ROBERT L. MEINHOLD, MAJ, USAF

Robert Meinhold '51

Date of birth: July 6, 1926

Date of death: December 21, 1964

Age: 38

Lucky Bag

From the 1951 Lucky Bag:

Robert Louis Meinhold

Brockport, New York

Hates to write letters but can frequently be found struggling to perfect an epistle . . . perpetually in pursuit of a drag or a deal ... an ex-salt, he is a great teller of sea stories in his own right . . . hours on end when not in the sack ... he is always trying to work off excess avoirdupois but only gains more . . . much to his chagrin . . . finds time for the art of pugilism . . . but finds too much time for the agility course ... as the informal snapshot indicates ... he sweats more "pressing" the heavy weights of academics than in P.T. . . . a firm believer in the future of aviation and already a skilled pilot, he hopes to obtain wings of silver sometime in the near future.

Robert Louis Meinhold

Brockport, New York

Hates to write letters but can frequently be found struggling to perfect an epistle . . . perpetually in pursuit of a drag or a deal ... an ex-salt, he is a great teller of sea stories in his own right . . . hours on end when not in the sack ... he is always trying to work off excess avoirdupois but only gains more . . . much to his chagrin . . . finds time for the art of pugilism . . . but finds too much time for the agility course ... as the informal snapshot indicates ... he sweats more "pressing" the heavy weights of academics than in P.T. . . . a firm believer in the future of aviation and already a skilled pilot, he hopes to obtain wings of silver sometime in the near future.

Loss

Bob was lost when the UH-1H helicopter he was aboard crashed near the New York-Connecticut border on December 21, 1964.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

In 1940, his father Louis was a chemist in the Brockport vinegar works.
Robert graduated from Brockport High School in 1944. He joined the Navy and attended the Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina, and was in the Naval Training School at Cornell University. He took boot training at Great Lakes Naval Station in 1945.
Before and during his years at the Naval Academy, he took flying lessons at Page Airways at the Rochester Municipal Airport.
In August 1952, he was a second lieutenant who had recently graduated from the Air Force Pilot School at Reese Air Force Base, Texas. He received his wings on August 2.
In August 1958, Robert was on leave from his base at Moses Lake, Washington. He wrote the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper in Rochester, New York: “My father has kept me in touch with happenings of the aviation world in the Rochester area via clippings of your Plane Talk column from time to time.
“I’ve gone through F-86Fs, F-89Ds and the F-86D since the days of 1952 when I was flying the F-51 out of Minneapolis when I last talked to you. I am currently preparing for transition into the F-104 which we began receiving in June finally. Naturally, I am looking forward to checking out as soon as they have all the wrinkles ironed out.”
Robert married Janet Staab on June 13, 1959. At this time, he was a squadron armament and electronics officer at Kingsley Field, Klamath Falls, Oregon.

From the February 1965 issue of Shipmate:

Maj. Robert L. Meinhold, USAF, died in a military aircraft accident near Pound Ridge, N. Y. on 21 Dec. He was born 6 July 1926, and was graduated from the Naval Academy in 1951.
He is survived by his widow, Janet, and a daughter Lynn, of 2130 Broadbridge Ave., Stratford, Conn.; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Meinhold of Brockport, N . Y ., a brother and two sisters.

From the March 1965 issue of Shipmate:

Maj. Robert L. Meinhold, USAF, was killed in a helicopter crash at Pound Ridge, N.Y. on 21 Dec. He had been assigned to the Lycoming division of Avco at Stratford. The crash occurred on a return flight from Stewart Air Force Base.
A native of Brockport, N.Y., he was graduated from the Naval Academy in 1951, then attended the Air Force pilot training school. He served from 1952-57 as a pilot with various fighter-interceptor squadrons of the Air Defense Command. He received a Master's Degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado.
Survivors include his wife, Janet; an infant son, Robert L. born on 21 Jan., and a daughter, Lisa; his parents, a brother and two sisters.

He is buried in New York.