Alex Roberts
Leading test pilot who studied decompression in Canberras
ALEX ROBERTS, who has died aged 80, was one of the county’s foremost test pilots. He tested aircraft ranging from the revolutionary Short SC 1, the first British fixed-wing vertical take off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, to the huge Belfast transport, and went on to fill senior management posts with the aircraft manufacturer Short Brothers.
Following the retirement of Shorts’ chief test pilot, Tom Brooke-Smith, in 1960, Roberts was appointed the project test pilot for the Short SC 1 research aircraft. After learning to fly helicopters to gain an understanding of flight in the hover, he made 137 test flights in the SC 1 – including the first to transition from the hover to conventional flight and the first using a fly-by-wire control system. On May 27 1961 he made the first cross-channel flight by a VTOL aircraft, when he took the SC 1 to the Paris Air Show. The following year he flew the aircraft at the Farnborough Air Show.
The twin son of a Royal Artillery officer, Alexander Frederick Cecil Roberts was born on February 1 1936 at Leigh-on-Sea and educated at the Salesian School, Farnborough. He joined the RAF for his National Service in 1954 when he trained as a pilot.
He was commissioned and joined No 615 Squadron to fly the Meteor jet fighter from Biggin Hill. At the end of his service he joined Short Brothers as a test pilot. In 1958 he was responsible for the highaltitude testing of the Canberra U10. On one flight during a bunt (outside loop) manoeuvre, the two ejector seats for Roberts and his observer started to rise. Roberts quickly returned the aircraft to normal flight and made an emergency landing with the two seats primed and dangerous. It transpired that they had not been fitted correctly.
Roberts made a series of unique, and risky, flights in a Canberra bomber when, to test the effects of cockpit decompression, the canopy was removed from the aircraft. Roberts and his observer wore special protective suits for the flight to 50,000 feet. On one flight, the aircraft had to descend through cloud, which immediately froze on his clothing and goggles. The observer had to crawl from his position in the nose of the aircraft into the cramped cockpit in order to cut the goggles free with a survival knife. With his vision restored, Roberts made a safe landing.
He made the maiden flight of the final, most advanced, variant of the Canberra family, the highaltitude reconnaissance PR9. This involved test flights in pressure suits to heights well above 50,000 ft. The PR9 remained in RAF service until July 2006.
In addition to testing the SC 1 and the Canberra, Roberts flew the Britannia aircraft destined for the RAF and was responsible for the testing of the Belfast transport, including over 2,000 stall tests and tropical trials. He was also responsible for the testing of the successful Skyvan light transport aircraft.
Roberts retired from test flying in 1969 when he became sales manager of the Skyvan division. In 1986 he became company sales and marketing director and, following privatisation of the company and subsequent acquisition by Bombardier Group, he became deputy managing director, a post he held until 1995 when he was made vice chairman of Bombardier Aerospace Shorts. After his retirement he remained a consultant.
He was appointed OBE in 1973.
On his retirement, Roberts and his wife moved to Switzerland where they spent six months each year, with the rest of the year spent at their home in Mallorca. A keen gardener and photographer, he produced a lavishly illustrated book, Test Pilot.
In 1960 Alex Roberts married Rosie White, who survives him with their two sons.
Alex Roberts, born February 1 1936, died July 17 2016