How a Captured American Pilot STOLE a German Fighter to Escape to Freedom - The Story of Bob Hoover
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2022
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This is the true story of captured American pilot Bob Hoover. In on of World War II's most incredible stories, this pilot would actually escape his POW camp and would fly back to friendly lines by stealing a German Luftwaffe FW-190. Thanks to SmokeFlame1 for this video idea. This was made using the World War II flight simulator IL-2 Sturmovik Great Battles series. Hope you enjoy! Please like, comment, and subscribe. #WW2 #WWIIHistory #WarThunder
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DUDE PLEASE YARNHUB AND TJ
@@Rick_27739 lol
If you're dumb enough to buy gold, you're hopelessly economically illiterate.
Are you aware that during ww2 yugoslav pilots fighting for communism stole planes
leave your politics out of your sponsored content.
"If you ever feel that you're getting good at flying, go watch Bob Hoover for 10 mins". Brian Lecomber, Bridlington '86.
I saw Hoover and his 51at a air show in Tucson Arizona in about 1970.
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I was taking flying lessons at AVI in Reno, Nevada in 1969 at the age of 17. One day my instructor, Terry, asked me if I'd like to be a pylon judge at the Reno Air Races held at the Stead Airport just outside Reno. I got assigned to pylon 2 which was the breaker pylon for the unlimited class. Our job was to make sure the pilots didn't cut in front of the pylon but executed their turns properly. As the reconditioned WWII fighter planes came towards the pylon I can only described the thrill like being a solider in WWII and what it would have felt like being strafed with machine gun fire from those majestic fighters. The noise was deafening. The planes were so close to the ground, just feet above the sagebrush as they made their turns. I can still picture it in my mind.
My ticket gave me access to all parts of the airfield and I got to see Bob Hoover flying his Aero Commander as an aerobatic plane. He would cut both engines, feather the props, execute a loop followed by a roll, then land the airplane, first on one wheel then the next and roll up to the grandstands. He was incredible. I got to meet Mr. Hoover as speak with him for about 5 minutes, while enthusiasts waited for their turns. What a man, what a great pilot, what a memory, and what an inspiration.
Rest in peace Mr. Hoover.
I saw a video and checked out some more. If I had been with him, I would have promised God ANYTHING to get me back on the ground. However, I wouldn’t have exited the plane immediately. First, I would have needed an extra pair of underwear and pants.
Saw Bob Hoover at several airshows in the 70's. We won't see many guys like that again.
Me also seen Hoover in airshows in the 70s if my memories are right he flew a commander shrike. Simply amazing pilot !
I remember getting to meet Bob Hoover maybe a year or two before he passed away at Airventure. it was awesome to meet him
Very cool!
All that, and 94...that's a life! Bob Hoover was amazing. Thanks TJ, I'd forgotten about Bob for a minute and appreciate the reminder.
At the three minute twenty three second mark (3:23) you state that his luck runs out on Feb 9, 1944. He then spent 16 months as a pow. That takes us to June 1945. At the four minute nine second mark (4:09) you state that by the summer of 1945, the German prison was losing more guards by the day…. Interesting, as Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. Are you sure your timeline is correct?
It is: This story is largely fake as he did "steal" a FW-190, but in an immediate post war environment. He never claimed otherwise, but the papers did... The arrival was a belly landing at an Allied airbase as well, so no Dutch civilians with pitchforks... Good observations on your part.
The problem with these youngsters today, they’ve never watched old WW2 movies, let alone studied WW2 history. A few years ago, I was watching a documentary about the Great Depression. The blonde bobble head breathlessly describe how Americans gathered around their TELEVISION SETS during the 1930s to hear FDR’s fireside chats.
@@RonGreeneComedian on behalf of my generation I would just like to apologize for our stupidity. Some of us sadly believe the capital of the country is named... "america". Take solace in the fact we can't get much dumber and still call ourselves sapient.
@@halogeek6 many years ago, one of the bobble heads on a network news program shared with us how Americans were encouraged during the Depression by President Roosevelt. It was through his fireside chats. In a serious, almost hushed tone, she said something to the effect, “Americans of all races were comforted as they watched him on TV.” I was discomforted as I thought to myself, “It’s her generation who will be taking care of my medical needs in my sunset years.”
@@RonGreeneComedian i also apologize on our behalf
I actually try to study it and learn things. I have an extraordinary ability to learn lots of stuff fast and retain things easily, so I put that to use.
Read this story about 40 years ago, but never get tired of re-visiting the tale - especially one about exceptional piloting. First became a license pilot in Nov. '77 and gained my twin prop IFR rating about a year later. These days are spent flying hang gliders and parasails, as the medical exams are expensive and I'm not getting any younger, making getting into/out of planes more difficult, as well. I like the quiet of non-powered flight, so no tears here.
