Legendary pilot Bob Hoover dies

Bob Hoover, the famous air show pilot, died last night, aged 94. Cited as ‘one of the greatest pilots the world has seen’, tributes are started to flow for the man who was a US Air Force fighter pilot, then test pilot before flying aerobatic displays.

“We lost a true, one-of-a-kind aviation hero today,” said Jack Pelton of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). “We all knew of Bob’s incredible aviation career and witnessed his unmatched flying skills. It was Bob Hoover as a person that also made him legendary. He was a true gentleman and unfailingly gracious and generous, as well as a true friend of EAA through the years. We can only hope to use his lifelong example as a pilot and a person as a standard for all of us to achieve.”

Along w/the entire aviation community, we’re sad to hear Bob Hoover has flown west.  pic.twitter.com/qBNrL29Ovy

— AOPA (@AOPA) October 25, 2016

“The death of Bob Hoover is a tremendous loss to the entire aviation community,” said  Pete Bunce, General Aviation Manufacturers Association (Gama). “Bob was a great friend and mentor to countless aviators in the military, manufacturing, test pilot, and airshow segments of our profession. No one else in history has had his ‘hands’ and knowledge of how to maximize the performance of an aircraft in all corners of the envelope.”

Aviation war hero.
Groundbreaking test pilot.
Air show extraordinaire.

Blue skies & tailwinds to our friend Bob Hoover. pic.twitter.com/1mIoCyuohz

— Embry-Riddle Univ (@EmbryRiddle) October 25, 2016

In April this year, a life-size bronze statue of Hoover was unveiled at the Smithsonian Museum.

Among Bob’s many exploits was escaping from a German prisoner of war camp in WWII by stealing a Focke-Wulf 190 and flying it to the Netherlands. Post-war, Hoover was Chuck Yeager’s back-up pilot in the supersonic Bell X-1 project.

Hoover’s latter career as a display pilot saw him develop and perform an extraordinary routine in a Aero Commander Shrike Commander twin-engine business aircraft, which not only included full aerobatics but finished with Hoover shutting off both engines then using momentum to perfect a loop, slow roll and land first on one wheel, then both. He’d only switch the engine back on to taxi back to the apron.

FLYER interviewed Bob in December 2014. That interview is available for free download here.