John A.Fergione 1949-

Flying experimental airplanes has always been an adventure for John Fergione. During his distinguished career, he has flown virtually all models of the F-16 for more than 26 years; most of that time spent in flight testing. Fergione joined General Dynamics, now Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, as an experimental test pilot in 1981. He spent two years as the F-16XL Project Pilot and conducted the first flights of the F-16 with the F-100-GE-100 engine, both in the F-16XL and in the F-16C. He made numerous other first flights in the pursuit of increasing the F-16’s capabilities at Lockheed in Fort Worth as well as at Edwards AFB. He was assigned to the F-16 Combined Test Force at Edwards AFB from 1985 to 2002 and was also the company’s Facility Manager for much of that time. He was the Chief Test Pilot for the F-16 (non-Block 60) programs until late 2002, when he accepted a transfer to become the F-22A experimental test pilot. Conducting many “firsts” with the F-22A, he stated, “Given the choice of every other airplane in the world, if I only had one more flight in a fighter, I would want it to be in an F-22.” A Fellow and past President of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Fergione has logged over 6,400 flight hours

First Jet Air Mail Flight

LtCol Henry R. Poplawski USAF(Ret) 1914-2015

Henry Poplawski wanted to be a pilot from his teenage days. He flew kites and model airplanes that he made. Reaching his goal was a slow process. His parents were Polish immigrants and he was the second son of three boys and four sisters. He lost both his parents by the age of 12 and was living with his younger brother and sister at his oldest sister’s house. Hoping to go to college after high school was just a dream,but he had help from an Uncle who gave him $200.00 to start the first semester, class of 1939 in his hometown at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.
He worked at the college under a government program to pay for his freshman year. He did not have any money to continue and had to drop out. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps with his younger brother and went to the Air Corps Technical School and completed the airplane mechanic course and the radio operator and repair course. His next objective was a two year college equivalency exam to get an appointment as a flying cadet. He got his wings and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps in 1939.

From here on his flying life moved on swiftly. His first assignment was to Middletown Air Depot, Pennsylvania. He flew all over the USA and in all kinds of different airplanes. Some were old like the Glenn L. Martin Company first all metal bomber the B10. The B-10 came from Brazil for repairs and it is now at the Air Force Museum, Dayton, Ohio. Before the US came into WWII, the US Air Corps wanted a way to help the British in Africa. Pan American Air established an African division named PAAAfrica. The pilots for this pseudo airline came from the Air Corps. He was an assigned as a volunteer plus four other pilots and sent to Africa by a Pan American flying boat.There they pioneered an airline across middle Africa; there was a war going on in North Africa. They extended the airline over Arabia, India all the way to China. After 13 months the expanded airline was militarized and the US was totally involved in WWll.

When he came to work for the Glenn L. Martin Company in October 1942, after 13 months flying in Africa for Pan American Airways, the company was in full production of the B-26, the A-30, and the PBM-3. Although most of his test flying was on the B-26 Marauder, he did fly the other aircraft through the end of World War 11.
When WWII ended he went back to college at the University of Southern California and received his BE in aeronautical/mechanical engineering in 1948. After graduation he returned to Glenn L Martin as an aeronautical engineer in customer service. With the war in Korea he was recalled in 1951 to active duty to fly Glenn L. Martin made B-29s. The Training Command changed his orders and he went to Lowry AFB, Denver, Colorado to setup the Guided Missile Training School,where he eventually became the Director. He trained mechanics and operators for the Glenn L. Martin pilot less missiles; the Matador and the Mace.

His career field changed from flying to air/aerospace technical intelligence. His next duty was a four-year assignment to CIA in Washington, DC. He went back to the Air Force for a field assignment in Tokyo, Japan. They kept track of what the other side was doing and they kept their eyes on us. He retired from the Air Force in 1966 with 20 years of active duty and 12 years in the reserves. He changed from the uniform to Civil Service and stayed in the same job,retiring from Civil Service in 1977, at Wright-Patterson AFB.

Joseph 'Joe' Angelone 1922-2013

Joe Angelone's fascination with aviation began when he was in grade school. He became a military pilot during WWII and flew P-47 Thunderbolts in the Mediterranean Theatre diring the war. He flew various fighters and bombers,progressing into jet aircraft.

He was part of the USAF's Atomic Test Group,participating in research and development and serving as a proof test pilot on atomic bomb programmes. He left the USAF in 1953 to join Chance Vought Aircraft as an experimental test pilot. He flew tests in electronic armament,performance,stability and control,structural and photographic reconnaissance programs. These activities involved flying the F7U-1,F7U-3,F8U-1,F8U-1P and the F8U-3.

