Hal McClain

Hal McClain was born on March 17, 1940 in Galveston, Texas, he was a disc jockey in both Texas and California, including a pilot, and stunt performer. In 1958 he joined the air force, serving four years, becoming a certificated pilot, and joined KFOX in 1962. In August 1973 when KFOX and a few of its personalities, he appeared along with his colleague Jonathan Fricke in the 1974 film Gone in 60 Seconds, which was directed by H.B. Halicki, and he had played the disc jockey while Fricke played a reporter. He was also a pilot who did stunts for KFOX, such as a December 1973 event over Marineland of the Pacific for a crowd of thousands to raise donations for books for the blind where he set the world's record for the largest number of consecutive inside loops, flying 1,501 loops in nine hours. He left KFOX in 1977 because of a change to religious format after being sold to the non-profit organization Family Stations, Inc. becoming KFRN. In 1978 he moved to Houston to become a disc jockey at KULF, the same year he set the world record for outside loops, flying 180 consecutive loops in 180 minutes. His third world record was earned for continuous upside down flying by piloting his aircraft upside down for 4 hours, 9 minutes, and 5 seconds. He is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for his two-loop world record. He was at a three-day airshow and was killed while attempting a 'sky spin' which is a vertical climb in which the plane topples over and comes down in a flat spin with trailing smoke. His aircraft appeared too low and it disappeared from sight into a valley. At the time of his death on September 19, 1981, he owned three aircraft - The Taylorcraft, a Beechcraft Bonanza and a 1937 German training plane. He was afternoon disc jockey for a KENR in Houston and some thought him to be the best radio announcer around.