Major General Robert W. Burns
Flight Record Archive, 1939–1970
Serial No. O-24131 • USAAF / USAF
B-17G cockpit, Polebrook, England • Burns Family Collection
Robert Wiygul Burns was born December 8, 1916, in rural Mississippi. He earned his pilot rating on November 28, 1939, and spent the next thirty-two years flying for the United States Army Air Forces and the United States Air Force, retiring as a Major General in 1970.
This archive documents his complete flying career through his official Individual Flight Records (AAF Form No. 5)—a month-by-month chronicle spanning from the Panama Canal Zone in 1939 through his retirement in 1970. Each page captures not just hours and aircraft types, but a continuous thread of American military aviation history as lived by one pilot.
From B-17s over Nazi Germany to command assignments across three decades, from the jungles of Central America to the command centers of the Cold War, Bob Burns' flight records tell the story of a man who devoted his life to military aviation.
89 months digitized — June 1939 through September 1945 (approximately 30% of career)
View Flight Data & Statistics → Read Combat Mission Stories →Bob Burns began his career in the Panama Canal Zone, flying coastal patrol missions in B-17B Flying Fortresses. By 1942, he was stationed in Guatemala City, flying anti-submarine patrols to the Galapagos Islands and along Central America's Pacific coast—crucial but largely forgotten missions that protected vital shipping lanes during the early years of World War II.
In late 1942, Bob Burns joined the newly formed 351st Bomb Group (Heavy) as it trained across the American West. By early 1944, he was the Group's Executive Officer—second in command—flying B-17 Flying Fortresses from Polebrook, England, as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany.
He flew combat missions over some of the war's most heavily defended targets, earning the Silver Star for his role in the September 16, 1943 raid on Nantes, France. His flight records document not just combat missions, but the daily work of commanding a heavy bombardment group: test flights, crew training, administrative flights, and the slow accumulation of hours that defined life in the Eighth Air Force.
At Polebrook, he served alongside Capt. Clark Gable, who was filming the documentary Combat America. The two flew together on the Nantes mission, manning the nose guns during the approach through heavy sea haze over the Bay of Biscay.
After V-E Day, Bob continued his career through the reorganization of the Air Force as an independent service, the Korean War, and the Cold War. His flight records from these years—still being digitized—document commands across the United States and overseas, flights in jet aircraft, and the transition from the Army Air Forces to the modern United States Air Force.
He retired as a Major General in 1970, having served continuously since 1939. He passed away on April 6, 2004, in Lynn Haven, Florida.
This is a family digitization project to preserve and share Maj. Gen. Robert W. Burns' complete military flight records. Each month's Form 5 is being scanned, transcribed into a database, and presented through an interactive website.
The archive currently includes 89 months of digitized records (June 1939 through September 1945), representing approximately 30% of his 32-year flying career. Work continues to digitize the remaining records from 1945–1970.
All data, images, and source documents are preserved in a public GitHub repository, ensuring long-term preservation and accessibility.