AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2014 - 112

PILOTS

LEGENDARY TEST PILOT

R.A. 'Bob' Hoover
Overcoming challenges to lead an amazing aviation life
B Y J U L I E S U M M E R S WA L K E R
LISTENING TO BOB HOOVER tell the stories of his life, one is apt to wonder Is
this for real? For the legendary test and airshow pilot's stories are larger than
life-just like the man. Every pilot has a favorite Hoover story: performing a
barrel roll while pouring a glass of iced tea; his tanks filled with jet fuel instead
of avgas leading to design of the Hoover Nozzle; his medical certificate revocation-and reinstatement; rolling and looping a Shrike Aero Commander; his
famous radio call: "Gentlemen, you have a race" at Reno; teaching pilots in the
Korean war how to dive bomb; and his escapades in World War II.
The young Hoover at first was so airsick when he flew, he feared his dreams
of flying were over before they even started. "I loved the idea of flying since I
was six or seven years old. I thought wouldn't it be wonderful to fly. I dreamed
about it," he recalls. "I soloed at 16 after eight hours; 15 minutes each weekend.
I was so worried about getting sick. But I just had to overcome it."
Later, enlisting for World War II at the age of 18, his dream to fly in combat
also was nearly dashed. "When I enlisted the physician said I hate to tell you
this, but you need to read the bottom of the eye chart. I'm going to leave the room
for 20 minutes. When I come back, let's see if you can read the chart. I memorized

that chart," Hoover says. "Later he told me he'd
made the best decision passing me."
He made a daring escape from a POW camp
in Germany. "I was shot down and captured
February 9, 1944. I made several attempts at
escape and spent time in solitary confinement,"
he says. "After 16 months I escaped and flew to
the Netherlands in a Fw190."
After the war, Hoover became a test pilot
for North American Aviation, testing and flying its most famous aircraft-including the
F-86 Sabre and the P-51 Mustang. His own
Mustang-N51RH, known as Ole Yeller- is
now based at Legacy Flight Museum in Idaho.
Hoover was awarded military honors including the Distinguished Flying Cross, Soldier's
Medal for Valor, the Purple Heart, and French
Croix de Guerre. He is an honorary member
of the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds, was
awarded the Smithsonian Institution's National
Air and Space Trophy in 2007, and an honorary
doctorate by the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School
in 2010. He met Orville Wright, and Col. James
H. Doolittle once called him "the greatest stickand-rudder pilot who ever lived."
Now 92, Hoover continues his amazing aviation adventure. He established Bob Hoover's
Jet Center in Van Nuys, California. Of his flying
life, he says, "I had some mishaps that I don't
mind admitting were terrifying, but I got back
into the cockpit and pressed on. I did what had
to be done."
AOPA
LOGBOOK

WHO | Bob Hoover, test pilot and airshow

performer

testing most of them."

AIRCRAFT | Flown 300 different types of
aircraft worldwide
EXTRA | The documentary Perfecting

Flight: Bob Hoover raised money that
Hoover and others are using to offer
scholarships through Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University.

112 | AOPA PILOT July 2014

CHRIS HOLLOMAN

HOURS | "Not as many as you'd think-I was

AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2014

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