The GREAT Bob Hoover has Passed!! Everyone most likely has a
Bob Hoover story or memory. In the late
70’s (before Delta) our company was sponsoring an airshow and one of the
headliners was Bob Hoover. The week
before our show Bob’s shrike was mis-fueled with JetA and after his initial 45o
turn to a slow roll at 100’, it flamed
out and he crash landed it in a farmer’s field.
He walked away from it but now didn’t have an aircraft to continue his
schedule. Aero Commander flew a new
Shrike to our airfield and I was there when it arrived. I looked and it had 5.0
hrs on the hobbs meter. Brand spanking
new! But it also had a different layout
from the gal that Bob was flying for his shows.
I thought Bob would come in and put the bird through its paces to get
familiar with it and see if it was up to par.
Naw! That was a waste of time, I guess.
He first stepped into the bird at show time and flew a flawless airshow with
only the pizzazz and charisma that he had.
As he the same age as my dad Bob was tasked by the Army Air Corps to
demonstrate to many many young WWII aviators what their planes could do even
though it was often times his first flight in those birds. What a gentleman, what a larger than life
personality, and what a pilot. Bob
Hoover has Flown West. I think he is
showing an angel or two what their “wings” can actually do. One of a kind and so glad to have seen him
perform and met him face to face. RIP
Captain Hoover. Mark
++++
Sent: Tuesday, October
25, 2016 11:42 AM
To:
undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: R.A.
"Bob" Hoover has flown West ..
Dear
Friends of Bob’s:
It is with great sadness that I send this note. We have just learned that we
lost R.A. “Bob” Hoover last night. I am so very sad.
It is difficult to put into words what Bob meant to so many people – and to
each of us. He has a very special place in our hearts.
Perhaps the best thing is to simply take a moment to reflect upon what Bob
Hoover meant us personally. There is comfort in knowing that Bob is part of who
we are and that the world is a better place because of him.
Sincerely,
Greg
Herrick
Obit for Bob Hoover:
From: David Norvell
Date: 10/25/2016 8:36:38 PM
Subject: Aviation Legend Bob Hoover Flies West |
Aerospace News: Aviation International News
A
great aviator and a true American. A perfect time to depart the pattern so as
not to see the demise of the country he fought for which will happen in two
weeks.
++++
From: dickhendrickson@comcast.net
Sent: 10/25/2016 9:48:36 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Bob Hoover flew West this morning. RIP
Sent: 10/25/2016 9:48:36 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Bob Hoover flew West this morning. RIP
Thanks for relaying the news of Bob
Hoover's death at 94. It leaves a gaping hole in my heart, as I have
watched his shows and spoken to him many times, always with a sense of immense
admiration. He has been my aviation hero since 1958 when my class of newly
winged USAF pilots gathered on the ramp at Laredo, AFB, TX to enjoy his show in
the shiniest F-86 F that we'd ever seen. The lanky man was impeccably
dressed in a dark blue business suit wearing cuff links and a hanky tucked
neatly in the breast pocket. He appeared to be an above average nattily
dressed business man. After a few greeting words, he climbed into his
steed, stood in the cockpit, took off his suit coat and, after carefully folding
it, placed it behind the head rest on his ejection seat, donned a shiny silver
helmet and proceeded to do things with that airplane I had not even dreamed of,
beginning with the famous aileron roll upon lift-off and completed by rolling
power off into the chocks he'd left earlier on our ramp. He doffed his
silver helmet, put on his suit coat and we all then strolled together back into
our line classroom where he made an address equal to his just completed
startling performance. We 45 newbee hot shots and our flight instructors
listened with rapt and admiring attention to the Master.
The thing that
has stuck with me the longest: He said that while he considered himself
an experienced VFR stick and rudder guy, he never ever attempted to fly instruments
IMC anymore. He thought that devoting himself to just one aspect of
aviation, test flying as North American's chief test pilot and aerobatics in
VFR, enabled him to concentrate all his efforts on that and recommended that we
all stick with whatever in aviation we found to be our strong suit. I followed
that advice and found that during my own flying career I was lucky enough to
excel in flying VFR tactics in fighters.......while I could. My later
necessary transition to intense instrument flying as a 23,000 hour airline
pilot and check airman was successful and earned me a good living and a great
deal of world-wide flying. But thanks to Bob, I remained at heart a
fighter pilot...without a fighter! Many of my friends admit to the same
persuasion.
