Robert Tharp (R.T.) Smith (February 23, 1918 – August 21, 1995) was an American World War II fighter pilot and ace, credited with 8.7, 8.9 or 9 Japanese aircraft while fighting with the American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers).
He received his primary flight training at the Allan Hancock College of AeronauticsatSanta Maria, California. During his training, he was given a couple of check rides with Robert L. Scott, who on May 17, 1942 flew as Smith's wingman on Scott's first combat mission in China.[5][6] Smith completed basic training with Class 40-C at Randolph Field, Texas and advanced training at Brooks Field, Texas. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in June 1940, and returned to Randolph Field where his first assignment was as a basic flight instructor.[7]
R.T. Smith (sometimes called "Tadpole"[3] after David Lee "Tex" Hill supplied the answer to a question someone posed to Smith, "What's the 'T' stand for?") saw his first combat action over Rangoon on December 23, 1941, when he was credited with shooting down 1.5 Mitsubishi Ki-21 "Sally" bombers, followed on Christmas Day with credit for two more Sallys and a fighter. Promoted to flight leader in the Third Pursuit Squadron, the "Hell's Angels", Smith was credited with shooting down a total of 8.7,[8] 8.9[9] or 9[1][10] Japanese planes, and was twice decorated by the Chinese government. The AVG continued to fight throughout Burma and southwest China until it was officially disbanded on July 4, 1942.[11]
Smith returned to the United States on the USAT Mariposa along with 82 other AVG pilots and ground personnel.[12] Prior to being drafted as a private in December 1942,[13] Smith served as the technical advisor on The Sky's the Limit directed by E.H. Griffith and starring Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie.[14][15] The side of the P-40 Astaire is flying at the beginning of the movie has a sitting Hell's Angel of the AVG's Third Squadron that was on the side of Smith's P-40 #77.
Shortly after being appointed commanding officer of the 329th Fighter Group in September 1943, he volunteered to return to the China-India-Burma Theater with the 1st Air Commando Group, flying occasional P-51 Mustang missions and commanding that group's B-25 Mitchell squadron in support of British General Orde Wingate's troops working out of India and moving behind Japanese lines in Burma (now Myanmar). One story is told of when Smith was flying alone in his P-51 (named "Barbie" after his wife) and saw a crowd gathered around a jeep on the flying field. Someone was making a speech and Smith assumed it was Phil Cochran, co-commander (with John Alison) of the 1st Air Commando Group. He put his P-51 into a dive and buzzed the speaker, nearly taking his hat off, at over 450 miles an hour. It was only after Smith landed that he learned the speaker was Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander, South-East Asia. Lord Mountbatten was not angry at Smith, but was angry at his aide for having him make a speech on an active flying field.[17] Smith ("R.T." according to Chuck Baisden, for "Round Trip" while in the 1st Air Commando Group)[18] was promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1944, flew 55 combat missions over Burma, and was awarded the Air Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross and Silver Star.
Smith returned to the United States in the late spring of 1944 and was assigned as Director of Flying Training with the 441st Army Air Force Base UnitatVan Nuys, California, a P-38 training base. The Base Operations Officer at the time was Major Barry Goldwater. He resigned from the Air Corps at the conclusion of World War II and bought a home in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California across from the Los Angeles River when it was actually a river instead of the concrete channel it is today.
R. T. and Barbara Smith were divorced in 1955. About this time, Smith joined Lockheed Aircraft Corporation as a technical writer, working his way up through the organization, first as a military sales representative for the F-104 Starfighter, and later to open and manage a new corporate office for Lockheed in Newport News, Virginia.[20] (Gerhard Neumann, who joined the American Volunteer Group in China, designed the J79 jet engine used in the F-104.) Smith served at the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve from 1949 to 1966.
Smith married Ronni Burkett in July 1965. During the late 1960s, he joined the Flying Tiger Line,[1] founded by Robert Prescott, a fellow pilot with the American Volunteer Group, first as Vice President for Industrial Affairs in Washington, D.C. and later as Vice President for the Far East, headquartered in Tokyo. He left the Flying Tiger Line and Tokyo in the early 1970s to live and work in Palm Springs, California.
R. T. and Ronni Smith were divorced in the mid-1970s. He returned to the San Fernando Valley, where he wrote and published Tale of a Tiger,[21] based on his original diary entries[1] and several articles for Air Classics. He also established a mail-order business, selling his book and color photographs he shot while he was in the AVG and 1st Air Commando Group, including this often reproduced formation shot of the 3rd Squadron Hell's Angels taken on May 28, 1942 near the Salween River along the China-Burma border.
