Robert B Hazel was born in 1922 and reared at Madisonburg in central PA on a farm located on the air route from New York to Cleveland. As a young boy he watched the early mail planes flying that route and saw some of them land and take off from nearby Bellefonte airport. The early airliners, mostly Ford Trimotors and later DC-3's, flew the same route. Robert became interested in flying, and began to hope to one day participate in that activity. At age 16 he had his first ride, in a Waco biplane, at the local county fair.
Robert graduated from High School, enrolled at Penn State University, and completed 2 years prior to enlisting as an Aviation Cadet in the U. S. Army Air Corps in 1942. Called to service in February 1943, he completed cadet training and received his pilot's wings and commission as 2nd. Lt. in March 1944. He was then assigned to combat crew training in Martin B-26 Marauder medium bombers at Lake Charles, LA, serving as copilot on a B-26 crew. Upon completion of training, he and his crew flew a new B-26 to England via the Northern Route- Labrador, Greenland, Iceland. In England they were assigned to the 386th Bomb Group, 9th Air Force, in August 1944.The Group moved to France in September, and finally to Belgium in January 1945, where it remained until the war ended. During that time Robert flew 20 missions in B-26"s, bombing bridges, railroad yards, German strong points and troop concentrations, and participated in the Battle of the Bulge. In February 1944 the Group began flying the new Douglas A-26 Invader, replacing the B-26 with a faster, more maneuverable and more heavily-armed aircraft using a smaller crew with only one pilot. Robert flew 17 missions in this aircraft until the war ended in May. After the war ended the Group moved back to the U.S., and he ferried one of the A-26's back to the States, using the Northern Route. He was then discharged from the Army, but remained in the Ready Reserve until 1965.
After the war Robert completed college, and pursued a career in wildlife management with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. His work included flying aircraft for wildlife law enforcement, in which he pioneered new tactics, including night flying to apprehend illegal deer hunters. Upon retirement from the Commission after 30 years service he continued flying, doing winter waterfowl surveys for the Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and flying for several companies doing aerial photo-mapping for N.C. Dept of Transportation and others, until 1994. Since then he has continued to do some pleasure flying.
During the years, Robert Hazel has flown a wide variety of aircraft, and logged 6400 hours of pilot time. His boyhood interest in flying has been fully realized!