It was recently discovered that a retired long time member of the AK's has passed, AKHoopy
For those that never knew Hoop, he was a software developer and a native of Sheffield England. He was one of the earliest members of the Squadron, entering in 2001. He played alongside of us North American based folks many times after midnight his local time.
He held several leadership positions in the squadron and was the third, and fifth CO of the AK's serving a total of six years. The last during the darkest time of the Squadron, from which he resurrected it from the ash heap. He was a good squadron mate and a fine leader, a member of our Hall of Honor and ranked high on the "Hotel Sierra Killboard" (kills in FSO and other squad one life events).
As far as other games, he was known to play IL2, Strike Fighters, Combat Mission 2 and more lately Candy Crush.
He retired from the Squadron in April of 2014 for personal and medical reasons.
On January 5th, 2018 "he put out his hand and touched the face of God".
: Hoopy!
To honor Hoopy, the AK's will be posting a mission in the MA next Monday in his honor. We could do a missing man, or some other such display to honor him, but we believe he would want us to "start a fight".
Look for another post about that mission Monday, 10 June 2019. Hope we can get some folks to make it a real send off...
