AN EIGHTH AIR FORCE BOMBER STATION, ENGLAND--For comradeship-in-arms, the Three Musketeers had nothing on Captain Robert T. Robinson, 29, former student at Alabama Polytechnic Inst., and Capt. William G. Simpson, 25, of Oakmont, Pa., pilots at this B-17 Flying Fortress base, who have flown and fought wing to wing since they entered the Army Aviation Cadets back in 1941. After sweating out their Cadet training together they both won their wings at Ellington Field, Tex., Oct. 3, 1942. They then continued their companionship through phase training at Tucson, Ariz., Alamogordo and Clovis, N.M. and Topeka, Kans. When they were assigned to the Ninth Anti-Submarine Squadron, stationed at Miami, Fla., they first met their present commanding officer, Colonel Glendon P. Overing, Orange, Mass., who was then in command of the sub-hunting organization. For three months during this period in 1943, the two fliers were separated for the first and only time during their Army careers--after Capt. Simpson cracked up a B-25. While he was recuperating from injuries in the hospital, Capt. Robinson flew anti-submarine patrol from a base in Dutch Guiana and Trinidad. Eventually the Ninth was activated at Tucson, Ariz., as the 486th Bomb. Group, and the two friends flew together during phase training there. By this time, Capt. Simpson had become a flight commander and Capt. Robinson a Squadron operations officer. Then they came to England with the 486th and have since been doing their part in the Eighth Air Force offensive against Germany. Both have commanded lead crews during their service here. Both flew with the 486th on its first mission and its 100th mission. Both have received all promotions on the same days. And now they have both been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for "extraordinary achievement." Capt. Robinson, who anticlimactically attended Alabama Polytechnic Inst. from 1934 to 1936, is the son of Mr. R.T. Robinson, 1512 32nd St., Columbus, Ga., His wife, Mrs. Mary Jo Robinson, and small boy live at 1601 15th St., Columbus. In addition to the DFC, the Georgia airman holds the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters. -30-