SUPER SALESMAN EMPLOYS ONE-WHEELMANSHIP BY MIKE DILLON AT AIRSHOWS the country over a strange phenomenon is occurring. In arenas where once only fighters, antiques, and specially built acrobatic planes drew attention, a mint-fresh stock, twin-engined executive transport is stealing the show. Engines bellowing through exhaust augmenter tubes, the polished, stately Aero Commander Shrike begins its takeoff roll. Spec- tators in the stands call for hot dogs and soda, figuring now's a good time to eat so they won't miss any of the ''real" show. Gathering speed, the sev- en-place twin passes the pit area crowded with Unlimited class racing planes. The Shrike inches off the ground. Its rear folding main gear tucks quickly into the engine nacelles and the nose gear disappears into the long sharp nose. One of the race pilots, usually not impressed by such mundane type aircraft, turns to another and cautions, ''Watch this. It's real- ly impressive.`' Engines snarling, the Shrike arcs smoothly, steeply upward into a 40° pitch-up and rolls onto its back. Everyone now is on his feet scrambling for a better look. Suddenly hot dogs are forgotten as the big plane; barely 200 feet off the ground inverted, drops its nose and com- pletes the roll. This is to be no ordinary demonstration of the executive type aircraft. Now the pilot pulls his bird up into a sharp+ turnaround and swoops back down the runway. Up comes the nose and the bird clicks off a crisp eight- point hesitation roll. In the pits mechanics and pilots alike stop whatever they're doing and scurry for the flight line. The pilot flying North American Rockwell's Aero Commander Shrike has the attention of even the most veteran pilots. Bob Hoover is back in his old saddle again, selling pilots on the capabilities of his company's planes. It's a bit of poetic stretching to say that Hoover is back in because he has never really been out. Bob started with North American Aviation as a test pilot. Then, during the Korean War when our only match for the MiG-15 was NAA's F-86 Sabre, Bob's job became that of a USAF-sponsored com- pany demonstration pilot. His mission: to show our pilots how they could fight with their F-86's more effectively. More recently Bob had a civilianized F-51 which he demonstrated at air events. Hoover has flown his famous yellow WW-2 fighter before hundreds of thousands of pilots and spectators. However, NAA can reap no direct ben- efit from these demonstrations, i.e., they have no F-51’s to sell. So what more natural move than to let him try his hand at a production member of the North American Rockwell family-the Aero Commander Shrike? Bob flew the Shrike for the first time out of Oklahoma City. In a ten minute flight to a nearby airfield he became convinced the planets solid feel and quick response to the controls would enable him to do everything he need- ed for an impressive, safe demonstration. Dick Robinson, President of Aero Commander, and Bill Stinson, Director of Sales, were both anxious for Hoover to work up a routine in the Shrike, feeling it would be a superb way to advertise. Checking with Aero Com- mander`s engineering people, Hoover found the bird was stressed for 4.4 G positive. An extended practice session revealed that 2.5 G positive was all that was needed to accomplish his full gambit of air show maneuvers. Bob reasons, "With this much margin of strength, I can be sure of not over -stressing the bird even if I should encounter rough air. It isn't necessary to subject the plane to any negative G’s all my rolls are barrel rolls." Using an abandoned airfield about one hundred miles from Oklahoma City, Hoover worked his maneuvers down lower and lower. Some of Aero Commander's people who had flown out to watch were amused by a cou- ple of self-appointed critics who stopped by. One said to the other, "There's some guy trying to imitate Bob Hoover." Pleased with the ship's handling, Hoover took to the airshow circuit with it. At Reading, Rock ford and elsewhere he stepped out of his yellow F-5l and into the Shrike. The crowd loved it. So did Aero Commander. Bob's confidence in the plane's acceptance is borne out by the comments of the professional pilots at the shows. At Reno, the Shrike demonstration was the most talked about act in the entire show. And it's easy to see why. After the roll on take-off, Hoover guides the bird through a four-, then an eight-point hesitation roll. Starting from a scant twenty feet, the plane arcs up to about 150 feet, then back down till almost touching the runway. Next comes the "Tennessee Waltz", so named because Hoover hails from Tennessee. This amounts to a horizontal falling leaf, i.e., rudder in one di- rection, aileron in the other. Most impressive to see a plane of that size broad-siding first one way, then the other. It leaves one with the impres- sion that it would be almost impossible to lose control in a bird stable enough to fly through that. One-wheel landings have always been a Hoo- ver trademark and he carries this through to the Shrike. As in his F-51 show, Bob loops into a landing and also does his touch down, pull up and rolls to touch down or, as he calls them, "touch-and-rolls". But now comes the icing on the cake. Hoover shuts down one engine and repeats all the earlier F-51 maneuvers except the vertical roll and Cuban Eight with one prop feathered. Again, he demonstrates how much reserve is left if a pilot knows his machine. Deliberately he rolls into the dead en- gine-all the way around the pattern, roll after roll, with that feathered prop. Everyone expects to see a Pitts or a Chipmunk doing rolls off the deck but not an Aero Commander. By comparison, everything else pales. The Hoo- ver-Shrike routine is a show stopper. Grins Bob, "We’ll have some new stuff for 1969. I've been working with the Shrike in the desert. I've found that it's possible to do all of the maneuvers with both engines feathered. `` That we want to see!