No words will ever do that incredible display justice. That roll on takeoff with his gear still retracting is simply astounding for the level of precision, judgement and skill required. There are only two pilots that ever lived that could fly like that - one was Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown and the other is R A ‘Bob’ Hoover. Mind blowing.
This guy in my opinion was Mr. Pilot. Pilot of all pilots. Amazing flying skills this possessed. I've seen him perform at airshows and he always did things that you think were impossible. He was truly blessed in this field and sadly missed. Thanks Bob for a great service to our country and to the public.
greatest pilot of ANY generation, back when pilots were pilots and flew using stick and rudder. My dad was lucky enough to share a drink with Mr. Hoover out of the back of car at an airshow one time that they both were flying at.
Only some him once at the York, Pa. Airport many years ago. His demo of the twin engine Shrike was masterful and alarming. He was so close the ground sometimes in dives and other times it seemed he was sure to stall the aircraft. But he was natural master at physics using power management and he could become one with the machine. Bless him. P. Massie
Had my picture taken at Sun N Fun shaking Bob Hoovers hand, 30 yrs ago. I was overwhelmed in his presence and could not even talk. He was the Greatest !
I had the privilege of meeting Mr Hoover at the AOPA convention when it was last help in Atlantic City. He was sitting at a table by himself ready to autograph the book he was selling. So my wife and I walked over and talked with him for a good 15 minutes. He was friendly and very amenable. This was even before I bought a copy of his book. He could do amazing things with a twin Commander with one engine shut down - and it was supposed to be a 'difficult' plane on one engine.
Lots of pilots, NOT ALL; can do a eight point barrelroll in a P-51 mustang but it takes an expert to do a sixteen point barrelroll in the same plane and BOB HOOVER was one of them !! Thank you BOB !!!
Wonderful memory of being a kid air junky at the Point Mugu air show in 69 and watching him in this yellow bird doing the most amazing stuff. He and Doolittle were the greatest natural sticks ever.
Amazing. This guy tore up the skies in a Mustang, all while wearing a suit and tie, without a helmet or even sunglasses. You won't see that very often today. I've never heard of him before coming across this video, but he certainly was an accomplished person.
In the late 70s there used to be air racing at Mojave. Bob Hoover would fly the pace plane, the famous "Yellowbird" Mustang, of course, get the field lined up and start the race. While the racers were going at it he'd be above the course just fooling around. Loops, rolls and all kinds of maneuvers, truly just loving the chance to fly a magnificent plane for pure pleasure. How blessed I was to observe a true master of the air perfectly at home in his element.
One of the nicest, most personable pilots I ever got to meet. I was fortunate enough as a boy to see him perform a few times in Kissimmee, Fl in his yellow P-51 "Old Yeller".
Growing up in southern California, I was lucky enough to watch Bob perform at many airshows in the area, as well as flying the yellow Mustang as pace pilot for the Mojave air races. His performances in the Aero Commander Shrike were at least as impressive as those in the Mustang. Met him once and he was a really nice, down-to-earth guy.
As the narrator said, “this is the kind of flying one doesn’t see too often anymore.” What an understatement! We NEVER see it and never will again. What Bob Hoover could do with an aircraft was mind boggling. His service record to our country was also incredible. I was so fortunate to see one of his last shows in “Ol Yeller.” The FAA tried to ground him for “old age,” but the public outcry was so great that they had to back off. The greatest aviator of any age bar none! RIP Bob Hoover.
I got a great photo I took of Ole Yeller I took at the Reading, PA 1973 Airshow. Bob gets my solid vote for the best pilot in American aviation history!
Back in the summer of 1978, watched Mr. Hoover perform same airshow in Hermosillo Int. Apt. I was sitting in the stairs of the Piper Navajo C/R I was flying that day just to his right where he parked the yellow F 51 performing his walkaround ck with his Panama hat on, before the show! I watched him very attentively , from a very short distance from wing tip to wing tip!
I don't think there will ever be a man born who could ever come close to Mr Hoover. He was a WW2 Combat Veteran who also became the best airshow pilot ever flying during the peak of the most powerful piston engine fighters ever to be brought to combat operational status. Bob Hoover met one of the wright brothers, and knew Charles Lindbergh. During WW2 Bob Hoover broke out of a German POW camp found Fighter and flew it to allied lines.
