I remember meeting him at Sun n Fun when I was a kid during the time-to-climb record attempts. I had a poster of Pushy Galore on my wall growing up.
When I bought my RV, insurance wanted 25 hours of dual in an RV4 or something absurd. I emailed Bruce and 30 seconds later my phone rang. "Hey, this is Bruce Bohannon." I was speechless and star struck. He said to come on out for some dual in the RV8, and he'd handle my insurance company. Sure as shit, about two hours in the 8 and a phone call, they approved me.
I'll share below some quotes which I thought were hilarious, and I don't think he'd mind me sharing -
"When the nuclear apocalypse eventually comes, the only thing left will be cockroaches and RV-8 landing gear."
"I quit drinkin' for a while, but the reality was too much. I don't understand why anyone would want to live like that." -upon seeing me crack open a NA beer in his drive way, a few years sober
"Don't jerk the stick. If you jerk the stick, you'll make me horny and you might not like what happens next."
"Quit flyin' straight and level. I'm getting sick back here."
"Insurance was too expensive so I don't carry it anymore."
"Can you smell that? Some whiner I had two weeks ago said my cigarette smoke was making him sick so I sent him home." -from the back seat of the 8 taxiing back to departure with the canopy cracked and a lit American Spirit
As colorful as a character as he was, I learned more about flying that weekend than I had in the previous 12 years since I started this journey.
Blue skies, Bruce.