I remember seeing his performance and then meeting afterwards, but I had no idea on who he really was! If I had known, I am sure I would have never stopped asking him questions! This was back in the early 80's and I was only a teen with limited history knowledge.
Bob was an absolute hero. This video is almost a zero for accuracy. The details omitted or simply wrong is amazing. Start your research by reading the man’s own account of events in his autobiography,”Forever Flying.” When you’ve read the book, remake the video. Bob deserves better.
In 1974, while stationed at MCAS El Toro, I had the extreme privilege of flying (backseat) with Bob Hoover in a CAF P-51 - John Wayne (Orange County) to Santa Barbara, to Chino (CAF's Hq) and back to JW/OC. He loved 'rocket' takeoffs, tight G-heavy turns on final, tossing in a couple of barrel rolls over the coastline - well clear of Class B airspace, to wow the onlookers on Catalina Island. An amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience!
I watched him at a couple airshow when I was a kid. Flying that twin engined civil aircraft and doing stunts with it. He was a great pilot and promoted aviation till the end.
I had the privilege of seeing Bob Hoover fly at couple of airshows. Unbelievable, thank you Bob
I've always had the highest admiration for Bob Hoover's aerobatic stunts, but I was not aware of this incredible story. He was surely one of the greatest pilots ever!
Still remember his awesome flying skills. He could cut the engines of his shrike Aero commander and do a 360 barrel and land it like nothing happened.
...With a glass of water on the panel not spilling a drop! Energy-management in the extreme. The guy was just good.
I saw Bob Hoover perform in his Shrike Commander in the late 70's at an airshow with the Blue Angels in Elmira, N.Y. Unbelieveable performance with the engine out routine and barrel rolls. Also loved seeing Bob wear his Panama Hats! Great story about him escaping in a FW-190. Never knew this fact! Cheers!
I recall Bob Hoover saying that the combat in which he was shot down, his slipper tank wouldn't release and that the enemy pilot made a remarkable deflection shot to disable his Spitfire. He didn't have engine problems prior to that.
I hadn’t known Bob did that! I’m happy to say I got to see him perform. Great pilot.
For those who believe in the saying"...no old bold pilots", I offer Chuck Yeager and Bob Hoover!
And John Glenn! Wow, those guys were the Keith Richards of their...wait, what? Old guys who shouldn't have lived that long...sorry, that was a stretch.
Don't forget Jimmy Doolittle!
@@rongendron8705 Indeed, thanks!
Actually in his autobiography Yeager said he got out of test flying before he killed himself. So,
Actually in his autobiography Yeager said he got out of test flying before he killed himself. So, an old smart pilot.
Years ago I saw Bob Hoover's energy management performance at an airshow. Never met the man but wish I had.
Same ,
I was lucky to have met him a couple of times in the 80s at local air shows in Smyrna TN. I was young at the time and my father and uncle were pilots. I never cared for watching sports other than racing and the Reno air races. The people I looked up to were almost always pilots. Bob Hoover and Chuck Yeager were always at the top. Bob was a really nice man that took the time to talk with people interested in aviation, especially kids. I will never forget watching him make his Aero Commander do things it was never designed to do. Amazing pilot that really understood energy management.
Great job TJ, thank you. My Dad was in the war (Navy, south pacific) but he would never talk about. About the only thing we would say was he loved New Zealand. The day of his funeral I found out he received 4 bronze stars and was at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. My Mom told me he still had hand grenade fragments in his leg and ear his whole life. He was a spectacular man and Dad. P.S. I would love to know how a Navy man got hand grenade fragments.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing.
@@TJ3 I just last year gave my son my Dads navy blue uniform. I hope one day my new grandson ends up with it.
@G Bro If your dad was at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, he was probably a corpsman (medic) assigned to the Marines. You can get a copy of his military service records from DoD (at no cost if you can demonstrate your familial relationship). I have a link somewhere... I'll look for it and post it here if i find it.
My mother also says that the generation that faced the war never spoke about It. This Is common for Europeans, I Guess your father must have seen very bad things.
@@ukulelemikele2993 Maybe, I wish I knew. Thank you.
