Bob Hoover – Plane & Pilot Magazine | Aviation

A U.S. Army Air Forces aviator, flight instructor, test pilot, and ultimate airshow performer, Hoover dazzled generations of pilots and fans. And surely more than one pilot these days can point to Hoover as their inspiration. 

Born in 1922 in Nashville, Tennessee, Robert Anderson Hoover caught the flying bug early. At 15, he could frequently be found biking over 15 miles to Berry Field to watch airplanes. He knew he belonged in the sky, and he took a job bagging groceries to pay for flight training.

While it’s hard to imagine Hoover having any issues with flying, airsickness was a concern early in his career. That might have grounded most pilots, but he took it as a personal challenge. He drove himself harder, writing in his 1996 autobiography Forever Flying: “I pushed myself to the limit by doing wingovers, stalls, and spins. Every time I found I could handle one manoeuvre, I went on to the next one until I conquered the airsickness.” 

At 18, Hoover joined the Tennessee Air National Guard, but it wasn’t until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 that he was approved for military flight training. By 1942, he found himself in England with the 20th Fighter Group, where he was…