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Author
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Topic: Hoot Gibson: The Man Who's Flown Everything
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-19-2009 09:27 AM
   
Air&Space Magazine: The Man Who's Flown Everything An hour before the doors of the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center opened to visitors, the vast, multi-level space was filled with a theatrical pre-curtain hush. Only a few docents were here, getting reacquainted with the 170-some air- and spacecraft on display, machines that had made some of the most important history of the last hundred years. The docents were there to tell their stories.So was the man I'd traveled to Chantilly, Virginia, to meet: Robert "Hoot" Gibson. Hoot (the nickname originated with cowboy movie star Edmund "Hoot" Gibson) knew many of these flying machines personally. From light piston aircraft to thundering World War II fighters to supersonic jets to the space shuttle, Gibson had flown them -- 111 types so far. |
ejectr
Member Posts: 1751
From: Killingly, CT
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 03-19-2009 11:40 AM
I'm not amazed that Hoot has flown 111 different types of aircraft. Especially with his talent. What amazes me is that he, as well as others, have had the opportunity to do so. |
Leon Ford
Member Posts: 309
From: Shreveport, LA, United States
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-19-2009 01:26 PM
Great story and Hoot made the cover of Air and Space! He is a great guy and a true American hero. |
PowerCat
Member Posts: 193
From: Herington, KS, USA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 03-19-2009 01:43 PM
If you haven't read this article, you must! I couldn't put the magazine down. Very well written. |
Steven Kaplan
Member Posts: 140
From: New Jersey
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 03-19-2009 01:51 PM
Echoing the above, one of the nicest astronauts you could ever meet - just a regular guy who happens to be a world class aviator! |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3120
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 03-19-2009 06:00 PM
He hasn't flown a Saturn V. On the evening after the launch of STS-117 in June, 2007, I bumped into Hoot Gibson at the business end of the Saturn V at KSC and asked him if he wished he had had the opportunity to fly a Saturn V. He thought about it for a moment, then said no, he was happy to have flown the shuttle. He felt that, for a pilot, the shuttle was a more "hands-on" experience. |
Darron
Member Posts: 22
From: Port Salerno, FL, USA
Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 03-20-2009 03:46 PM
I'll bet Hoot gets a chuckle over William E. Burrows getting him confused with Ed Gibson in "This New Ocean," and having him fly Skylab as well!  |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 03-20-2009 08:02 PM
Hoot is an incredible guy too. As a child he saw the birth of the space age as his father worked for NAA on space hardware. He wants to fly the new rocket planes real bad, as he and I discussed with Rick Searfoss one day.His memory is incredible as he showed me after he came back from that first Mir docking. |
alanh_7
Member Posts: 1252
From: Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 04-10-2010 04:23 PM
I saw Hoot Gibson at the Reno Air Races a few years ago flying #99 Sea Fury "Riff Raff" and also jet class. I talked with him about it at the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's show last year.But I think I read a while ago that Hoot use to fly Formula 1 class air racers. Does anyone know if this is true and where I could get a photo of one of the Formula 1 aircraft he has flown? |
chappy
Member Posts: 231
From: Cardiff, S. Wales, UK
Registered: Apr 2006
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posted 04-11-2010 03:02 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Air&Space Magazine: The Man Who's Flown Everything
WOW! Where can I still get this magazine, because I would love to read about Hoot Gibson. Does anyone know where to obtain a copy? I will be very grateful for anyone's help. |
Richard Easton
Member Posts: 175
From: Winnetka, IL USA
Registered: Jun 2006
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posted 04-12-2010 07:00 AM
quote:
Originally posted by chappy:
Does anyone know where to obtain a copy?
How can I order a copy of the current issue or a back issue? |
Leon Ford
Member Posts: 309
From: Shreveport, LA, United States
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 04-14-2010 03:39 PM
quote:
Originally posted by alanh_7:
But I think I read a while ago that Hoot use to fly Formula 1 class air racers.
Hoot owns and flies his own Formula 1 racer now. He has set a number of records in it. I asked him why he didn't race it at Reno anymore. He told me he just didn't like taking it apart, dragging it to Reno, putting it back together, then taking it apart and dragging it back home and putting it back together. Turned one week of racing into 3 or 4 weeks of work. |
alanh_7
Member Posts: 1252
From: Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 04-14-2010 04:15 PM
I talked with Hoot Gibson and he said he owned a Formula 1 racer. I wonder if there are any photos of him racing it? I talked to him about flying Riff Raff and he said he loved flying that big Sea Fury. I think I read somewhere he was now flying jets as well at Reno. |
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