Matt Whiting wrote in
:

Dudley Henriques wrote:
Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Big John wrote in
:
Bertie

No film but saw him fly once, years ago. Almost as good as Bob
Hoover.

Saw him fly quite a few times. I always thought he was better! The
thing was, he made it look so easy. The mark of a true craftsman.. I
don't think he ever put more than 90 hp in that airplane, either.
Bertie


I would agree with this. Duane had none of the advantages in the
clipped wing T Craft that Hoover had in the 51. His displays in the T
Craft were marvelous demonstrations of energy control.
Bob on the other hand is a master at smoothness of control. I don't
think I've ever seen anyone handle an airplane display wise any
smoother than Hoover.
Duane's routines were special. Where Hoover rode the smooth ride in
placing the 51 where it had to be at any instant in his
demonstrations, Duane Cole managed energy better than anyone I've
ever seen in aerobatics. The best way to describe Duane Cole's flying
was that he got every once of performance out of his airplane that it
was possible of giving him......and then some :-)

I never had the pleasure of seeing Duane fly in person, but I was able
to see Bob twice back in the late 70s (or maybe early 80s) at ELM and
IPT. I am continually amazed at how smooth he flew and the precision
with which he flew (dancing the 51, etc.). I've constantly tried to
increase my smoothness to better emulate Bob, knowing full well it
simply isn't possible to even get close.


That's not what Bob says!

He can come across as a bit of a braggart sometims, but then again he
has a lot to brag about. In actual fact he's actually very
straighforward about his abilities saying that he's got nothing special
going on except a lot of practice and a determination to constantly
improve. Smoothness is easy, really. It;s just five, ten or a hundred
times as many coarse, but smaller, corrections in the same space of
time as you make now!


Bertie