“Legend” Logged More Than 10,000 Hours During His Career

Lt. Col. Bob Volpe, call sign “Legend,” has retired after training thousands of pilots and amassing more than 10,000 flight hours in his Air Force career. In the tradition of military aviation, rather than choosing one’s own call sign, they are assigned to aviators by their fellow pilots. 

The reasons for arriving at a particular call sign could be anything that happens during a pilot’s training days, and many or most have a back story that explains it. Such stories usually involve famous or more typically, infamous incidents or exploits by the pilot that were good, bad, funny, embarrassing, or even as simple as a variation of one’s name.

For Bob Volpe, his call sign was aptly chosen because of his reputation, accomplishments, and outsized influence on the pilots he trained as an Instructor Pilot (IP) with the 5th Flying Training Squadron of the 71st Flying Training Wing at Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Oklahoma.

He was known as the instructor with more experience in cockpits of training aircraft than most pilots gather in their careers, the IP who can teach any student and train world-class pilots while also molding them into world-class leaders.

Volpe started his flying career in 1989 and since then has flown and trained thousands of pilots in the T-6A Texan II, T-37 Tweet, C-130 Hercules, and T-38C Talon. He has flown 7,000 sorties and accumulated a total 10,200 hours, logging 5,200 hours in the T-6 alone.

Of his 10,000-plus flight hours, 71st Operations Group Commander Col. Joel Pauls said, ““It’s unheard of in this day and age. To put it into context, you would expect a rated officer who serves for 20-plus years to have 3,000 to 4,000 flight hours by the time they retire. When you see someone with 5,000 hours, it really gets your attention.”

“This is not 10,000 hours at cruise on autopilot. He has more than 5,000 times put his gear on, buckled into the plane, flew a sortie, and debriefed,” said Volpe’s former student and now 8th Flying Training Squadron IP Kaitlyn Cook, who accompanied him during his flight that put him over the 10,000th hour.

Perhaps more important than the number of hours he accumulated is Volpe’s influence on his students that makes him memorable. His dedication to and empathy for his students was incredible, said Col. Pauls, adding, “He’s the instructor that students want to fly with and the instructor that commanders want flying with students who struggle. He’s the mentor other instructors seek out when they have questions.”

“Legend” Lt. Col. Bob Volpe retired from active duty April 12, 2024, and we wish him the best.

FMI: www.aetc.af.mil, www.vance.af.mil