General Jimmy Dolittle called Bob Hoover:"The best stick and rudder pilot-Ever". I have seen Bob Hoover at the Sussex, NJ air show. Amazing pilot, funny and humble. I recommend his book, "Forever Flying". R.i.p Bob!
Mr Hoover, I never met, nor ever been to any, of his airshows, but if you realize he worked for North American , which became Rockwell, but I have seen many of his performances, that MUSTANG was repainted a real yellow giving the name ‘Ole YELLER’ but I do believe it was posibably totaled, but the only MUSTANG I ever saw flying was at the SUSSEX NJ airshows, it was an P51 G, ‘g’ for having being been built by GOODYEAR. was owned & flown buy a Doctor , now the Aero Commander SHRIKE , was the most popular of all, a most wonderful man,, RIP
Pretty sure the opening sequence (complete with Sinatra tune) was shot traveling roughly N up the E coast of Santa Catalina Island, followed by a left turn over the Two Harbors area. Thanks for all the great videos... been subscribed for a while now!
That man performed in air shows for six decades. When the number of shows and sizes of the audiences are added up he comes out the be the all time record holder for performing for live audiences. They say that nobody else in world history can even come close to matching the number of people he has performed for.
I never got to see Bob Hoover fly (I'm in Australia) but his reputation (and video's) are known to me down here. I have never seen this particular video before though, so thanks for posting it up. The P-51 is a beautiful plane and I was lucky enough to see a flight of 5 of them at an airshow down here, accompanied by a Spitfire and a Boomerang...it was something special to hear, that's for sure. Great video, thanks again.
No parachute, obviously has 100% trust in his Airframe and Engine Mechanics. Bob Hoover, the Pilot of Pilots, he could do the usual acrobatics that other pilots do but he ALWAYS did them with an unusual twist. I'm sure he did this so as to not bore his audience with the same old stuff regular stunt pilots have been doing for years. You always go a little extra with Bob and it showed in his shows and abilities. Today's stunt pilots could take a lesson from Bob in putting on a show, in that he Never Ever Bored the public with the same old acrobatics. Regular acrobatics is not a show, it's just an old TV Re-Run! Rip Bob we miss you. Best Wishes & Blessings. Keith Noneya
The very BEST U see here and it will never be performed like this today!! Today's pilots don't have the guts nor the skills performing these manoeuvres!!!
*The Mustang Hoover is Flying here,* *was re-purchased in 1962 by North American Rockwell for demonstrations by R. A. "Bob" Hoover.* *On August 9, 1970, an oxygen bottle exploded during servicing and the fuselage was severely damaged.*
Was this shot at Palmdale? As a youngster in the 60s I was lucky enough to not only to see Bob fly his shows in both the Mustang and the Shrike, but I got to sit in the Mustang!
A lady has done a documentary about Hoover just before he passed away. I met them together. She spoke at Old Bold Pilots Breakfast in Palm Springs with bits of the documentary. 3 months after last time I saw him at dinner, he passed. Creepy part was I was in front of his statue & Shrike at Uvar Hazey museum at Dulles
R.A. H. was, without doubt the premier demonstration pilot to exhibit his skills in public ! I recall seeing his first demo of the Shrike Commander at the national Maintenance and Operations Air Show at Reading PA. he flew an aerobatic routine in the F-51 and parked it nesxt to the Shrike. Climbed in and few the same routine with the Shrike as he did with the F-51 only he added a few things..... like single engine operation with either side caged. ! He finished his show with both caged and flew a series of energy conservation maneuvers landing and rolling out parking that Shrike next to the F-51 without uncaring either engine. ! There was a stampede of checkbooks to the NAR booth !
Ability to feel what his aircraft needed to perform at peak levels. The ailerons and extension of his brain. Control of inertia of craft and able to make use of same. Instinctively reacting to emergency situations. All sharp tools. Nashville Tennessee. Bob as a child was forbidden by parents to swim local river. They found out when ferry captain said that boy of yours can sure swim.
