Robert Max Blacker

Colonel Robert Max Blacker, 89, of Lubbock, passed away on June 7, 2014 in Lubbock at Carillon. 

Bob was the second child born to John Doyle and Marian Louise Blacker on November 13, 1924 in Waveland, Indiana.  He graduated from Eden High School in 1942 and as soon as he turned 18, he signed up for the Aviation Cadet program.  On February 8, 1944, he graduated from the program as a Second Lieutenant and received his pilot wings.  On March 27, 1944, he flew his first flight with his new B-17 Bomber crew.  On June 22, they arrived at Nuthampstead, England and joined the 398th Bomb Group H.  They were assigned to the 602nd Squadron.  They flew their first mission on June 27, 1944.  Over the next few months, they flew a total of 35 missions, mostly to Germany and France.  Remarkably, he flew 34 of these missions before his 20th birthday.  Bob earned an Air Medal, three oak-leaf clusters, and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in WWII.

After the war, Bob went to instructor’s school and learned to fly the T-28 and the T-33.  While instructing Aviation Cadets to fly out of Webb Air Force Base, located west of Big Spring, he met the first love of his life.  Bob had his first date with Betty Mary Fillingim, a schoolteacher at Coahoma High School, on January 5, 1955.  They fell in love very quickly and were married at New Home Baptist Church on August 14, 1955.  Soon after, he requested a transfer to Chanute AFB at Rantoul, Illinois to attend the Aircraft Maintenance Officer’s Course.  He was assigned to the Mobile Training Wing as Detachment Commander and in January 1958, received his orders to report to Kadena Air Base on the island of Okinawa.  In 1960, they were transferred to Lowry AFB, outside of Denver where Bob became a Test Pilot and a Maintenance Division Disaster Control Officer.

In December of 1962, they were stationed at Reese AFB in Lubbock where Bob was the Flight-line Maintenance Officer.  He was qualified to fly the T-38 Talon and their base soon transitioned out of the T-33’s.  In January 1965, he received his orders to report to Headquarters United States Air Force Europe (USAFE) at Lindsey Air Station in Wiesbaden, Germany where he spent three years as the Chief of the Maintenance Inspection Branch of the ORI (Operational Readiness Inspection) Team.