Bob Hoover

Robert A. Hoover
Bob Hoover in 2011
Nickname(s)	Bob
Born	(1922-01-24)January 24, 1922 Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	October 25, 2016(2016-10-25) (aged 94) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Years of service	1940–1948
Rank	First Lieutenant
Unit	52d Fighter Group Flight Evaluation Group
Battles/wars	World War II Korean War
Awards	Distinguished Flying Cross Soldier's Medal for Valor Air Medal with Clusters Purple Heart Croix de guerre
Spouse(s)	Colleen Hoover (m. 1948; her death 2016)
Other work	Test and air show pilot (from 1948–1999)

Robert Anderson "Bob" Hoover (January 24, 1922 – October 25, 2016) was an air show pilot, United States Air Force test pilot, and fighter pilot. Known as the "pilot's pilot", Hoover revolutionized modern aerobatic flying and has been referred to in many aviation circles as one of the greatest pilots ever to have lived.

Hoover learned to fly at Nashville's Berry Field while working at a local grocery store to pay for the flight training. He enlisted in the Tennessee National Guard and was sent for pilot training with the Army.

During World War II, Hoover was sent to Casablanca, where his first major assignment was flight testing the assembled aircraft ready for service. He was later assigned to the Spitfire-equipped 52d Fighter Group in Sicily. On February 9, 1944, on his 59th mission, his malfunctioning Mark V Spitfire was shot down by 96-victory ace Ltn Siegfried Lemke of Jagdgeschwader 2 in 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.

After a staged fight covered his escape from the prison camp, Hoover managed to steal a Fw 190 from a recovery unit's unguarded field — the one flyable plane being kept there for spare parts — and flew to safety in the Netherlands. He was assigned to flight-test duty at Wilbur Wright Field after the war. There he impressed and befriended Chuck Yeager. When Yeager was later asked whom he wanted for flight crew for the supersonic Bell X-1 flight, he named Hoover. Hoover became Yeager's backup pilot in the Bell X-1 program and flew chase for Yeager in a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star during the Mach 1 flight. He also flew chase for the 50th anniversary of the Mach 1 flight in a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.