In the
following years I was privileged to attend many air shows in which Bob
performed: F-86's, F-100's, his own "Old Yeller" P-51 and lastly, in
the Shrike. Always with the same trademark exquisite smoothness.
His straw hat seen sweeping through the crowd was always a highly welcomed
precursor to the finest flying performances in history. The last time I
saw him was at EAA Oshkosh in the nineties, when EAAWarbirds sponsored he and
his pal Chuck Yeager at an evening barbecue. It was one of the most memorable
evenings of my life, as those two legends outdid one another in hours of tales
about everything from their WWII experiences to test flying the most famous jet
fighters of the fifties.
The
Brotherhood of aviation has lost a giant. A giant of a man and a giant of
a pilot. I'm sure he has made a feather light dead stick landing to a
riotous reception among fighter pilots who have flown West in years past.
Regards, Bill
Porter
Bob
Hoover flew West this morning. Undoubtedly with a tailwind. http://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2016/10/bob-hoover-one-of-nations-greatest-pilots-dead-at-94/
Truly a piece
of history.
++++
my goodness all kinds of information available here at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hoover
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Though Snopes says the story is outdated, Barfoot’s record and
his commitment is worthy of highlight!
From: lynn martin
Date: 10/12/2016 2:51:47 PM
To: Mark Sztanyo
Subject: VAN T. BAREFOOT DIED
Van
T Barfoot died...
Remember
the guy who wouldn't take
the
flag pole down on his Virginia property a
while back?
while back?
You
might remember the news story several
months
ago about a crotchety old man in
Virginia
who defied his local Homeowners Association,
and refused to take down the flag pole on
his property along with the large American flag
he flew on it.
and refused to take down the flag pole on
his property along with the large American flag
he flew on it.
Now
we learn who that old man was.
On
June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in Edinburg ,
Texas .
That
probably didn't make news back then.
But twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944, near
Carano , Italy , that same Van T. Barfoot,
But twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944, near
Carano , Italy , that same Van T. Barfoot,
who
had in 1940 enlisted in the U.S. Army, set
out
alone to flank German machine gun positions
from which gunfire was raining down on his fellow soldiers.
from which gunfire was raining down on his fellow soldiers.
His
advance took him through a minefield but
having
done so, he proceeded to single-handedly
take
out three enemy machine gun positions,
returning
with 17 prisoners of war.
And
if that weren't enough for a day's work, he
later
took
on and destroyed three German tanks sent to
retake the machine gun positions.
retake the machine gun positions.
That
probably didn't make much news either,
given
the scope of the war, but it did earn Van T. Barfoot,
who
retired as a Colonel after also serving
in Korea and Vietnam , a well deserved Congressional
Medal of Honor.
in Korea and Vietnam , a well deserved Congressional
Medal of Honor.
What
did make news...Was hisNeighborhood Association's
quibblewith how the 90-year-old veteran chose
to fly the American flag outside his suburban
Virginia home. Seems the HOA rules said it was
OK to fly a flag on a house-mounted bracket, but,
for decorum, items such as Barfoot 's 21-foot
flagpole were "unsuitable".
quibblewith how the 90-year-old veteran chose
to fly the American flag outside his suburban
Virginia home. Seems the HOA rules said it was
OK to fly a flag on a house-mounted bracket, but,
for decorum, items such as Barfoot 's 21-foot
flagpole were "unsuitable".
Van
Barfoot had been denied a permit for
the
pole, but erected it anyway and was facing
court
action unless he agreed to take it down.
Then
the HOA story made national TV,
and
the Neighborhood Association rethought
its
position and agreed to indulge this
aging
hero who dwelt among them.
"In the time I have left", he said to the
Associated
Press, "I plan to continue
to
fly the American flag without interference."
As
well he should.
And if any of his neighbors had taken a
notion to contest him
further, they might have done well to
And if any of his neighbors had taken a
notion to contest him
further, they might have done well to
read
his Medal of Honor citation first. Seems it
indicates
Mr. Van Barfoot wasn't
particularly
good
at backing down.
WE ONLY LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE! AND, BECAUSE OF OLD MEN LIKE VAN BARFOOT!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Full post disclaimer in left column. PCN Home Page is located at: http://pcn.homestead.com/home01.html
No comments:
Post a Comment