Air Force legend Robin Olds, a triple ace from World War II and Vietnam who was born in Honolulu and served on the advisory board of the Pacific Aviation Museum-Pearl Harbor, died Thursday at his home in Steamboat Springs, Colo. He was 84.

Olds, a retired brigadier general, died of congestive heart failure, the Air Force said.

"We've lost a great patriot, a great American," said Clint Churchill, president of the Pacific Aviation Museum. "He was kind of the fighter pilot's fighter pilot."

Olds was born in Honolulu on July 14, 1922, the son of Maj. Gen. Robert Olds, a World War I fighter pilot who helped develop the concept of strategic bombing in the 1930s.

The 6-foot-2 Robin Olds, an All-American tackle at West Point, was assigned to the European Theater at the end of World War II, where he flew 107 combat missions.

Flying P-38 Lightnings and P-51 Mustangs, Olds shot down 13 German aircraft, making him a double ace.

He had to wait 22 years to return to combat. Olds, who often bucked the military system and ignored rules that he considered silly, grew a rakish handlebar mustache in Vietnam in disregard of Air Force standards.

He also planned and executed Operation Bolo, a daring strike against North Vietnamese MiGs on Jan. 2, 1967, that was the most decisive U.S. air victory at that point in the war.

In the ensuing dogfight, Olds shot down a MiG-21. Later that year he added three more to his tally, including two MiGs in one day.

Olds was well-liked by the troops he commanded, and after his Vietnam service, spent three years as commandant of the Air Force Academy.

At retirement in 1973, his honors included an Air Force Cross, a Distinguished Service medal, four Silver Stars, a Legion of Merit, six Distinguished Flying Crosses, and 40 Air Medals.

Olds was the keynote speaker at a December 2005 fundraiser on O'ahu for the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island.

Churchill said despite Olds' imposing size and background, he had a winning personality.

"You instantly liked Gen. Olds and identified with him," Churchill said. "He was just real friendly."