Bob 'Rooster' Schmidle
What do you do with a general when he retires?
Robert (Bob) “Rooster” Schmidle is a decorated Marine Corps lieutenant general, TopGun graduate, and, get this, he commanded the largest Marine Corps strike of Operation Desert Storm. That attack took place on the first night of the war, and he received the Distinguished Flying Cross with Combat V for valor. He was also the commanding officer of Fighter Attack Squadron 251, “The Thunderbolts,” deployed aboard the USS America, and was selected for a second operational command of the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115, the “Silver Eagles.”
When we met him, he was simply a shorts-wearing aerobatic instructor on a hot summer day on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, giving a checkout to two prospective CFIs. But Schmidle has more than 6,000 flight hours, 4,700 hours in tactical fighters, including the F–4 Phantom and F/A–18 Hornet. His retirement gig is racing in his Pitts S–1D and competing in International Aerobatics Club competitions in his Pitts S–2B aircraft. He is on the airshow circuit in his Pitts Special performing maneuvers similar to those flown in tactical fighter aircraft. He performs at the Bealeton, Virginia, Flying Circus airshow during its summer season.
As a CFI, he teaches and trains pilots in his Pitts S–2B and Super Decathlon, flying out of Leesburg Executive Airport (JYO) in Virginia.
“I like to fly,” he says. “I’ve flown pretty much every airplane the Marine Corps has and many that the other services have and our allies as well. Probably the thing that I enjoyed the most was flying in combat, and I think it was Winston Churchill that once said that the most exhilarating thing in the world is to be shot at and missed. I think that’s probably pretty accurate.
“Then I retired. I was just going to go and play golf or do nothing. Since I don’t play golf, I had to find something to do. So that’s when I started getting involved in general aviation. I’m also a professor at Arizona State University, and I’ve done a number of other things in the consulting world. And then a couple of years ago, I started an aerobatic flight school. And, just again, general aviation flying. It actually is very different than what I had grown up with. I enjoy flying airshows, which I do now. I think the GA flying that I most enjoyed was racing at Reno. That was just an absolute kick.”
Schmidle also has raced Formula Fords, specialized Miatas, and motorcycles including Ducatis and Honda two-stroke GP bikes. 
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