I like how Mr. Hoover wears a suit and flies such a routine, while most warbird pilots now days wear a flight suit and helmet. Why is that? Is this s requirement for safety?
Does anyone know how he was able to steal the FW190 from a revetement when he'd never flown one before, and didn't speak or read german? Did someone brief him before he got in the cockpit? I can't find a detailed acccount. Thanks.
Story is that once Bob was asked about this at a public event and he described getting into the aircraft, starting it on his own and taking off, etc. The questioner then asked how he had started the plane since it required a crewman outside the plane equipped with a starting rod to crank the engine. Supposedly Bob told the story less often after that, if you catch my drift.
@@commentatron In what way does it beg to differ? I asked how he was able to steal an FW 190 without having been briefed on how to start it up or fly it, twenty years before this video was made. The video makes no mention of that at all, either at the 4:50 mark or anywhere else!
I'm guessing this is his personal Mustang. All expenses paid, mechanics and all parts provided by Northrop. Just fly the shit out of it is your job............. Ok where do I sign.
This film and others like it may have been made by North American Aviation, but NAA's successor company in its infinite wisdom, threw it into a dumpster. The reality is that tens of thousands of films like this one were destroyed and many others are at risk. Our company preserves these precious bits of history one film at a time. And yes, we either own the rights to these films, represent the owners of them, or have engaged in a legal process to clear them so that we can license them.
No words will ever do that incredible display justice. That roll on takeoff with his gear still retracting is simply astounding for the level of precision, judgement and skill required. There are only two pilots that ever lived that could fly like that - one was Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown and the other is R A ‘Bob’ Hoover. Mind blowing.
Greatest pilot to ever live. Blue skies and tailwinds to you Bob. RIP
This guy in my opinion was Mr. Pilot. Pilot of all pilots. Amazing flying skills this possessed. I've seen him perform at airshows and he always did things that you think were impossible. He was truly blessed in this field and sadly missed. Thanks Bob for a great service to our country and to the public.
Bob Hoover is not one of the greatest pilots of his generation. He is one of the greatest pilots of all time.
Have you watched "The Legend of Pancho Barnes" documentary yet? www.legendofpanchobarnes.com Hoover's in there...
PeriscopeFilm
No, I haven't seen it although I know of Pancho Barnes. Thanks for the link.
greatest pilot of ANY generation, back when pilots were pilots and flew using stick and rudder. My dad was lucky enough to share a drink with Mr. Hoover out of the back of car at an airshow one time that they both were flying at.
I saw bob hoover fly his twin engine plane back in the 80's.
yea that bob hoover id like to buy him a beer some time
Only some him once at the York, Pa. Airport many years ago. His demo of the twin engine Shrike was masterful and alarming. He was so close the ground sometimes in dives and other times it seemed he was sure to stall the aircraft. But he was natural master at physics using power management and he could become one with the machine. Bless him. P. Massie
Wearing a suit and tie because he knew he wouldn’t even break a sweat 😂 legend.
Had my picture taken at Sun N Fun shaking Bob Hoovers hand, 30 yrs ago.
I was overwhelmed in his presence and could not even talk. He was the Greatest !
I had the privilege of meeting Mr Hoover at the AOPA convention when it was last help in Atlantic City. He was sitting at a table by himself ready to autograph the book he was selling. So my wife and I walked over and talked with him for a good 15 minutes. He was friendly and very amenable. This was even before I bought a copy of his book. He could do amazing things with a twin Commander with one engine shut down - and it was supposed to be a 'difficult' plane on one engine.
Lots of pilots, NOT ALL; can do a eight point barrelroll in a P-51 mustang but it takes an expert to do a sixteen point barrelroll in the same plane and BOB HOOVER was one of them !! Thank you BOB !!!
I could do that
Wonderful memory of being a kid air junky at the Point Mugu air show in 69 and watching him in this yellow bird doing the most amazing stuff. He and Doolittle were the greatest natural sticks ever.
Amazing. This guy tore up the skies in a Mustang, all while wearing a suit and tie, without a helmet or even sunglasses. You won't see that very often today. I've never heard of him before coming across this video, but he certainly was an accomplished person.
You have no idea how good he was, the master of flight.
