That was before I knew what a Bob Hoover was, but it all fits together.
That must have been before he mostly worked in an Aero Commander. Too
bad about his Aero Commander, him having so much trouble keeping both
fans turning. . .and he had a lot of trouble with straight and level
too, didn't he?

You must have seen the videos of him flying the Commander without
spilling anything from an open container.

Do you know if he did other things that took advantage of his
remarkable coordination, or was it only obvious when he flew?



On Dec 5, 10:49 pm, John Smith wrote:
Tony wrote:
That brings up a long ago memory. I remember sometime in the 60s seeing
the Blue Angels at South Waymouth Naval Air Station in MA. There was a
P51 Spitfire out on the field, and I remember watching a guy go out
wearing a suit. He took off his coat, climbed in, strapped on the
chute, then took off and did things (I wasn't a pilot then) that I had
never seen done before -- high speed low passes inverted, following the
dip in the runway so he seemed to disappear -- that sort of thing. He
landed, got out, put on his suit coat, and walked away.A P-51 SPITFIRE you say? ;-))

A man wearing a suit, you say?

Did he perchance wear a straw hat?

Was he tall and thin with a mustache?

Did he make the aircraft dance down the runway from one wheel to the
other and back again?

If you answered yes to all of the above, you were priviledged to see a
performance by "The Pilot's Pilot", aka Robert A "Bob" Hoover.