Seems like Bob Hoover touched a lot of people in a personal way. He was that kind of human. Always friendly and available with good spirit.
I sat next to him in first class on a TWA 727 flight from OKC to LAX for a few minutes many years ago. The flight was nearly empty and he was only pax up front, we took turns going back to visit with him. He was very amicable, humble and just nice guy. Usually when such was the circumstance with celebrities, they invited themselves up front to jump seat. Bob Hoover did not.
I knew he was life long friend of Bevo Howard, the owner of the USAF contract school I attended as an aviation cadet. We talked about the accident that killed Bevo Howard, he was adamant the NTSB had it all wrong blaming pilot error. He insisted he was killed by black widow spiders, there were bite marks all over his neck that were ignored. The airplane had sat on ground for six weeks before the last flight.
Anyway, he was a very special person and will be missed by all of us.