Rob Newsom Tuttle

Major Rob Newsom Tuttle was born January 23, 1928 in Walnut Cove, North Carolina, growing up with four sisters and working the tobacco fields during the Great Depression and World War Two. He spent countless hours as a boy building model airplanes, reading science and aviation magazines, and dreaming about flying in the clouds. After graduating from high school in 1945, he joined the US Army Air Force (later USAF), ultimately spending 23 years flying T-6, DC-3, B-25, B-29, B-50, B-47, B-58, F-102 and T-33 aircraft. He spent time in Greenland, Cuba and Guatemala before being accepted into the Aviation Cadet Program in 1949, and was commissioned and rated as a pilot in 1950. He flew 37 combat missions in B-29s over Korea in 1951, getting shot up but never shot down by Russian MiG-15s several times.

After the Korean War, he flew Boeing B-47 Stratojet and later Corvair B-58 Hustler bombers with the USAF Strategic Air Command. He served on the front line during the Cold War on alert, instructing and qualifying hundreds of pilots, and coordinating large-scale aircraft and crew operations. He attended and graduated from the Armed Forces Staff College where he learned the intricacies of working cooperatively with all branches of the Armed Forces, State Department, and foreign governments, skills which he used throughout the rest of his career. After retiring from the USAF in 1969, he worked for McDonnell Douglas in Tulsa, OK for 21 years flying EB-47, DC-8 and NKC-135 aircraft as Senior Pilot and later as Chief of Flight Operations to test and deploy electronic warfare equipment for the US Navy across the globe.

Rob and his wife Jean Marie Tuttle were always by each other's side. Some of their fondest memories were when they were stationed in Tucson in the 50's, where they loved to camp with friends in the desert and sing songs by the campfire. They spent the last six years in Austin with their son Tyson Tuttle, his wife Nicole Caspers Tuttle, their three grandchildren Caroline Tuttle, William Scout Tuttle and Charlotte Tuttle, and with Shirley Ann Allen his sister-in-law. Rob and Jean celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary together on New Year's Day at an intimate dinner with their family.

Rob was always happy to meet people, and loved to share stories about airplanes and adventures. He had a humble, kind, generous, and gentle soul, always putting others first, but also a fierce drive to do things for himself, all of which sustained him to the end. He felt fortunate to have had such a rich and full life, proud to watch his son and three grandchildren grow up, and to have lived out his childhood dreams to fly in the clouds. He passed away peacefully on February 17, 2016 at his home in Austin, surrounded by those he loved.

A memorial service will be held mid-March in Austin at the family home, with the burial service at Arlington National Cemetery later in the spring.