Check out the video entitled, “Flying The Feathered Edge.” Bob Hoover was amazing.
In the late 70s there used to be air racing at Mojave. Bob Hoover would fly the pace plane, the famous "Yellowbird" Mustang, of course, get the field lined up and start the race. While the racers were going at it he'd be above the course just fooling around. Loops, rolls and all kinds of maneuvers, truly just loving the chance to fly a magnificent plane for pure pleasure.
How blessed I was to observe a true master of the air perfectly at home in his element.
One of the nicest, most personable pilots I ever got to meet. I was fortunate enough as a boy to see him perform a few times in Kissimmee, Fl in his yellow P-51 "Old Yeller".
Growing up in southern California, I was lucky enough to watch Bob perform at many airshows in the area, as well as flying the yellow Mustang as pace pilot for the Mojave air races. His performances in the Aero Commander Shrike were at least as impressive as those in the Mustang. Met him once and he was a really nice, down-to-earth guy.
Truly a Master Conductor of any aerial symphony; Fair winds, and following seas, Mr Hoover. You will be missed. Gone West, but never to be forgotten.
What a pilot. His aerobatics the best I have seen in a P51 Mustang.
I had lunch with him as a student pilot, I'll never forget how he treated me like an equal. True skill and humility, wish he was still around.
The best pilot ever.
+galaxiesaver
Pretty easy to be a German ace when you flying against Russians who didn't know which end of the plane pointed forward.
galaxiesaver c
As the narrator said, “this is the kind of flying one doesn’t see too often anymore.” What an understatement! We NEVER see it and never will again. What Bob Hoover could do with an aircraft was mind boggling. His service record to our country was also incredible. I was so fortunate to see one of his last shows in “Ol Yeller.” The FAA tried to ground him for “old age,” but the public outcry was so great that they had to back off. The greatest aviator of any age bar none! RIP Bob Hoover.
I haven't seen a P-51 climb like that before! Amazing to how the plane can truly fly!
It was my privilege to see Mr. Hoover perform in his yellow Mustang at Oshkosh in 1983.
I was fortunate to meet him and get his autograph at airventure in Oshkosh/ 2000.
I got a great photo I took of Ole Yeller I took at the Reading, PA 1973 Airshow. Bob gets my solid vote for the best pilot in American aviation history!
Great memories! Thank you.
This is back when air shows were really special, with special men preforming in them.
Back when iron men flew aluminum planes.
One magazine had it right about Bob .....
“The greatest example of how to be - the greatest example !!!”
Back in the summer of 1978, watched Mr. Hoover perform same airshow in Hermosillo Int. Apt. I was sitting in the stairs of the Piper Navajo C/R I was flying that day just to his right where he parked the yellow F 51 performing his walkaround ck with his Panama hat on, before the show! I watched him very attentively , from a very short distance from wing tip to wing tip!
Meet Mr Hoover and General Yeager at a show. Talk about being a kid. Chuck’s autobiography is the only book I read multiple times.
I don't think there will ever be a man born who could ever come close to Mr Hoover. He was a WW2 Combat Veteran who also became the best airshow pilot ever flying during the peak of the most powerful piston engine fighters ever to be brought to combat operational status. Bob Hoover met one of the wright brothers, and knew Charles Lindbergh. During WW2 Bob Hoover broke out of a German POW camp found Fighter and flew it to allied lines.
Ah, it was sure something when Charles Lindbergh broke out of that German POW camp. I will always remember that.
Thank you.
General Jimmy Dolittle called Bob Hoover:"The best stick and rudder pilot-Ever". I have seen Bob Hoover at the Sussex, NJ air show. Amazing pilot, funny and humble. I recommend his book, "Forever Flying". R.i.p Bob!
Mr Hoover, I never met, nor ever been to any, of his airshows, but if you realize he worked for North American , which became Rockwell, but I have seen many of his performances, that MUSTANG was repainted a real yellow giving the name ‘Ole YELLER’ but I do believe it was posibably totaled, but the only MUSTANG I ever saw flying was at the SUSSEX NJ airshows, it was an P51 G, ‘g’ for having being been built by GOODYEAR. was owned & flown buy a Doctor , now the Aero Commander SHRIKE , was the most popular of all, a most wonderful man,, RIP
Fantastic, I got to see him at the reno air races, Did not meet him but I seen him being interveiwed
This is.....FREAKING AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RIP Bob, I saw you several times at the Oshkosh air show.
