Robert F. Travis
Recipient of the Purple Heart medal
Died when: 45 years 222 days (547 months)Star Sign: Capricorn
Brigadier General Robert Falligant Travis (26 December 1904 – 5 August 1950) was a United States Army Air Forces general during World War II.A 1928 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, Travis saw action as commander of the Eighth Air Force's 41st Combat Bombardment Wing, based at RAF Molesworth in England.
He personally led 35 combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe, including a costly raid on a fighter plant in Oschersleben, Germany, on 11 January 1944, for which the wing received a Distinguished Unit Citation.
His decorations included the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star with two oak leaf clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross with three oak leaf clusters, and the Purple Heart.
Travis was killed in the crash of a B-29 Superfortress at Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base near Fairfield, California.The base was named for him the following year.