P-51-F Rockwell International R.A. Bob Hoover Show Plane A bright yellow North American P-51 Mustang called “Ole Yeller” is Hoover’s signature showplane, and he flew it all over the world. But it represents only one of the more than 300 types of aircraft he flew, many of those in aerobatic demonstrations. In 1938, when he was 16, he flew his first show, entertaining his family with a Piper J-3 Cub. By the end of his career, 62 years later, he had flown more shows for more people than anyone else in history. “He was the one that everyone wanted,” veteran airshow announcer Danny Clisham says. “He was able to take four distinctly different airplanes in one day and make them all dance in a different way from any other airplane.” Even with so many aircraft in his logbook, Hoover says he still regrets the one that got away: The Bell X-1S, and the 1947 flight that broke the sound barrier. He and Chuck Yeager were test pilots together at the Air Technical Service Command at Ohio’s Wright Field when Yeager was chosen for the flight. Hoover was picked as his backup. He has always said that what cost him the spot was getting caught that year making two inverted passes in a Lockheed P-80 at an Ohio airport. He and Yeager were good friends, dogfighting over Wright Field every chance they got. Yeager recalled the period in his 1985 autobiography: “In January 1946, the skies over Wright Field were finally quiet. That’s because Bob Hoover and I were sitting in class at the test pilot school on base, taking a six-month course.” Hoover had flown the P-51 as the official pace plane of the National Championship Air Races from the very first race, in 1964, until 1990, and race fans loved him. During WWII, on his 59th mission and first aerial engagement with Luftwaffe fighters, his Spitfire’s external fuel tank jettison handle came off in his hand. Pressing his attack with the Focke-Wulf 190s, Hoover was fighting with “one hand tied behind his back.” He traded gunfire until the weight-laden Spitfire’s engine exploded. He was captured and spent a cruel 16 months in the Stalag Luft I prison camp, where he repeatedly attempted to escape. His final effort brought freedom: incredibly, he commandeered a German FW-190 and flew at treetop level to Holland.