Robert A. "Bob" Hoover presented the Charles A. Lindbergh Memorial Lecture on May 18, 2010.

Hoover is a fighter, military, and civilian test and air show pilot of legendary proportions. Using his superb piloting skills to fly aircraft to the edge of their performance capabilities, Hoover has left an indelible mark in aviation history. During his Air Force and North American Aviation careers, he flew 58 combat missions (and as a WWII POW flew himself to freedom), served as back-up pilot on the Bell X-1 and tested a wide array of fighter aircraft. As an ambassador of aviation, Hoover flew aerobatic routines in a North American P-51 Mustang, the T-39, and the Aero Commander fleet, culminating in the Shrike Commander 500S, at more than 2,500 civilian and military air shows. During this talk, Bob Hoover discussed his career in aviation and some of the pilots he has known including Orville Wright, Eddie Rickenbacker, Charles Lindbergh, Jacqueline Cochran, Neil Armstrong, and Yuri Gagarin.

This lecture was made possible through the generous support of Bombardier.

More about Bob Hoover on our blog: http://ow.ly/uCCX4
Bob Hoover's Shrike Commander on display at the Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: http://ow.ly/uCD39