Owen Roberts (aviator)


Owen "Bobby" George Endicott Roberts was a British Royal Air Force wing commander and noted 20th-century aviator and founder of Caribbean International Airways.

Early life

Roberts was born on 17 September 1912 in London. He was a son of the former Irene Helene Murray and Marshall Owen Roberts, an American who became a British subject. His elder sister, Angela Susan Roberts, married the Hon. Somerset Maxwell. Before Maxwell was killed in action in North Africa in 1942, they were the parents of Barry and Simon, who became the 12th and 13th Barons Farnham. She married secondly to Lt.-Cmdr. Henry Harrison Proctor and thirdly to Lt.-Col. Edward Remington-Hobbs.
His paternal grandparents were wealthy American businessman Marshall Owen Roberts, and the former Sarah Lawrence "Susan" Endicott. His maternal grandparents were Sir George Murray and the former Helen Mary Mulholland and was the father of George Iain Murray, inherited the Dukedom of Atholl in 1957.

Career

Roberts flew with the RAF and was a wing commander during World War II.
Following the war, Roberts co-founded Caribbean International Airways. By 1950, Roberts had established regular service between Cayman and Tampa, Florida; Kingston, Jamaica; and Belize. He worked to lobby Cayman Islands Commissioners Ivor Smith and Andrew Gerrard to build airfields on all three of the Cayman Islands. In 1952, construction started on an official airstrip at an estimated cost of £93,000. On 28 November 1952 with a crowd of several hundred onlookers, Roberts piloted a PBY Catalina to a perfect landing on the partially completed airport runway. Within six months after that landing, Roberts had acquired two used Lockheed Lodestar airliners purchased to keep up with the competition whose interest was now piqued by the soon-to-be completed airfield at George Town.

Personal life

In 1936, Roberts was married to Patricia Charles. Together, they were the parents of two daughters who lived in London:
During a CIA flight from Kingston, Jamaica to Grand Cayman on 10 April 1953, the Lodestar piloted by Roberts crashed on takeoff from Palisadoes Airport killing thirteen of the fourteen people onboard, including Roberts and his sister. The only survivor of the crash was Roberts' brother-in-law, Lt.-Col. Edward Remington-Hobbs.

Descendants

Through his eldest daughter Camilla, he was posthumously a grandfather of five, including: Lady Cleone Lucinda Crichton , Lady Davina Jane Crichton , Lady Katherine Patricia Crichton , Lady Tara Guinevere Crichton , and John Crichton, 7th Earl Erne.
Through his youngest daughter Lucinda, he was posthumously a grandfather of four girls, Lucinda, Cassandra, Atalanta and Tatiana Marchessini.

Legacy

in George Town on Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands is named after him.