He also worked in various capacities in the Aircraft and Space Divisions. Areas included advanced aircraft designs,the XC-142 tilt wing turbo prop VTOL aircraft,spacecraft heatshields and the Apollo spacecraft environmental control system. His final years with Vought were spent with the A-7 program,working on variants such as the two-place version and the Navy and USAF forward looking infrared night attack versions.

Joe O. Engle

Gerd Achgelis 1908-1991

Gerd Achgelis Chief Focke-Wulf Test Pilot from 1933-38

Gerd Achgelis was born in 1908 at Golzwarden. He started flying at the age of 20, and 2 years later flew inverted for 1 hour over London. In 1931 he became German Aerobatic Champion.

He joined the Focke/Wulf company in Bremen and became the Chief Test Pilot in 1933. He was World Aerobatic Champion betweem 1934-1936. Heinrich Focke and Gerd Achgelis developed the Focke-Achgelis Fa-61, the first totally successfully helicopter in 1936, which was demonstrated by Hanna Reitsch in 1936 in Berlin, Germany.

Focke-Achgelis was a German helicopter company founded in 1937 by Henrich Focke, and Gerd Achgelis. They started building helicopters in Hoykenkamp, where Achgelis flew all the prototypes.

Boris Vasilievich Sergievsky 1888–1971

Sikorsky S42 Flying Boat overhead Miami
Flown World Atltitude/Payload Record Cover signed by Boris Sergievsky and NAA Observer Heinmuller

Boris Sergievsky was one of the most colourful of the early aviators. He made his first flight less than ten years after the Wright brothers made theirs; he made his last only four years before the first Concorde took off.

Born in Russia in 1888, Boris Sergievsky learned to fly in 1912. His life of high adventure began when he fought as a Russian infantry officer, winning the Imperial Russia's highest honour for leading his infantrymen in a charge that captured a fortified enemy hilltop. He then took to the air to become a fighter pilot and combat ace against Austria-Hungary during WWI, and again, after the Bolshevik revolution, he fought in the White Army.
In 1923, he emigrated to the USA, but the first job he could find in New York was with a pick and shovel, digging the Holland Tunnel, but he soon joined Igor Sikorsky's airplane company. He became chief test pilot for the Sikorsky flying boats that Pan American Airways used worldwide, setting seventeen world aviation records along the way. Over the next ten years, Pan American Airways established routes across Latin America and the Pacific, using Sikorsky flying boats. Sergievsky tested them all and flew many of the inaugural flights.
He made pioneering flights across vast stretches of Latin America, carrying everything from mining machinery to boa constrictors. He flew Osa and Martin Johnson(famous for films in the 1930’s) across uncharted African jungles, survived a tidal wave that smashed his flying boat in mid-ocean, and escaped a blazing crash when his airplane caught fire in midair.
After 1941 he was recruited by the OSS, and eventually found himself testing captured German jet aircraft. He continued flying until 1965, when he lost his medical certificate at age 77.
There must be few men who had in one lifetime led his men in a charge and fought the enemy with a saber, flown a Nieuport, sung the principal tenor role in a performance of Rigoletto, heaved a shovel in New York, worked for the National Biscuit Corporation, became a connoisseur of fine wine and women and an authority of Russian cooking, survived, among other disasters, flying into a tidal wave, and finally, testing German jet aircraft!!

Air Commodore Roger Leslie Topp AFC** 1923-2020

Roger Topp, Test Pilot and founder and leader of the Black Arrows Display Team
Roger Topp joined the RAF in 1943 and learned to fly in Canada. When he returned to England in 1944 there was a surplus of powered aircraft pilots so he transferred to the Glider Pilot Regiment. On March 2,1945, he flew a Horsa Glider carrying a jeep,guns and troops in the airbornne crossing of the Rhine. In 1947 he joined 98 Sqn,flying Mosquitos in Germany,becoming a flight commander and instrument flying exami for his wing. He was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1950. In that year he took the course at the ETPS,and remained at Farnborough on the staff of the Royal Aircraft Establishment. He undertook tests of various experimental armament installations,including guided weapons and the new 30mm Aden cannon.

He was a leading aerobatic demostration pilot on the Canberra bomber,flying before the Emperor of Ethiopia and the Shah of Persia during their visits to Britain. In 1954,with another test pilot, shared the 100 hour of intensive flight testing on the Comet airliner undertaken at Farnborough. He was awarded a bar to his AFC in 1955 and a second bar in January 1958 for work with the aerobatic team.

