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Robert Friend

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The Resume

    (February 19, 1920-June 21, 2019)
    Born in Columbia, South Carolina
    Birth name was Robert Jones Friend
    Pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen, served during World War II
    Directed the secret government program, Project Blue Book, investigating reports of Unidentified Flying Objects (1958-63)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was married three times.
    He oversaw a government program dedicated to proving the existence of aliens.
    Despite up to 12,000 reports of UFO sightings, the findings were inconclusive (but he supported further research).
    He later said: 'Do I believe that we have been visited? No, I don’t believe that. I can’t conceive of any of the ways in which we could overcome some of these things: How much food would you have to take with you on a trip for 22 years through space? How much fuel would you need? How much oxygen or other things to sustain life do you have to have?'

Why he might not be annoying:

    His father was an Ecuadorian immigrant who fought in World War I.
    He was refused service in the Army Air forces because he was black.
    He flew single-engine planes into combat in the Mediterranean theater, including over Germany and Italy, with the Tuskegee airmen.
    He had a 28-year military career, also serving as an operations officer during the Korean and Vietnam wars.
    He worked on the Titan, Atlas and Delta space rocket programs.
    He later became an executive of two aerospace companies, Stanford Mu and Fairchild Stratos.
    At the time of his death, he was one of only 12 surviving pilots from the Tuskegee unit.
    He remained humble about his service with the unit, saying: ‘I never felt that I was anything but an American doing a job.’

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 14 Votes: 64.29% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 128 Votes: 46.88% Annoying