Who is that man?….Bob Hoover!

I know Mr.Hoover used to do an impressive Mustang display, but I have never seen any video of it.

Does anyone know of any video clip of his routine on the internet or
any account that describe his manouvers?
I once heard a Mustang display pilot describe his routine as a proof of how much punishment a Merlin engine can take and still perform …

–
E

YouTube.com brings up a couple of Bob Hoover-related clips – this is the one you want to watch:

Bob Hoover clip

(and it was a roll, not a loop as I previously thought)

Bob Hoover can also be seen at
http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/2006-3-11_bob_hoover.avi .
A clip to see, and to save on your harddisk!

As far as I know Lex Dupont is still the owner/operator of N315E, still in the same paint with the oversized N number!

Back in the 70’s the aircraft and DuPont (of the chemical company family) were the subject of an excellent cover story for Flying Magazine, one of their rare forays into warbirds.

Hornchurch,

At that time, 1974, it belonged to or was being operated by Alec Sheves/Lex Dupont.

Try a Google on Warbirds directory.

Mark

Thanks Mark, for both the Info’, photo’s & forwarding link – most interesting to me.

I thought is was a much later, FM-2, once I clocked the tall tailplane & strangely mixed in with the v.early war colour scheme.

I’d made & sprayed that exact scheme on a 1/48th Monogram Kit some 8 years ago, using a Microscale/Superscale decal sheet with identical markings.

As far as I know Lex Dupont is still the owner/operator of N315E, still in the same paint with the oversized N number!

Nice photo, Mark12 – N6519D (then owned by Leroy Penhall) actually is the ‘stop-gap-aircraft’ after N2251D was heavily damaged in an O2-bottle explosion at Oshkosh in 1970 – N6519D was used for a rather short time only until the real replacement a/c for N2251D, i.e. N51RH “Ole Yeller” built up by Cavalier in Sarasota FL in 1971 was ready.

Martin

Those air/oxy systems are a real pain. I really felt for the Merlin’s Magic P51 team at Reno this year…..their race Merlin chopped itself in half (but for the heads) on Tuesday…the team worked so hard to get her other engine fitted. They qualified well and then the bottle exploded on Thursday and damaged the rear fuz. I felt so sorry for them.

Nice pic, Mark12.

Without me trawling through the net, do you know what became of the F.4 F in the background & it’s current (if any) whereabouts ???

Hornchurch,

At that time, 1974, it belonged to or was being operated by Alec Sheves/Lex Dupont.

Try a Google on Warbirds directory.

Mark

PS
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/f4fregistry/f4f-47030.html

He was (maybe still is) great friends with Chuck Yeager and his name appears profusely in Yeager’s autobiography. If I remember correctly they were both Bell test pilots and Hoover was closely involved in the X-1 programme.

Roger Smith.

Didn’t he fly the chase plane, or am I confusing that with the X-15 programme?

Nice photo, Mark12 – N6519D (then owned by Leroy Penhall) actually is the ‘stop-gap-aircraft’ after N2251D was heavily damaged in an O2-bottle explosion at Oshkosh in 1970 – N6519D was used for a rather short time only until the real replacement a/c for N2251D, i.e. N51RH “Ole Yeller” built up by Cavalier in Sarasota FL in 1971 was ready.

Martin

Here is a shot of his Rockwell P-51 taken some 32 years ago. At that time a young gentleman named Steve Hinton used to ferry it around the display circuit for him.

Nice pic, Mark12.

Without me trawling through the net, do you know what became of the F.4 F in the background & it’s current (if any) whereabouts ???

Thanks, Swiss. (Gawd, I sound like Simon Day ! 😀 ).

He was (maybe still is) great friends with Chuck Yeager and his name appears profusely in Yeager’s autobiography. If I remember correctly they were both Bell test pilots and Hoover was closely involved in the X-1 programme.

Roger Smith.

…err as I was saying, at the end of his ‘energy managed’ display he finished off with his ‘party piece’, a …

Here is a shot of his Rockwell P-51 taken some 32 years ago. At that time a young gentleman named Steve Hinton used to ferry it around the display circuit for him.

Mark

… I don’t know about his wartime career…

he flew Spitfires Vc with the 52nd FG out of Sicily

on February 9th 1944, off the Mediterranean coast of France, Bob Hoover’s Spitfire was struck by a remarkable deflection shot from a Focke Wulf 190 flown by 2nd Lt. Siegfried Lemke. Hoover’s Spitfire began to break up, forcing him to bale out, he was picked up by the Germans and became POW.

some more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hoover

Martin

I assumed that as with most aerobatic routine descriptions, from memory, I could dispense with the ‘it took off from the the ground and then…’ bit. 🙂

There’s quite a few (dead) pilots who thought a loop from take off was a good starting trick. They probably said ‘watch this’… 🙁

However, having wandered into the byways of trivia, let us draw a veil over that discussion and take out (ten gallon) hats off to Bob, unarguably one of the all time greats, and one who should be an any list of Greatest Display Pilots Ever – certainly near the top…

He didn’t start with a loop, but your post did. :p Just commenting on a little ambiguity in Prue Freada’s Project skills… 😀

Gosh… I thought it started with a ‘party piece’.

I assumed that as with most aerobatic routine descriptions, from memory, I could dispense with the ‘it took off from the the ground and then…’ bit. 🙂

Prue.

Where in my post did I say he started with a loop? 🙂

He didn’t start with a loop, but your post did. :p Just commenting on a little ambiguity in Prue Freada’s Project skills… 😀

Yeah. But even Bob operated within the laws of physics – the display didn’t start with a loop of the deck, engines off, which was my thought… 😉

JDK,

Where in my post did I say he started with a loop? 🙂

Note my header – ‘Energy management’.

Mark

Mornin’

Was it reaching for the skies? J man

Thanks for that Jetstream Man, that’s definately the one I meant.

I can still remember the superb theme music after all that time, but sadly forgot the title. 🙁

YouTube.com brings up a couple of Bob Hoover-related clips – this is the one you want to watch:

Bob Hoover clip

(and it was a roll, not a loop as I previously thought)