This Is GOOD Shit Here - Heard About It For Years….
Thank YOU, Thank You, Thank You..!
Got to see Bob Hoover at Archerfield in Brisbane Australia. Autograph too!
MarkMash17 Was this when the FAA took Mr. Hoovers medical away?
Pretty sure the opening sequence (complete with Sinatra tune) was shot traveling roughly N up the E coast of Santa Catalina Island, followed by a left turn over the Two Harbors area.
Thanks for all the great videos... been subscribed for a while now!
Amazing MAN ... RIP Bob
That man performed in air shows for six decades. When the number of shows and sizes of the audiences are added up he comes out the be the all time record holder for performing for live audiences. They say that nobody else in world history can even come close to matching the number of people he has performed for.
Tiny Tim performed for more
I never got to see Bob Hoover fly (I'm in Australia) but his reputation (and video's) are known to me down here.
I have never seen this particular video before though, so thanks for posting it up.
The P-51 is a beautiful plane and I was lucky enough to see a flight of 5 of them at an airshow down here, accompanied by a Spitfire and a Boomerang...it was something special to hear, that's for sure.
Great video, thanks again.
haha i like how he's wearing a suit and tie in the cockpit
No parachute, obviously has 100% trust in his Airframe and Engine Mechanics. Bob Hoover, the Pilot of Pilots, he could do the usual acrobatics that other pilots do but he ALWAYS did them with an unusual twist. I'm sure he did this so as to not bore his audience with the same old stuff regular stunt pilots have been doing for years. You always go a little extra with Bob and it showed in his shows and abilities. Today's stunt pilots could take a lesson from Bob in putting on a show, in that he Never Ever Bored the public with the same old acrobatics. Regular acrobatics is not a show, it's just an old TV Re-Run! Rip Bob we miss you. Best Wishes & Blessings. Keith Noneya
Thank for your the best video. loved
Nice flying. Never seen any pilot fly a fighter plane in a suit and tie before.
I don´t have any heroes, but if Ihad, Bob would be the one!
Really beautiful opening shots of catalina.
god bless bob hoover he recently died today in his home in Palos Verdes Estates Ca.
That was yesterday.
ok im here in the U.S.A.
So are we. Hoover passed October 25, 2016, you posted on the 26th.
ok in the last 24 hours. is that clear.
Anthony Smith Proof that the good die young? Nope, he was beyond a grest pilot, he was a kind and condiderate man. There's none like him today.
The very BEST U see here and it will never be performed like this today!! Today's pilots don't have the guts nor the skills performing these manoeuvres!!!
GEZZZZZZ Listen to that engine!
He was the best ! RIP
My favorite maneuver was the roll right after takeoff. So low and so slow!
that exact maneuver has killed a lot of P-51 pilots
Ow Boy he Sure is a Legend the one and only BOB HOOVER the Best there will ever B !! 😅😊😊
"the best stick and rudder pilot to ever fly" so say those who know. I think it was Yeager who said it first.
12:12...In an old F?-51 Mustang ;-) What a fantastic era before modern days "Cover you as*" BS killed the fun & saved the world from stress.
Bob Fly with Good, RIP Master
*The Mustang Hoover is Flying here,*
*was re-purchased in 1962 by North American Rockwell for demonstrations by R. A. "Bob" Hoover.*
*On August 9, 1970, an oxygen bottle exploded during servicing and the fuselage was severely damaged.*
Was this shot at Palmdale?
As a youngster in the 60s I was lucky enough to not only to see Bob fly his shows in both the Mustang and the Shrike, but I got to sit in the Mustang!
A lady has done a documentary about Hoover just before he passed away. I met them together. She spoke at Old Bold Pilots Breakfast in Palm Springs with bits of the documentary. 3 months after last time I saw him at dinner, he passed. Creepy part was I was in front of his statue & Shrike at Uvar Hazey museum at Dulles
When he died I was looking at his plane & statue Very strAnge.
