Robert (Bob) Hansen took his first flight in 1938 or '39 as a passenger in an open cockpit monoplane, a Kinner Sportster. Robert enrolled as a Seaman Recruit in the Naval Air Reserve while still a high school student, and during two years at Fresno State College, in his hometown of Fresno, California. His preflight training began in 1949 at Pensacola Naval Air Training Command, in Florida. Basic training was in the SNJ, (or T-6 Texan) and advanced training in the F6F-5 Hellcat. Six carrier landings were performed in the SNJ aboard USS Cabot.
Advanced carrier qualifications, including 12 landings and a catapult shot aboard USS Monterey were successfully completed and Robert Hansen received his wings and his commission as an ensign June 20, 1951. Two days later he married Janice Baker of Fresno at the Pensacola Navy Base Chapel. Advanced, all-weather instrument training followed at Corpus Christi, Texas from July to August, 1951 in the SNB-5 Beechcraft.
Assignment of LT Hansen as ordinance officer with Fleet Air Service Squadron (FASRON) 701 at Miramar, California , August to October, 1951 followed. Here he received his training in jets and 4 hours in the TBM-3 Avenger.
In October of 1951, he joined Fighter Squadron VF 192 at Moffett Field. His Korean service was aboard the USS Princeton, CV37, Task Force 77, flying the F4U-4 Corsair in the ground attack role, with strikes on manufacturing, harbors, railroads, and troop marshalling and supply areas. He was forced by enemy ground fire to ditch near Hungnam , lune 10,1952, but was rescued by helicopter the same day. He volunteered for hazardous Night Heckler Missions and was awarded the Navy Commendation Ribbon. He received 2 Air Medals and flew 50 combat missions. He was awarded a second Commendation Ribbon for participating in the Hydroelectric Power House Raids of June 23 and 24, 1952. His Korean service ended in November 1952. He received a Unit Commendation Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal, Korean Service Medal with two stars, National Defense Medal, a United Nations Ribbon and a Korean Presidential unit citation.
Promoted LTJG in January, 1953 he was an instrument instructor with FASRON 10 at Moffett Field until October, 1953, flying the TV-2 and F9F-2 and 5 Panther, and T-28 Trojan. He continued at Moffett with FAWTUPAC DET "B" as a flight instructor in the T-33. From January 1956 until December 1958, LT Hansen continued duty as a flight instructor, principally in the T-33, at NAS Chase Field in Texas.
In January, 1959, he joined Attack Squadron VA94, at NAS Alameda, in California. Two weeks of instrument training in February in the F9F-8T Cougar with VF-124 at Moffett Field preceded assignment to brand-new A4D Skyhawks. These small but nimble attack planes were capable of delivering nuclear weapons. After special weapons delivery training in January 1960, sea duty followed in February aboard the USS Ranger (CVA 61) cruising in the Pacific until August.
A different sort of duty awaited at Barbers Point NAS in Hawaii, with the Airborne Early Warning Barrier Squadron, flying the four-engine radar-equipped Lockheed Constellations designated WV-2, (for electronic search) or EC-121. Flying endless circuits from Midway Island to the Aleutians, these crews performed sentry duty for North America before satellites took up that role.
From 1964-1968, LTCDR Hansen performed various duties, first as operations officer with the Naval Air Reserve Training Unit (NARTU) atr Andrews AFB in Maryland and until 1970 at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. Though assigned to "flying a desk," he nonetheless spent hundreds more hours in the air, in a multitude of aircraft including the S2F Tracker, T34 Mentor, P2V Neptune, and C-54. Civilian aircraft flown include the Cessna 140, 150, 180 and 182.
In a Naval career that embraced single as well as multi-engined aircraft, jets as well as propeller-driven craft, Robert Hansen logged over 5,000 hours in the air. As a carrier pilot, with nearly 250 landings to his credit, he can claim recognition as an aviator of the highest ability and one who well deserved to wear the US Navy's Wings of Gold.