R. A. "Bob" Hoover (born c. 1922) is a former air show pilot and United States Air Force test pilot. His personal trademark is a wide-brimmed straw hat and wide smile. 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The Utterly Butterly wing_walking display team flying Boeing Stearman PT_17 biplanes An airshow is an event at which aviators display their flying skills, normally to the public, but occasionally to invited guests, or employees and their families only. ... The U.S. Air Force redirects here, for the official song, see The U.S. Air Force (song) The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerospace branch of the United States armed forces and one of the seven uniformed services. ... Test pilots work on developing, evaluating and proving experimental aircraft. ...

Aviation Career

Bob Hoover learned to fly at Nashville's Berry Field while working at a local grocery store to pay for the flight training. He enlisted in the Tennessee National Guard and was sent for pilot training with the Army. He was sent to Casablanca where his first major assignment of the war was test flying the assembled aircraft ready for service. He was later assigned to the Spitfire-equipped 52nd Fighter group in Sicily. After 58 successful missions, on the 59th his malfunctioning Mark V Spitfire was shot down by a Focke-Wulf 190 off the coast of Southern France in 1944 and was taken prisoner. He spent 16 months at the German prison camp Stalag Luft 1 in Barth, Germany. Nickname: Music City Location in Davidson County and the state of Tennessee Coordinates: Country United States State Tennessee Counties Davidson County Founded: 1779 Incorporated: 1806 Mayor Bill Purcell (D) Area    - City 526. ... The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States armed forces and has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... The Supermarine Spitfire was an iconic British single-seat fighter used by the RAF and many Allied countries in the Second World War. ... Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in flight. ... Prisoner of War camps Contents // Categories: Substubs | Prisons and detention centres ... Map of Germany showing Barth Barth (Polish: Bardo) is a town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. ...

He managed to escape from the prison camp, stole a FW 190 (according to his own biography), and flew to safety in the Netherlands. After the war, he was assigned to flight test duty at Wright Field. There he impressed and befriended Chuck Yeager. Hoover hoped to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, but unfortunately, a desperate bailout from an F-84 Thunderjet shattered both his legs, dashing his hopes of flying the X-1. Later when Yeager was asked who he wanted for flight crew for the supersonic Bell X-1 flight, he named Bob Hoover. Hoover was Yeager's backup pilot in the Bell X-1 program and flew chase for Yeager in a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star during the Mach 1 flight, and flew chase for the 50th anniversary in an F-16. Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in flight. ... Charles Yeager Charles Elwood Chuck Yeager (born on February 13, 1923, in Lincoln County, West Virginia) was a general officer in the United States Air Force and a noted test pilot. ... The Bell X-1, originally XS-1 was the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound in controlled, level flight. ... It has been suggested that hypersonic be merged into this article or section. ... The Lockheed SR-71, remarkably advanced for its time and unsurpassed in many areas of performance The Lockheed U-2 first flew in 1955 providing much needed intelligence on Soviet bloc countries Lockheed Corporation was an aerospace company founded in 1912 which merged with Martin Marietta in 1995 to form... The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was the first operational jet fighter used by the United States Army Air Force. ... Mach number (Ma) (pronounced: mæk, mɑːk) is defined as a ratio of the speed of an object or flow relative to the speed of sound in the medium through which it is travelling: Vo/Vs where Vo is the speed of the object and Vs is the speed... The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a modern multi-role jet fighter aircraft built in the United States and used by dozens of countries all over the world. ...

He left the Air Force for civilian jobs in 1948. This included test/demonstration pilot with North American Aviation where he went on bombing missions with the F-86 over Korea. North American Aviation, Inc. ... The first proposals for the North American Aviation F-86 Sabre were made in 1944, but construction was not begun until after World War II. Many elements of German jet design were implemented in the Sabre, after the American liberation troops captured a number of working Messerschmitt Me 262 experimental... Korea (Korean: 한국 or 조선, see below) is a geographic area, civilization, and former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. ...

Bob Hoover has set records for transcontinental and "time to climb" speed, and has personally known such great aviators as Orville Wright, Eddie Rickenbacker, Charles Lindbergh, Jacqueline Cochran, Neil Armstrong, and Yuri Gagarin. Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 - January 30, 1948), the younger of the Wright brothers, seen as one of the fathers of heavier-than-air flight. ... Edward Vernon (Eddie) Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 27, 1973) was an American fighter pilot who flew in World War I. He was born Edward Rickenbacher in Columbus, Ohio to Swiss immigrants. ... Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. ... Jacqueline Cochran, born Bessie Lee Pittman (May 11, 1906 - August 7, 1980) was a pioneer American aviatrix. ... Neil Alden Armstrong (born August 5, 1930) is a former American astronaut, test pilot, and Naval Aviator, and was the first human to set foot on the Moon. ... Colonel Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (Russian: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, Jurij Alekseevič Gagarin; March 9, 1934 – March 27, 1968), was a Soviet cosmonaut who in 1961 became the first human in space and the first human to orbit the Earth. ...