I’m from the same town as bob hoover and have seen all of his planes in air shows and know the person he gave them to after his death he is a hero to all of us here and all of us are proud when we see his personal P-51 Ole Yeller flying above us
My father coordinated air shows and acts for the National Kidney Foundation in Oklahoma City during the '70's, and one of the most popular pilots was Bob Hoover. Always enjoyed the cookouts the local organizers would put on for the pilots before the shows. Hoover was one of the most popular pilots every time, along with Bob Bishop and Corky Fornof (pilots of the Acrojets), Tom Jones, wing walker acts like Earl Cherry, and members of the Confederate Air Force that flew WWII aircraft that had been restored. The stories were legendary, and they were all good people. I always idolized those guys.
watched Bob hoover fly into LAX in his P51,his entire approach was inverted until the last minutes!
Nice video! Love WW2 history.
Bob Hoover was a hero in many ways.
Proud that I was able to meet Mr. Hoover at the Sun and Fun fly in , lakeland Fla. He was a unique man ,a patriot, and a gifted pilot.
THANK FOR SHARING THIS PILOT IS A GENIUS!
Great video !😁👍🏽
In 2015 at Oshkosh WI, I got to meet Bob Hoover. What a humble true hero.
You rock! Keep ‘em coming.
You rock!
I met Bob Hoover at the Oshkosh air show (EAA Fly in) in about 1978 or so. I was a young kid but loved the warbirds and would marvel at his bright yellow/black striped P51 and how he would flat spin it and then seamlessly recover. That is a super dangerous move and he did like most of drive a car in straight line. I never heard his escape story until this video. I just knew he was a former WW2 pilot and a legend.
My Father and I knew Bob my Dad used to work on his Strike Commander.
It would have been nice to see video of his air show demonstrations,would show all how great a pilot he was. Simply amazing what he could do with his Shrike airplane.
Great story! Thanks for posting.
Excellent story.
Thank you!
An excellent escape story. Nice video.
Great story about a great pilot. Thanks!
Outstanding video
I've seen him at air shows I went to with my dad and mom and I never heard the war story. I love the gun point mechanic solution. He was a credit to excellence in aviation.
I was lucky enough to see Bob Hoover fly at at least 6 different airshows. He was amazing.
Thanks Sir
Y’all should watch this documentary about an aging Navy captain who led an assault to an unsanctioned nuclear facility. He got shot down trying to save the son of his former co-pilot who in turn got show down when he tried going back for him.
Long story short, they stole the enemy’s F-14 and held their own against 5th gen figjters until help arrived.
Awesome documentary. It’s out there somewhere.
Interesting piece of history, thanks for sharing.
Love that story. Met Mr Hoover at the Reno Air Races 2013
I knew Bob for many years growing up, a fellow airshow airshow performer, such a great guy!
AWESOME tale!
Hoover was an amazing pilot. He made the Aerocommander do things it wasn't built to do. Wish I'd seen him in action.
Bob Hoover is a Legend!!!
I saw Mr. Hoover fly many times at the Abbotsford Airshow in the '60s and early '70s, both in his Shrike Commander and his bright yellow Mustang, met him a couple of times as well, as my father was one of the guys running the show. He was always gracious, always a gentleman. I remember him messing my hair, as older gentleman did back then.
Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
Glad you enjoyed it!
Just read this story in this month's flypast magazine. Good video 👍
I lived in Reno Nevada as a kid went to the air races many times and got to see Bob Hoover fly doing aerobatics I saw him fly a Grumman duck T 33 and P 51 he was a real American hero for sure.
Great Story!!! I had no idea this was Bob Hoover. I say him many times fly a twin engine passenger plane in airshows in Colorado in the 1908's 1990's. With no internet there was no way of knowing this amazing story. Thanks for bringing his story to life of the greatest generation.
I do like the "Let's take off, and then come up with a plan" philosophy. Still popular today.
Do you know what happened to his friend at the airfield?
Good question! I'm not sure to be honest.
Jerry Ennis managed to escape as well. But it wasn't until the 80's that they met again.
@@janoslehr1256, it must’ve been a wonderful reunion, to know that his friend made it out, successfully! Probably partied hard too! Lol!
Great story! What a courageous man. He had great skill and a lot of luck to survive that flight.
I'm delighted to see you recount this memorable escape by Bob Hoover.
And indeed you did a fine job. I met this famed flyer at the EAA convention in Oshkosh back in the '90's. Great video.
Saw him fly a Shrike Commander without engine power at the Australian International Airshow during the 90s. I had no idea he served in WW2 and spent time as a PoW, let alone borrow a Fw 190 without asking. This man was born with wings and could read the air.
Saw Hoover perform at Oshkosh late in his career.
IIRC the government had already pulled his pilots license but he had special permission to perform at Airventure.
Great show.
Awesome story thank you for telling it. What was the animated program you use? Awesome
Love That Bob! :)
@1:04 I KNEW I Liked This Guy ... Bravo TJ3 History !
Great story!