He died at age 77 (the number he had selected for his first P-40 in the AVG) of lung cancer on August 21, 1995.[1]
Smith was survived by his sister, June, who died in 2001; three sons, Bradford, Robert, who died in 2021, and William, who died in 2023; and three grandchildren.
Baisden, Chuck (1999). Flying Tiger to Air Commando. Schiffer Military History. ISBN0-7643-0690-1.
Belcher, Rod (September 11, 1943). "ExAVG Flyer [Robert T. Smith] Now at Paine". The Ace-Pursuiter. Paine Field, Everett, WA: Special Service Office. pp. 1, 4.
Bergin, Bob (December 2016 – January 2017). "Kunming Remembers The Flying Tigers: A photography exhibit on the work of R.T. Smith honors the legendary fighter group that saved a Chinese city". Air & Space/Smithsonian. 31 (6). Smithsonian Enterprises: 34–38.
Bergin, Bob (2017). A Tiger's View of War in the Air: The AVG Flying Tigers in Action through the Eyes of AVG Pilot Robert T. Smith. Banana Tree Press. ASINB077CQSTGJ.
Bledsoe, Larry (December 1995 – January 1996). "R.T. Smith: 1918–1995". Aviation Illustrated.
Boyce, Ward (Winter 1991). "Christmas Over Rangoon". American Fighter Aces and Friends Bulletin. 8 (4). American Fighter Aces Association: 3–7.
Cernecca, Francesco (2013). Le Tigri di Kunming (in Italian). Italy: Francesco Cernecca. ISBN978-1-291-30169-4.
Clements, Terrill (2001). American Volunteer Group Colours and Markings. Osprey Aircraft of the Aces • 41. Great Britain: Osprey Publishing. ISBN1-84176-224-5.
Collins, Brett (August 24, 1995). "Robert T. Smith; Author, Flying Tigers Ace". Los Angeles Times.
Copley, Robert E., Keith J. Christensen, Tex Kehley, Joe Poshefko, Gerhard Neumann, Clarence Simonsen, Clarence W. Riffer, Bill Smith, David Lee "Tex" Hill, Jasper Harrington, Charles H. Older, George B. Kepka, Joseph Gasdick, Morgan H. Vaux and Edgar T. Goyette (September 1988). "Letters to the Editor regarding 'The Flying Tigers: An Endangered Species'". Air Classics. 24 (9): 6–8, 10, 66–67. ISSN0002-2241.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Couston, Jean-Louis (2001). Flying Tigers: American Volunteer Group (in French). France: DTU. ISBN2912749034.
Couston, Jean-Louis (September 2003). "Robert Tharp Smith et les Tigres Volants". Avions (in French). 126: 6–14. ISSN1243-8650.
Couston, Jean-Louis (October 2003). "Robert Tharp Smith et les Tigres Volants, Deuxième partie". Avions (in French). 127: 30–37. ISSN1243-8650.
Crumpler, Hugh (January 1999). "An AVG "Flying Tiger" [Robert T. Smith] Tells It Like It Was". Ex-CBI Roundup. 54 (1): 28–31. ISSN0014-388X.
Dorr, Robert F. (1997). "American Volunteer Group: The 'Flying Tigers'". Wings of Fame. 9. London, UK: Aerospace Publishing: 4–18. ISSN1361-2034.
Dorr, Robert F. (February 4, 2002). "Flying Tiger [Robert T. Smith] fought Japanese early in WWII". Air Force Times. pp. 40–41.
Dupouy, P.S., Gen. David Lee "Tex" Hill, George B. Kepka, Joseph Gasdick, Jasper J. Harrington, Harry L. Cross, Charles "Chuck" Baisden, Harvy C. Wirta, Bob Neale, Gordon Weaver, Daniel Ford, Herbert W. Isherwood, Frank A. Anderson, C.H. "Link" Laughlin, Jim Cross, J.B. Hyde, J.R. Rossi and George W. Burgess (October 1988). "Letters to the Editor regarding 'The Flying Tigers: An Endangered Species'". Air Classics. 24 (10): 6–8, 10, 74. ISSN0002-2241.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Greene, Vaughn & Felix Rodriguez (November 1988). "Letters to the Editor regarding 'The Flying Tigers: An Endangered Species'". Air Classics. 24 (11): 6–8, 29. ISSN0002-2241.
