Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1950 Lucky Bag:

ROBERT MARVIN KING

As a very obvious product of Norfolk and the University of Virginia, Kooney will always carry a thick Virginia accent, a love for Norfolk, and a quick answer as his trade marks. His favorite academic subjects were literature, history, and languages. These, of course, were secondary to his really great research in the field of lacrosse, for almost every spare moment was spent bouncing balls off the door and catching them in his butterfly net. If things go as it appears they will, Bob will some day be sailing his own ship back into Hampton Roads, the Navy Yard, and home.

Loss

Robert was lost on January 25, 1954 when his AD-6 Skyraider aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean. He was a member of Attack Squadron (VA) 25, operating from USS Midway (CV 41).

Bonnie Brown of the USS Midway Museum graciously provided the accident report. It shows Robert’s crash occurred at 9:17pm local time and while he was in the landing pattern. The weather was calm but with a surface haze; it seems that Robert lost view of the horizon and flew his airplane into the sea without realizing it.

Other Information

From USNA 1950¹:

Bob served on the USS Midway, followed by flight training at Pensacola and Corpus Christi. He then joined VA-25 at the Naval Air Station, Oceana, VA, flying AD aircraft.

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Robert attended the University of Virginia and was on the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s List for the first semester 1946 as being a Distinguished Student. He passed at least fourteen hours of work with at least a B. He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and was on the First Year Social Committee.

His brother Archer III was in the class of 1949.

Robert’s father, Archer King, Jr. ‘15, was lost in active duty in 1944.

Robert was survived by his wife, Alva, and son, Robert, Jr.; he has a memory marker in Arlington National Cemetery. (Survivor information from March 1954 issue of Shipmate.)

References