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Lt. Robert A. Winston
LT. ROBERT A. WINSTON (1907-1974) was a decorated US Navy officer. Born in 1907 in Washington, Indiana, he graduated from the Indiana University in 1930 and joined the US Navy in 1935, completing h...view moreLT. ROBERT A. WINSTON (1907-1974) was a decorated US Navy officer. Born in 1907 in Washington, Indiana, he graduated from the Indiana University in 1930 and joined the US Navy in 1935, completing his training at Pensacola Naval Air Station, Florida. In 1937 he qualified for decklandings and was assigned to Fighter Suqdron 1 in the Pacific, followed by Fighter Squadron 6, and in 1938 was reassigned to Pensacola NAS as an instructor. He went over to the Naval Reserves in 1939.
In February and March 1940, Winston was test pilot with Brewster Aircraft Company, based in Sweden for the transfer of 44 Brewster Buffalo planes to Finland. A further transfer followed in Belgium, but Germany invaded Belgium and Winston fled back to U.S. where he resumed active service as a Lieutenant (junior grade) as Flight Training Officer at Pensacola NAS and Corpus Christi NAS. He was transferred to the Navy Department’s Bureau of Aeronautics in Washington DC in 1941 and became the Director of Naval Public Relations.
At the outbreak of WWII, he became Lieutenant Commander and was appointed Commanding Officer of the newly formed Fighting Squadron 31 in 1943 and in 1944 was promoted to Commander. After the war, Winston was assigned as Naval Air Attaché in Sweden until 1948 and then, back in the U.S., served as Director of Public Relations with the Navy Department and with the CIA until his retirement in 1950 with the rank of Captain.view less