Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Bob Hoover - RIP

The aviation world lost a giant today.  Bob Hoover passed away at age 94.

I never knew him, but I knew of him.  A legendary pilot, he flew during and after World War II.  From his wiki page.
During World War II, Hoover was sent to Casablanca where his first major assignment was test flying the assembled aircraft ready for service. He was later assigned to the Spitfire-equipped 52d Fighter Group in Sicily. In 1944, on his 59th mission, his malfunctioning Mark V Spitfire was shot down by a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 off the coast of Southern France and he was taken prisoner. He spent 16 months at the German prison camp Stalag Luft 1 in Barth, Germany.
 Hoover managed to escape from the prison camp by stealing a Fw 190, and flew to safety in the Netherlands.
He stole a plane from the Jerrys and flew it to a safe runway.  Proably laughing his ass off the whole time.

Where do we find men like that?

2 comments:

Old Grafton said...

"Where do we find men like that?"

We used to find them running gas pumps, or under the open hoods of Model "A"'s, or teaching at schools, or farming, or the many other myriad occupations that weren't then considered beneath following to earn a living. Those venues have withered under the heavy loads of government regulation and the softening of youths glued to tiny screens, unstressed physiques and undemanding "lifestyles". There are still many fine men around (witness the all-volunteer military, for example) but I don't see them as a majority; they're enough to keep things running but there's not a lot of depth in the supply.

Retired Spook said...

I don't know where we find them, but I thank G-d that we could, and hopefully, still can, when we need them.