CURTISS COLLECTION

Rare Curtiss aircraft at Yanks

Yanks Air Museum recently acquired a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny and Curtiss Robin from the Museum of Flying at Santa Monica, California. Both of these aircraft were flyers but had been displayed hanging in the museum. Yanks has another Jenny and Robin but could not pass up the opportunity to acquire these aircraft. Yanks also has an unrestored Curtiss SB2C-3 Helldiver and when all these machines go on display, it will be a very significant collection of Curtiss aircraft (the museum's P-40E and O-52 already on display).

Hoover flew the second B-25, taking off just behind Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, from the USS Hornet. Sixteen Mitchells, each with a crew of five, bombed their industrial targets then ran short of fuel before reaching their intended airfields deep inside China. Two of the 80 volunteers drowned, and of the eight who were captured by the Japanese, three were executed and one died in a prison camp.

Hoover's death leaves 17 survivors, said Chase Nielsen, a survivor and president of the Doolittle Raiders Association. Hoover was the last survivor of his own crew. One died in the war, another in 1981, and two more in 1994.

Their plane ran out of fuel as it nearecl the Chinese coast, but Hoover was able to make a wheels-up crashlanding in a muddy rice paddy. The crew had to avoid detection by Japanese troops combing the area.

A young English-speaking Chinese aeronautical engineer, Tung Sherig Liu, now of Los Angeles, and Chinese guerrillas came to their aid, escorting them to the Doolittle rendezvous point in Chungking where they arrived on 14 May.

Liu, who became a lifelong friend of Hoover, visited him in March 2003 and said at the time, "We are closer than friends. We are brothers." He also traveled to Joplin to be with Hoover's family after the pilot's death.

A native of Melrose, New Mexico, Hoover grew up in Riverside, California, where he attended Riverside City College. He enlisted in the National Guard in November 1938 and joined the Army the next summer. After completing pilot training, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

After the raid, he flew B-25s, B-24s, and P-38s in England, North Africa, and Italy. Hoover remained in the military, serving around the world until his retirement in 1969 as commander of Keesler AFB in Mississippi. His decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross earned in the Doolittle Raid, and the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, and Chinese army, US Navy, and USAF medals.

Copyright Challenge Publications Inc. Apr 2004
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