Li, Xiaofan (June 2017). "Flying Squad: The War of Resistance". Deep World (in Chinese): 100–111. ISSN1672-6499.
Losonsky, Frank S. & Terry M. Losonsky (1996). Flying Tiger: A Crew Chief's Story. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military/Aviation History. ISBN0-7643-0045-8.
Minnich, Mike (1977). "Tiger in the Sky: The Saga of the AVG". Air Enthusiast Quarterly. 4. London: Fine Scroll: 113–128.
Minnich, Mike (May 1985). "Honoring the Tiger: Decorations to the American Volunteer Group". The Medal Collector. 36 (5). The Orders of Medals Society of America: 19–29.
O'Leary, Michael (January 1996). "R.T. Smith: The passing of an American aviation legend". Air Classics. 32 (1): 20–21. ISSN0002-2241.
Read, Tom (June 17, 1964). "Former Flying Tiger Set for Far East Convention". The Times-Herald. Newport News, VA. pp. 19–20.
Smith, R[obert] T. (October 28, 1939). "Elements of Higher Learning or A Day at the Circus". Aerie "Eagles Nest". 2 (2). Santa Maria California: College of Aeronautics: 5. Editor's Note: This is typical of the mind of a cadet soon after he starts training. The only change after his full twelve weeks is that the whole thing is more complicated still.
Smith, Robert T. (September 1952). "We Were the Flying Tigers". Men. 1 (6): 35–37, 62–63.
Smith, R. Traynor (January 1974). "Don't Worry, She'll Know". Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. 19 (1): 130–135.
Smith, R[obert] T. (January–February 1982). "Accuracy of the B-25H Cannon". The Basha Blabber, Newsletter of the No. 1 Air Commando Association: 3–4.
Smith, R[obert] T. (1986). Tale of a Tiger. Van Nuys, CA: Tiger Originals. ISBN0-9618012-0-4.
Smith, R[obert] T. (June 1986). "Long-Range Ferry, Part One". Air Classics. 22 (6): 22–26, 28–29, 75, 78. ISSN0002-2241.
Smith, R[obert] T. (July 1986). "Long-Range Ferry, Part Two". Air Classics. 22 (7): 14–19, 79, 82. ISSN0002-2241.
Smith, Robert T. (June 1988). "The Flying Tigers: An Endangered Species". Air Classics. 24 (6): 38–49, 64–65, 68–71. ISSN0002-2241.
Smith, R[obert] T. (August 1990). "Captain Incredible!: The Amazing Unmasking of one individual and his 'phoney war'". Air Classics. 26 (8): 46–48, 50–57, 78–79. ISSN0002-2241. Roland Sperry, who claimed to be a decorated AVG pilot in his book China Through the Eyes of a Tiger, is unmasked as a fraud in this article.
Smith, R[obert] T. (February 1992). "Review of Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and the American Volunteer Group by Daniel Ford". Air Classics. 28 (2): 12–13, 71. ISSN0002-2241.
Smith, R[obert] T. (September 1992). "My Meeting with Hinoki: Flying Tiger Ace R.T. Smith Reflects on the Japanese Pilot he Encountered in combat 50 years ago". Air Classics. 28 (9): 24–26, 56–58, 60–61. ISSN0002-2241.
Smith, Robert T. (November 2015). "Recollections of a P-38 Pilot". Lighting Strikes!. 28 (3). P-38 National Association: 14–15.
Song, James (2020). Burma: Part 1 - The Stamps and Postal History Under the Reign of the Three British Kings - 1901-1947. Singapore: James Song Philatelics. pp. 352–354. ISBN978-981-14-8595-4.
Sperry, Roland with Terryl C. Boodman (1990). China Through the Eyes of a Tiger. Pocket Books. ISBN0-671-66942-7. Roland Sperry's claim to be a decorated AVG pilot was unmasked as a fraud in R.T. Smith's article "Captain Incredible" in the August 1990 issue of Air Classics.
Tamelander, Michael (September 2012). "The Flying Tigers". Militær Historie (in Norwegian): 4–16.
Thomas, Lowell (1951). Back to Mandalay. New York: Greystone Press. Story of General Orde Wingate's Chindit's and the 1st Air Commando Group.
Van Wagner, R.D. (1998). Any Place, Any Time, Any Where: The 1st Air Commandos in WWII. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military/Aviation History. ISBN0-7643-0447-X.
Vartabedian, Ralph (July 6, 1991). "One Last WWII Combat Victory". Los Angeles Times. pp. A1, A22–A23.