would you like some tea with your barrel roll?

That was ridiculous, that gliding part was insane too. That man can fly!

 

wow!!! this guy has a talent ... unreal ...

 

Very smooooooth

 

I love those videos. Bob Hoover was the man!

 

Absolutely! I feel very fortunate that I was able to watch him perform when I was a little guy. What an absolute master!

 

The first power off routine with a big twin was performed by Chuck Lyford in the Bardahl P-38 at Abottsford in 1968,I think. I was in the show that year and Hoover was there with the P-51 and the Shrike.. He and Lyford discussed doing the same thing with the Shrike.He showed up the next year with the Shrike and did that beautiful routine. Not to take anything away from him but the Aero Commander is nothing compared to seeing him do a slow roll on take off in an F-86. I saw that at the Paine Field show and to me that was the scariest. The barrell roll in the Shrike is the same maneuver that Tex Johnson did in the 367-80...one G all the way around.

 

I too have been lucky enough to see Bob Hoover's routine before the FAA pulled his Pilots license due to medical. It is ashame that he had to retire from the airshow circuit because of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hoover

 

Very impressive demo of a barrel roll! I had the pleasure of seeing Bob perform a number of times when I was younger, and I was always impressed, as I also was with Jim Franklin's similar routine in an Aerostar.

 

Here is a video of Bob Hoover flying the F-86 Sabre for an air show in the Phillipines in 1961.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRt6UnNzR6I

Here is a snapshot of that video where he is doing the roll soon after take-off while still bringing up the landing gear.
Great stuff.
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Lefty Gardner also used to do a P-38 routine, although I don't think he shut down both engines at any point. I remember seeing him fly at Reno a couple of times in the mid 1980s.