Robert V. Clements

  General Notes:

The following is information found on his website:

First saw light of day, February 6th 1924, in Danville, Illinois. Lived most of my early life in Aspen, Colorado and Tucson, Arizona. Live on the bluffs overlooking the beautiful American River in Carmichael, California with my wife, Iris and our black lab, Brandee

Retired from the US Airforce where I served as both a fighter pilot and a medic. Pre-Med University of Arizona, major in Chemistry, minor, Life Sciences, 1948. Graduated from UC Medical Center, San Francisco, California in 1952 with a DDS degree, later specializing in Orthodontics . Graduated from Twin Engine (P-38s) Fighter Advanced Training at Williams AFB, Chandler, AZ., 15 April 1944...Class 44-D. One of the proudest days of my life!!

I flew the Stearman PT17 in Primary Flying School. The school was the Morton Air Academy at Blythe, California. I arrived there in the Fall of 1943. These schools were hired by the United States Army Air Corps to train pilots and were mostly staffed by civilian instructors. The Commanding Officer was an AAF officer and usually there were AAF check pilots who made sure you were qualified to move on or move out. My civilian instructor was a Mr. Hal Howard, a band leader from Hollywood, who would later become VP of MCA. I had played drums in his band when he played at the Santa Rita Hotel in Tucson. Talk about a twist of fate when on the first day we met our civilian instructors and mine turned out to be Hal Howard. I almost dropped my teeth!!! He later was killed in an airplane crash between Reno and Las Vegas and to this day the accident site has never been found. The Commander at Blythe was Major Frank P. Fuller of the Fuller Paint Company fame. The civilian head was Roger Pryor of Hollywood fame who was a musical director for one of the film studios. His father was a famous band leader in the old days of Hollywood. I volunteered to fly the AT6 in Basic and the P38. actually the P322, in Advanced. I moved from Blythe to Marana Army Air Corps base at Tucson, Arizona...October 1943...for Basic Flying School...my home town..talk about luck!

Robert married Iris ?.