Robinson_Thomas_25 September, 1916
Capt. Thomas Austin Robinson, U.S. Navy (Retired) age 80, suffered immediate death, Monday morning, September 8, 1997, from injuries received from a fall at home. His death removes what is probably the senior for naval officer ever from Cache Valley.
He was born September 25, 1916, at Virginia, Idaho, to Thomas Arnold Robinson and his wife, Nettie Luella Johnson, both of whom preceded him in death. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Ruth, of his home in Cub River Canyon: by his two sons, Thomas Adair Robinson, Miami, Florida and Brian Elton Robinson, Salt Lake City, Utah; and two daughters, Adair Adel Robinson, Pocatello, Idaho, and Michelle Denise Porter, Preston (Cub River) Idaho.
Three brothers preceded him in death, and he is also survived by an older sister, Rhea Cole, in San Marcos, California, and by a younger brother, Errol Wayne Robinson in Logan, Utah. His descendants include 13 grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Marriage to Judith Isabel Oswald occurred in 1942, at Preston, Idaho. They were later divorced after several years of marriage.
Subsequent to retirement from the Navy, he married Barbara Ruth Meiers in Oak Harbor, Washington in 1966.
Tom attended schools in Downey, Idaho, and graduated from the Preston Senior High School in the class of 1934. After three years of engineering studies at Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University) he entered the Navy’s flight training program, and received his Navy wings in 1938 at Pensacola, Fla.
As a naval aviator and naval aviation cadet his first orders were to flying duty in Hawaii.
Selected for a commission as ensign in the regular Navy, his naval aviation career spanned some 25 years and thousands of hours of flight time, retiring in 1963 as a regular Navy captain.
His pre-Pearl Harbor and World War 11 operational experiences were in seaplanes, being one of the young pioneers in four-engine flying boats.
As a very young and brand-new patrol plane commander he blazed the wartime seaplane logistic support route between Hawaii and Australia.
An early wartime experience was evacuating wounded Marines from Midway Island the night of the Battle of Midway.
His immediate post-World War 11 duty was that of executive officer of Transport Squadron 11 (VR11) which, in essence, was a large-scale airplane between San Francisco and Japan; using more than 100 RD-5 (i.e.,DC-5) transport planes.
Afterward came more pioneering work with the Navy’s first squadrons of planes capable of delivering atomic nuclear weapons from aircraft carriers. Here he was breaking new ground not only with weapon delivery development, but also with the development of carrier-based jet powered attack aircraft operations.
Tom still holds the record for the longest flight without in-flight refueling in naval aviation history. The flight, launched from an aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean, flew to Panama and up the west coast to San Francisco.
A spot promotion to captain was given him to enable promotion of Navy studies as to feasibility of nuclear propulsion in naval aircraft.
In the course of his career he commanded many squadrons, was at one time commanding officer of the U.S. Naval Station at Rota, Spain, and completed courses of study at the U.S. Navy General Line School and the U.S. Navy War College.
His last duty was that of being chief of staff to Commander Fleet Air Wing Four at Whidbey Island, Washington.
After retirement, Tom returned to Preston and engineered a small scale real estate development on property purchased in Cub River Canyon in Franklin County, Idaho.
His delight was in doing his own designing and construction.
A believing Latter-day Saint, Tom acquired many friends from around the country. Tom as a generous man, and he and Barbara were delighted to aid one of his grandsons, now serving a mission in Switzerland.
They enthusiastically supported family activities and organizations. He rarely missed a family reunion, large or small.
Among those he loved were not only his family and his children and grandchildren, but also his siblings and cousins.
He and his brothers were hunters and fishers, and loved the outdoors. In later years he and Barbara spent their winters in St. George, Utah, occupying a second home there.
Bishop Douglas Porter will conduct his funeral at noon Saturday, September 13, in the Mapleton LDS Ward Chapel in Cub River Canyon.
His body may be viewed from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Webb Funeral Home in Preston Friday evening, Sept. 12, or at the chapel from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
Interment will be in the family plot in the Richmond, Utah Cemetery.
We bid him a sailor’s farewell wish of “A wet sail and a flowing sea”!