Robert E. Thacker (February 21, 1918 – November 25, 2020) was an American test pilot,

aeromodeling A model aircraft is a small unmanned aircraft. Many are replicas of real aircraft. Model aircraft are divided into two basic groups: flying and non-flying. Non-flying models are also termed static, display, or shelf models. Aircraft manufactur ...

enthusiast and designer, one of the few pilots in history to do tours of duty in two different theaters of operation ( Europe and the Pacific) in World War II and the holder of a number of aviation records.

Biography

Thacker was born in February 1918. His interest in aviation was sparked in 1926 at age eight when a neighbor purchased an operating model aircraft. By 1929, Thacker had completed his first model, that of the '' Spirit of St. Louis'', and went on to earn spending money building

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gliders. He joined his first aeromodeling club in El Centro, California in 1932. He would also become the Southern California

yo-yo A yo-yo (also spelled yoyo) is a toy consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a string looped around the axle, similar to a spool. It is an ancient toy with proof of existence since 500 BCE. The yo-yo was also called a bandalore in ...

champion that year; his prize was $40.00 in the form of $25, $10 and $5 gold coins. In wartime, Thacker flew two tours of duty in a

B-17 The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

in World War II, a single tour in the Korean War with a

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

and classified high-altitude reconnaissance missions during the Vietnam War. His initiation into World War II came when he was one of the pilots of a flight of 12 B-17s bound for the Philippines via Hawaii; they arrived in Hawaii just before 8:00 am on December 7, 1941, in the midst of the surprise Japanese

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ju ...

. His wartime service earned him two Silver Stars, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, ten

Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establish ...

s and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm. A graduate of the Air Force Test Pilot Academy at California's Edwards Air Force Base, Thacker was responsible for testing a wide variety of aircraft between 1939 and 1970, including the first accelerated tests of the P-80 combat-ready jet fighter, assisted by then Captain

Chuck Yeager Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager ( , February 13, 1923December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in October 1947 became the first pilot in history confirmed to have exceeded the ...

. His most notable achievement came in 1947 with his test of '' Betty Jo'', a

North American F-82 Twin Mustang The North American F-82 Twin Mustang is the last American piston-engined fighter ordered into production by the United States Air Force. Based on the North American P-51 Mustang, the F-82 was originally designed as a long-range escort fighter ...

named after his wife. This was to be the first nonstop test of a fully laden fighter between Honolulu, Hawaii and New York City,

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. The 14-hour-32-minute test, which started at

Hickam Air Force Base Hickam Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation, named in honor of aviation pioneer Lieutenant Colonel Horace Meek Hickam. The installation merged in 2010 with Naval Station Pearl Harbor to become part of the newly formed Joint B ...

on February 27 and which ended at LaGuardia Airport was a success; Thacker even set the speed record at an average of . Both the aircraft and the flight jacket Thacker wore are on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at

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. His co-pilot on the trip was Lieutenant John Ard. The trip remains the longest and fastest ever by a propeller-driven fighter. Another notable achievement came in 1972 when Bob served as an advisor on a solar-powered aircraft project designed and built by Astro Flight for Lockheed. On January 9, 2010, Colonel Thacker was inducted into the Academy of Model Aeronautics Hall of Fame for his work in both model and full-scale aviation during day two of the AMA's annual exposition at the Ontario Convention Center,

Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County in the U.S. state of California, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, i ...

. Among the dignitaries present were then-AMA president Dave Brown and retired space shuttle commander Robert "Hoot" Gibson, himself a strong supporter of the AMA. Thacker latterly resided in San Clemente, California, where he remained active in the hobby of radio-controlled model aviation as an active AMA member, and frequently participated in meets in and around Southern California with his giant-scale, turbine-powered

F-15 Eagle The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force selected McDonnell Douglas's ...

. He turned 100 in February 2018 and died in November 2020 at the age of 102.

References

External links

Biography at Modelaircraft.org Col. Robert E. Thacker's A-2 jacket on display in the Korean War Gallery at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. (U.S. Air Force photo)
* ttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3897/is_200312/ai_n9310843 Article on the record breaking Honolulu-New York flight at Findarticles.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Thacker, Robert E. 1918 births 2020 deaths United States Air Force personnel of the Korean War United States Air Force personnel of the Vietnam War American aviation record holders American aviators American centenarians American Korean War bomber pilots American test pilots American Vietnam War pilots Aviation pioneers Men centenarians Military personnel from California Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France) Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Recipients of the Silver Star United States Army Air Forces bomber pilots of World War II U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni