewster Room, 900 Salem Drive, in Redlands, on Saturday, July 19, at 2:00 p.m., with Chaplain Mike Ballinger. Graveside services with military honors will be at Riverside National Cemetery, 22495 Van Buren Blvd., in Riverside, on a date to be arranged. The family would like to extend sincerest appreciation for care shown by Mrs. Diane Hurtado Vargas, Mrs. Susie Sowell, and the Redlands Hospice Association. Sympathy and support during this time of loss is much appreciated, but rather than sending flowers, please be inspired by this man who lived his life well, and do a good deed in memory of Frank Bryant Robison.