Robert Wolff had his first flying experience when he was 10 or 12 years old. He used to make model airplanes for fun. He always had an interest in flying. His father worked for Union Oil. He would take him to the airport for work. When the war came along, he tried to get into the Navy because his father was a Navy reservist. Wolff went to the Air Force and they took him on 17 March 1942. Wolff was listening to the radio when he heard that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. His family lived in Beverly Hills [Annotator’s Note: Beverly Hills, California]. He did not want to be drafted. He went to Thunderbird Field [Annotator’s Note: a military airfield in Glendale, Arizona used for primary flight training] for primary training.

Robert Wolff was called to active duty on 29 April 1942. He went to a class in Santa Ana [Annotator’s Note: Santa Ana, California], then went to Thunderbird Field in Glendale, Arizona [Annotator’s Note: Thunderbird Field was a military airfield used for contract primary flight training]. They had to take salt pills because of the heat. They went to Roswell [Annotator’s Note: Roswell, New Mexico] for bomber training. During training, Wolff would trade on and off as co-pilot and pilot. One day, Wolff had to crank the wheels down in order to land. They experienced anti-aircraft fire during training. They wanted to see how high the planes would be able to go. They were not breathing full oxygen. They were in B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] when they went to Kearney, Nebraska. Then they went to Biloxi, Mississippi. Most of them wanted to fly P-38s [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightening fighter aircraft], but they were assigned to B-17s. Wolff was transferred to the pilot position and he got his own crew.

Robert Wolff was given a new plane in Kearney [Annotator’s Note: Kearney, Nebraska], and from there they went to Maine. Then they flew to Newfoundland [Annotator’s Note: a Canadian province]. Wolff was with the same crew all the way through the war. They left their plane in Scotland and then took a train to their post. Wolff was assigned as a co-pilot over the North Sea to show him what combat was like. He saw planes going down. In Regensburg [Annotator’s Note: Regensburg, Germany], they lost 9 out of 12 planes. It was a nice, clear day. They went across the Channel [Annotator’s Note: the English Channel]. When they got to the coast, they were attacked for the next two hours. Wolff saw planes on fire and going down. He was flying off the right wing of the lead plane. There was flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] and fighters. They succeeded in dropping their bombs flying at 17,000 feet. The vertical fin was split in half and the rudder was constantly moving from the wind. After the target, they went south to Switzerland. As they got closer to Africa, they had to peel off because the red lights were blinking and the gauges were at zero. They had to land at a British airfield. As they landed, the engines stopped because they were out of gas. Another plane had to pick them up. The mission was on 17 August 1943. They lost about 60 planes.

Robert Wolff remembers the briefing for the Regensburg mission [Annotator’s Note: the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission on 17 August 1943 over Regensburg, Germany]. It was going to be a long mission. On the way back, they were supposed to bomb an airfield in France. The Germans started firing at them as soon as they hit the coast. Their tail was damaged and an inflatable boat opened up inside the plane. Wolff saw planes going down. He came back on a general’s plane. He missed the guys who were shot down. Later, he met a lot of men in prisoner camps. He was shot down on his eighth mission. Wolff remembers seeing the bombs getting kicked off the planes. He took pictures of it. The raft dented the plane where it opened. It created more drag on the plane.

Robert Wolff had leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] in London [Annotator’s Note: London, England]. Someone else had flown his plane and there were about 200 holes in it. The ground crew spent all night patching it up. Wolff ended up leaving about an hour after the rest of the group. They were going to fly at a low altitude. They were flying at the tail end. They were approaching the target when the engine started to fail. They were on only three engines and a quarter-mile behind the group. Then number the number two engine started to fail as well. Wolff knew they needed to get out of there. He put the nose down and saw about half a dozen fighters. They had to get rid of their bombs. The fighters chased them all the way down. Wolff wanted to get them out to sea. Wolff had never landed a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] in the water before, but he did it. He let the tail touch and they set down slowly. Wolff went out the window and climbed up on the wing. The other guys in the raft came around and got him. A French fishing boat and a German patrol boat were coming toward them. The French picked them up and took them to a prison cell. Next, they were taken to Paris [Annotator’s Note: Paris, France]. One time, they had Hitler Youth [Annotator's Note: a youth organization of the Nazi Party for young men] member standing guard over them. They were put in a boxcar with some British soldiers. It took them a few days to get to Frankfurt [Annotator’s Note: Frankfurt, Germany].

Robert Wolff was sent to Frankfurt [Annotator’s Note: Frankfurt, Germany]. Wolff had been promoted to first lieutenant three days before. The German officer congratulated him on this. He handed him a card with all of his information on it. Wolff did not give them any information. One guy claiming to be with the Red Cross [Annotator's Note: Red Cross, an international non-profit humanitarian organization] came in and tried to get more information out of him. It took them three or four days to get to the prison camp. Wolff recognized some of the guys who went down at Regensburg [Annotator’s Note: the Schweinfurt-Regensburg bombing mission, 17 August 1943 over Regensburg, Germany]. They were barbed wired in. They were in the center compound, and the British were in another compound. [Annotator’s Note: Wolff discusses the men in his crew.] They did not see the enlisted men until after the war [Annotator’s Note: officers and enlisted men were kept separated]. They were allowed to write one letter a week. His mother knitted him sweaters and socks and sent them to him. They were sent candy and cigarettes.

Robert Wolff remembers that there were escape attempts all the time. They had to get permission from the “escape committee”. When the Great Escape [Annotator’s Note: Several dozen American prisoners of war successfully escaped from the German prisoner of war camp known as Stalag Luft III in March 1944] happened, the Germans sent out a note saying escaping was no longer a sport. [Annotator’s Note: Wolff describes the scrapbook he kept in the camp.] They would walk around the compound or would read. Someone would pass out little bibles. Wolf did not get his flight logs back. They had a radio there. Every so often, they would make sure no guards were around and read the news from the BBC. They used sweetened condensed milk for glue. They drank a lot of tea. They would be on detail to pick up bread, which was made with sawdust. Sometimes they put on a stage show. The Germans did not take his watch. They would talk about how they were shot down. Some men were scarred badly from burning.

Robert Wolff was liberated in January 1945. They could hear Berlin [Annotator’s Note: Berlin, Germany] being bombed. They were told the Russians would liberate them. On 29 January, the Germans made them march out. Wolff made a backpack out of a pair of pants. They marched through the snow and stopped at a church. Another night, they were in a brick factory. In a German encampment, they all got sick. They were loaded on a train and sent north of Munich [Annotator’s Note: Munich, Germany]. On 29 April 1945, they were free. He went back to Le Havre [Annotator’s Note: Le Havre, France] and then on to New York. They were interviewed to make sure everything was alright. His father was in charge of oil distribution on the western seaboard. He got married six weeks after his return. He and his wife had four children, 13 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. War is not the answer. War changes people. Wolff grew up in it.