Flew from ND to Spearfish to watch Bob Hoover perform at an airshow in the early 80's. P51 and Shrike Commander. Deadstick double loops to a full stop on the X in the Shrike was unbelievable! Completely professional pilot.
We may have flown between Rushmore and the observation area on departure! 🤫
I liked Bob Hoover loved to see him flying his P-38. I never knew about his service or his stealing a German plane and flying to the Netherlands. Outstanding video!
This is the coolest story ever
How you recreate the scenes of the planes, cuz it is incredible
saw hoover in a few airshows. got to ride on the wing of his mustang as i showed him where to park, super nice guy
Hilarious: 6:22 'fak-a-wolf fighter' 6:54 "Thinking on his toes" 8:32 "Claimed a hero"
Hoover’s Mustang, “Ole Yeller” is in Rexburg, Idaho at Legacy Flight Museum
I saw his aerobatic routine in an Aero Commander at the airshow at Avalon, Victoria, Australia about twenty years ago.
Bob Hoover is the definition of a super cool man .
WOW !!! That could be a VERY good movie.
He deserved a Medal of Honor for his escape through enemy line and avoiding the complete Allied air superiority plus anti-aircraft batteries.
interesting locations of those windmills...
That guy was incredible!!!!
I don’t think Bob Hoover retired in 1948
He was also involved with the YB 49 program, which shares dimensions with the B-2
Also in the Summer of 1945 WW-II was Over in Europe as The Germans had Surrendered on May 8, 1945
My spouse and I I met him three times and was impressed with his skills each time.
I did see him perform in his Aero Commander which is no easy plane to fly. He had the 'touch' & was amazing in that plane.
I grew up watching air shows and air races... of course Bob Hoovers famous flying with one leg out of the cockpit like he was on a skateboard (that's whe he reminded me of) what can I say that hasn't been said? Bob was amazing
A similar thing happened to a old friend of mine, Col. Bruce Carr who was shot down and stole a 190 and flew it back to England. I met the now deceased gentleman when I found out he had been the D.O. of my dad's wing in Vietnam. Three wars, he had stories to tell and gun camera footage from WW2 and Vietnam.
Great snippets of the men who served in the darkest moments of the war.
I remember seeing him at the Reno Air races....I just didn't know his history until now.
Great story
He came to Oshkosh every year when I had no expectation of becoming a military pilot myself at the time. I remember his signature tap dance with his Shrike Commander. I can do that too. The difference is he does it on purpose. I learned things I didn't know about him during this video.
Chuck Yeager had a great story how he met Bob Hoover over Dayton,Ohio. Hoover was flying a P-38 and Yeager was flying an P-80 Jet. What ensued was a mock dogfight that left both aircraft going beyond their flight envelop. Eventually they decided to quit before they crashed.
Nice story about that brave southern boy .👍
Hoover''s life should be turned into a movie.
A suspenseful story of an American hero. Thanks very much. Fascinating!
I saw Mr. Hoover do his famous 16 point roll in that Rockwell twin that was near the end of the vid.
Glad you can give insight on this underrated story, any info about the FW190 he stole? (Was probably scrapped like the rest no doubt)
i would imagine the REAL 190 he took off with had swastikas painted on the tail, unlike the on in this lame assed video.
They should make a movie about Bob Hoovers amazing life.
4:10: "by the summer of 1945": funny mistake since in summer 1945 the war was over (it ended in May 1945 ...)
4:51: they were not 2 American POW but 3
5:43: "a civilian mechanic that they found and held up at gunpoint": you should have specified that the woman in the farm gave the trio a handgun with several extra magazines otherwise we cannot understand how they could have coerced someone in Germany at that time.
Respect to this man.RIP.
Wasn't this the guy who used to fly with a full wine glass standing on the instrument panel whilst doing aerobatics without spilling it? I think I saw some footage of him doing that years ago.
That was him alright. He also routinely shut off either one or both engines of his Shrike Commander, and continued to perform, converting altitude to speed and vice versa as if it was nothing special. He was one of a kind.
What an amazing story! If i was him i would have kept that 190 as a war trophy. Perhaps even would have her displayed in my living room as long as there was enough space.
WOW, what a guy!!! 👍 👍 👍
Calling him a legend is an understatement
Steve Mc Queen stole a BMW from the Germans, too. There was a hot VW i wanted to steal @ one time also, instead I build one on my own. Popcorn was a bad dude & TY , for a relaxing video on a late Añejo Monday. Salud. !!
Amazing story...like a luckier version of 'The one that got away'! 👍🏻
Historical notes - apparently I say "summer of 1945" when it was technically spring (April) when this occured. Hope this clarifies that.
This needs to be pinned.