I notice one of the hangars has B70 Valkyrie on it....ouch.....Great flying from the legendary Bob Hoover though.
Why ouch? It was a great experimental plane of that era. I believe the other hanger had an "X-15" sign on it.
These planes go for 2-5 million US dollars now. One of the first planes just about any pilot wold buy if they won the lottery
No one threw up in the making of this film.
Dad flew with Bob at NAA , said ya feel like ripping up your ticket ...
also flew for cavalier , delivered mustangs to bolivia ...
R.A. H. was, without doubt the premier demonstration pilot to exhibit his skills in public ! I recall seeing his first demo of the Shrike Commander at the national Maintenance and Operations Air Show at Reading PA. he flew an aerobatic routine in the F-51 and parked it nesxt to the Shrike. Climbed in and few the same routine with the Shrike as he did with the F-51 only he added a few things..... like single engine operation with either side caged. ! He finished his show with both caged and flew a series of energy conservation maneuvers landing and rolling out parking that Shrike next to the F-51 without uncaring either engine. ! There was a stampede of checkbooks to the NAR booth !
"It is hard to beat a Mustang." WBO
I shook his hand once and will never forget it
The 5 who disliked this video were probably Spitfire fans.... :-P
No...just the typical american commentary.
Otherwise known as complete idiots.
Or shot down by him...
The best
Ability to feel what his aircraft needed to perform at peak levels. The ailerons and extension of his brain.
Control of inertia of craft and able to make use of same. Instinctively reacting to emergency situations. All sharp tools.
Nashville Tennessee.
Bob as a child was forbidden by parents to swim local river. They found out when ferry captain said that boy of yours can sure swim.
Greatest fighter plane of ww2 🤔
❤
Doing all of that in a business shirt and jacket. I have to assume he had the tie!
(edit: Tie seen at 12:24, I posted too soon)
With respect those rolls after take-off looked more like aileron rolls than barrel rolls as described by the commentator. 😊
My old boss
I like how Mr. Hoover wears a suit and flies such a routine, while most warbird pilots now days wear a flight suit and helmet. Why is that? Is this s requirement for safety?
After his Mustang caught fire Mr. Hoover started wearing a nomex flight suit. Risk management!
did this guy invent the hoover ?
Does anyone know how he was able to steal the FW190 from a revetement when he'd never flown one before, and didn't speak or read german? Did someone brief him before he got in the cockpit? I can't find a detailed acccount. Thanks.
Story is that once Bob was asked about this at a public event and he described getting into the aircraft, starting it on his own and taking off, etc. The questioner then asked how he had started the plane since it required a crewman outside the plane equipped with a starting rod to crank the engine. Supposedly Bob told the story less often after that, if you catch my drift.
@@PeriscopeFilm Many thanks. Can anyone add anything to this?
@@paulmurphy42 This YT video (ruclips.net/video/upnc4Rm9BPM/видео.html) begs to differ, at about the 4 minute and 50 sec mark.
@@commentatron In what way does it beg to differ? I asked how he was able to steal an FW 190 without having been briefed on how to start it up or fly it, twenty years before this video was made. The video makes no mention of that at all, either at the 4:50 mark or anywhere else!
@@paulmurphy42 So sorry, must have forgotten to add the link - fixed now.
No sound like that Merlin!!!
I never heard Frank Sinatra's voice.
It sounds like goose farts on a warm day
A flushing terlit sounds better than that mini-man.
Anthony Smith Like.
Long lasting contrails at 5:00
I'm guessing this is his personal Mustang. All expenses paid, mechanics and all parts provided by Northrop. Just fly the shit out of it is your job............. Ok where do I sign.
R ip
I'm going to pay you to license a film made by North American Aviation? I seriously doubt you have any legal claim to most of you library.
This film and others like it may have been made by North American Aviation, but NAA's successor company in its infinite wisdom, threw it into a dumpster. The reality is that tens of thousands of films like this one were destroyed and many others are at risk. Our company preserves these precious bits of history one film at a time. And yes, we either own the rights to these films, represent the owners of them, or have engaged in a legal process to clear them so that we can license them.
...so there
... and crickets from mr. smith6797.