Robert Jones Friend (February 29, 1920 – June 21, 2019) was an American military officer and pilot who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II and led the USAF's Project Blue Book from 1958 to 1963.

[5] After the war began the Army established a segregated program for black pilots in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Friend led Project Blue Book, a classified U.S. Air Force study on UFOs.

[8][9] He had flown 142 combat missions in World War II as part of the elite group of fighter pilots trained at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute.

[10] He had spoken about his experiences in many different events prior to his death, such as in John Murdy Elementary School's "The Gratitude Project" in Garden Grove.