Bob Hoover is most well known for his air show career, which started when he was hired to demonstrate the capabilities of Aero Commander's Shrike Commander, a twin-engined piston business aircraft which had developed a rather staid reputation due to its bulky shape. Hoover showed the strength of the plane as he put the aircraft through rolls, loops, and other maneuvers which most people wouldn't associate with executive aircraft. As a grand finale, he shut down both engines and executed a loop and an eight-point hesitation slow roll as he headed back to the runway. He touched down on one tire, then the other, before landing. After pulling off the runway, he would start engines to taxi back to the parking area. Aero Commander may refer to either: a US aircraft manufacturer an aircraft built by that company This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Aero Commander was a light twin-engined aircraft by Aero Design and Engineering Company part of Rockwell International. ...

A few years after starting the show, he began carrying passengers during the show -- after all, he reasoned, the Shrike Commander carries six passengers in comfort (though perhaps not as much comfort when upside down.) These passengers became known as "Hoover's Heevers" due to the number who became airsick during the maneuvers.

With the advent of camcorders, Hoover added a flourish to the act by pouring a cup of tea from a Thermos, while performing a slow aileron roll (a 1G maneuver). Video of this has been widely distributed, to the pleasure of Aero Commander enthusiasts.

Medical Controversy

His air show aerobatics career ended over medical concerns, when his pilot's license was suspended by the Federal Aviation Administration. It later developed that two FAA officials made a pact to "get Hoover" due to his advanced age, making claims that his maneuvers during one demonstration were "erratic." Other pilots at the show testified that this was not true, but while the process dragged out, Hoover was granted a pilot's license by Australia's aviation authorities, enabling him to fly in any part of the world other than the United States.   FAA redirects here. ...

Eventually the truth came out, and Hoover's US pilot's license was reinstated, but the damage had been done -- he was unable to get the insurance necessary to perform, due to companies' fears. Hoover continued to fly his P-51 Mustang at shows, sometimes in tight formation with Yeager, but the Shrike Commander act was over.

This episode also continues to haunt the FAA, as pilots have lost much of their trust for the agency due to the actions of those two officials.

Honors and Recognition

Bob Hoover is considered one of the founding fathers of modern aerobatics, he was described by Jimmy Doolittle as, "...the greatest stick-and-rudder man who ever lived." In the Centennial of flight edition of the Air & Space Smithsonian, he was named the third greatest aviator in history. The Frecce Tricolori aerobatic team of the Italian Air Force, flying at the Royal International Air Tattoo, Fairford, England, in 2005 The UK Utterly Butterly display team perform an aerobatic maneuvre with their Boeing Stearmans Red Arrows Hawks in Concorde formation Aerobatics is the demonstration of flying maneuvers for recreation... James Harold Jimmy Doolittle, Sc. ...

During his illustrious career he was awarded the following military medals: Distinguished Flying Cross, Soldier's Medal for Valor, Air Medal with Clusters, Purple Heart and the French Croix de Guerre. He was also made an honorary member of the Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, American Fighter Aces Association, Original Eagle squadron and received an Award of Merit from the American Fighter Pilots Association. In 1992, he was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor. The Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornets fly in tight diamond formation, maintaining 18 wingtip-to-canopy separation. ... Thunderbirds Squadron ensign The USAF Thunderbirds perform an echelon pass. ... The Eagle Squadrons were Royal Air Force fighter squadrons formed during World War II from American volunteer pilots. ... The Aerospace Walk of Honor in Lancaster, California is a continually-growing venue for honoring test pilots who have significantly contributed to aviation and space research and development. ...

Hoover Nozzle and Hoover Ring

A perhaps-undesired recognition is the "Hoover Nozzle" used on jet-fuel pumps. The Hoover Nozzle is designed with a flattened bell shape. The Hoover Nozzle cannot be inserted in the filler neck of a plane with the "Hoover Ring" installed, thus preventing the tank from accidently being filled with jet fuel.

This system was given this name following an accident in which Hoover was seriously injured, when both engines on his Shrike Commander failed during takeoff. Investigators found that the plane had just been fueled by a line boy who mistook the piston-engine Shrike for a similar turboprop model, filling the tanks with jet fuel instead of avgas (aviation gasoline). There was enough avgas in the fuel system to taxi to the runway and takeoff, but then the jet fuel was drawn into the engines, causing them to die. A schematic diagram showing the operation of a turboprop engine. ... // Avgas is a high-octane fuel used for aircraft and, in the past, racing cars. ...

Once Hoover recovered, he widely promoted the use of the new type of nozzle (now required by Federal regulation on jet fuel pumps) and called on pilots to install the restricting rings on their planes.

External links

• Bob Hoover video in which he pours tea while performing a barrel roll from Alexis Park Inn & Suites' video library