Flt Lt. John.B 'Tommy' Thompson 1921-2012

Spitfite Mk9
Supermarine Seafire

Westland Welkin
Tommy Thompson started his flying career with the RAF at Stoke on Trent in August 1940 with No.5 EFTS on Magisters.In October he went to 14FTS at Cranfield to continue his training on Oxfords.This was followed by some time at 2 School of Air Navigation Specialist Air Nav Course for prospective Hampden co-pilots.(Jan-March 1941) but was switched to a Blenheim OTU (April - July 41).He went on to operations with 18 Squadron at Oulton and later to Horsham St Faith (Norwich City airport now)for Low level shipping strikes and High level Circus Raids until 21/8/41.
He was then posted to Overseas Aircraft Departure Unit Watton to collect new aircraft to ferry to the Middle East Blenheim Unit.On 27th August 1941 he suffered a forced landing at Aviero in Portugal but later escaped with R.N. assistance to Gibraltar and returned UK 8/10/41.On his return to the UK he was posted to the Test Flight at 13 M.U.Henlow. He flew Hampdens and Hurricanes on test,Hind,Prefects and Magisters on communication flights, Whitleys II and,very occasionally, Virginias drop testing parachutes. On the 18th March 1942 he switched posting to 7 Air Gunnery School at Stormy Down,Porthcawl.He flew Whitleys Mk I-V for Air gunnery training,Lysanders for drogue towing,Ansons for A.G.training, Lysander for Air Sea Rescue in the Bristol Channel and Blenheims and Master I on local test flights.
A change of scene on 27th August 1943 when he was posted to 15 M.U. at Wroughton for Horsa Glider towing training with Whitley Vs, then on to 9 M.U.Cosford glider Delivery unit on 15/9/43.The unit delivered Horsas all over England and Scotland for build up for D-Day.He remained with the GDU until 8th May 1944 when he was posted to ATA FTS Thame for refresher flying on fast singles.
Tommy completed 13 hrs on Harvards, 3 hrs on Hurricanes and 3 hrs on Spitfire V before moving on to 33 M.U. Lyneham on the 21st May. Whilst with 33 M.U. he flew on test Spitfires Mk.1, 2, 4, 5, 5a, 5b, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, and 21.He also flew Seafires Mk.3, 15, and 17. In addition he flew Oxfords and Ansons on communication work. His last posting was to Westland Aircraft Ltd at Yeovil on 25/3/45.Here he flew Seafires Mk.3, 15, 17,Spitfire Mk.9,Welkin, Dominie, Auster V and a Miles Falcon for Comms flying.From Westlands Yeovilton factory he flew Spitfire 9s.His total number of Spitfires flown was 476 and Seafires 294. On the 7th August 1946 Tommy was demobilised,leaving the RAF with the rank of Flight Lieutenant.
After the War his flying was mainly with the Portsmouth Aero Club and two private 0wners. From May 1963 to Aug 1984 there were summer time trips with The Parachute Regiment Free Fall Teams Rapides and Islander.In 1967 he joined the Flight Ops Dept at Hatfield being mainly concerned with the 125 until his retirement in October 1986.

Horst Philipp 1937-

David (Dan) Gurney 1943-

Wg Cdr Inder Mohan Chopra (Chopie) 1932-2015

After the the first flight of Basant HA 31 on March 30, 1972

After the first flight of HF24 Mk 1A with Orpheus Engine Reheat
Wing Commander Inder Mohan Chopra (called Chopie).

He was born on May 3, 1932. He was commissioned in the flying branch of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on June 16, 1951 and was awarded the Sword of Honour for standing First in the course. He became a flying instructor in August 1953. Chopie graduated from Empire Test Pilots School UK in December 1957. Immediately after graduation he flew Hunters for production testing with Hawker Aircraft Ltd at Dunsfold, UK for six months. He was on deputation from the IAF to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Bangalore (HAL) form January 1961 to May 1966. During this period he was actively involved in prototype development of the Marut HF 24. He carried out the first flight of HF24 Mk 1A with Orpheus Engine Reheat. Marut HF 24 Mk 1BX was modified for fitment of the Egyptian E300 engine on the right side with normal Orpheus engine on the left. It was the first Marut with twin hydraulic systems with no manual reversion. The tail plane and elevator were split but both were hydraulically operated. It was initially flown in Bangalore with the Orpheus fitted on both sides. Chopie did the first flight. The aircraft was then sent to Egypt.

