Bob Hoover
Robert Anderson Hoover (January 24, 1922 – October 25, 2016) was an American fighter pilot, test pilot, flight instructor, and record-setting air show aviator.
Bob Hoover | |
|---|---|
Hoover in 2011 | |
| Birth name | Robert Anderson Hoover |
| Born | January 24, 1922 Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | October 25, 2016 (aged 94) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/ | Tennessee National Guard United States Army Air Forces United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1940–1950 |
| Rank | First Lieutenant |
| Unit | 52nd Fighter Group Flight Evaluation Group |
| Battles/wars | World War II Korean War |
| Awards | Distinguished Flying Cross Soldier's Medal for Valor Air Medal with Clusters Purple Heart Croix de guerre |
| Spouse(s) |
Colleen Hoover
(m. 1948; died 2016) |
| Other work | Test pilot, flight instructor and air show pilot (1948–1999) |
Hoover flew Spitfires in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II and was shot down in 1944 off the coast of France. He was held for over a year in a German POW camp before eventually escaping and flying to safety in a stolen enemy aircraft. He then worked as a United States Air Force and civilian test pilot after the war, flying chase for Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1 supersonic flight in 1947, and as a flight instructor for North American Aviation during the Korean War.
He is best known as an air show display pilot, who flew for nearly 50 years until his retirement in 1999. Referred to as the "pilot's pilot", Hoover revolutionized modern aerobatic flying and has been described in many aviation circles as one of the greatest pilots of all time. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1988 and Aerospace Walk of Honor in 1992, along with several other military and civilian awards and accolades. In 2013, Flying magazine ranked him 10th on its list of the 51 Heroes of Aviation.