Peter Robinson was born in Nashville, Tennessee on October 9, 1940 and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan. He earned his private license before his driver's license. In 1958 he entered the fourth class of the USAF Academy in Colorado.

After graduation in 1962 and pilot training at Webb AFB, he got a fighter training assignment at Luke AFB, Arizona in the F-100 Super Sabre. At the end of this training in 1964, he was assigned to Hahn AB, Germany flying the F-100.

In the winter of 1967 he was assigned to Bien Hoa AB, South Vietnam in the F-100. During that year Captain Robinson flew 310 combat missions over South Vietnam. At the end, he went back to school in Germany at the University of Freiburg on an Olmsted Scholarship. At the end of that time, he had a short checkout in the F-4 Phantom and went back to Thailand to fly another 125 combat mission mainly over Laos.

His Air Force career involved assignments in the Pentagon, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Illinois, and Alabama. It also included attendance at the British Royal College of Defence Studies in London. He again flew the Phantom at Holloman AFB, New Mexico and there converted to the F-15 Eagle. Command assignments include the 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Holloman, the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing at Bitburg AB, Germany, and the 313th Air Division at Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan all in the Eagle. Other commands were Chanute Technical Training Center, Rantoul Illinois, the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico and the Air War College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. The Air Force people that he worked with were among the finest in the country, and it was a privilege to work with them.

His last Air Force assignment was running the Air War College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife. He has two adult children in California and New York.