Chopie was deputed to the Egyptian Aero General Organisaton, Helwan for flight development of the E300 engine in June 1966. A HAL team of about 25 headed by Gp.Capt. C. S. Naik (Retired as Air Marshal) was also sent to maintain the aircraft. The first flight with E300 engine fitted was done on March 29, 1967. A total of about 180 flights were done with the E 300 engine on the right and Orpheus on the left. The project was closed in July 1969.

Chopie prematurely retired form the IAF and joined HAL as the Chief Test Pilot. He carried out the first flight of Basant HA 31 on March 30, 1972. The aircraft was designed for agricultural spraying. The project was closed due to lack of interest by the Ministry of Agriculture. He carried out the first flight of HPT 32 (piston engine basic trainer) on January 6, 1977. The aircraft was designed for the IAF and is still being used.

In July 1980 he gave up flying and took the opportunity to work in management. He worked as General Manager of Overhaul Division and then the Aircraft Division. Later he became a Director on the Board of HAL and was the Chairman of the Company from April 1989. He retired form this position in May 1991. He is Fellow of the Aeronautical Society of India.

George S. 'Wheaties' Welch 1918-1954

George Schwartz Welch became the first civilian pilot to exceed Mach 1 in a jet-powered plane while flying the XF-86 on April 26, 1948. Among his many other pioneering test flights at Edwards Air Force Base were the first flights of the North American XF-86 on October 1, 1947 and the YF-100 Super Sabre in May 1953.

Born May 10, 1918 in Wilmington, DE, Welch became interested in aerospace as a young boy, spending much of his time building model airplanes. He joined the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1939, where he acquired the nickname “Wheaties” for his ability to generate quick energy. On December 7, 1941, Welch was one of the first pilots to shoot down a Japanese plane at Pearl Harbor; the first of four victories he scored that day. Welch was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for these actions, which were portrayed in the 1970 Rick Cooper film, Tora! Tora! Tora! Welch flew three combat tours before malaria retired him from the war. By the time he ended his combat career, he was credited with 16 confirmed victories- ranking him among the top 35 U.S. Army Air Forces aces of World War II.

Welch left the USAAF in July 1944 and became Chief Test Pilot for North American Aviation. From 1944-1947, he flew engineering tests on P-51, P-82, XSNJ-1, FJ-1 and AJ-1 aircraft. In September 1947, he was sent to Muroc (now Edwards Air Force Base), to become NAA’s Chief Test Pilot for the F-86 test program. Welch piloted the first flights of the F-86D and XF-93A. In addition, he made the first flight of the YF-100A Super Sabre on May 25, 1953, when this airplane became the first in history to exceed Mach 1 on its maiden flight. During the Korean War, Welch was a Chief Test Pilot, engineer and instructor for North American Aviation. He returned to flight testing after the war.

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Welch’s life was tragically cut short on October 12, 1954 at EAFB during a structural demonstration flight of the F-100A Super Sabre when the aircraft tumbled out of control during a Mach 1.5 dive, due to a design flaw in its vertical tail. He ejected, but later died from injuries. Welch is buried in Arlington Cemetery.

Lt Col Art Tomassetti 1964-

LtCol Art Tomassetti was born in Port Chester, New York on March 13, 1964. He attended elementary schools in New York and Florida where he graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in 1982. Lt. Col. Tomassetti was commissioned as a 2nd Lt in from the NROTC program in June of 1986. After completing The Basic School in Quantico , VA he began flight training in Pensacola, FL and continued on to Jet Training in Beeville, TX. Upon receiving his wings, he began flight training in the AV-8B Harrier in Cherry Pt, NC in 1988. He served with two Fleet Harrier Squadrons VMA-542 and VMA-513 and held a variety of billets including Standardization Officer, Weapons and Tactics Instructor, and Operations Officer. He made two 6-month deployments to the Western Pacific and spent 9 months in the Persian Gulf for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. During Desert Storm, he flew 39 combat missions in the AV-8B Harrier throughout the Kuwait Theater of operations.
In 1997, he attended the United States Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, MD in class 112. He was assigned to the Strike Aircraft Test Squadron where he conducted flight test in the both the F/A-18 and AV-8B aircraft. Lt. Col. Tomassetti served as a member of the Joint Strike Fighter Test Force and became the lead government pilot for the X-35 Test Team. He was the only U.S. government pilot to fly all three variants of the X-35 aircraft and flew the first ever Short Take-Off, level supersonic dash and vertical landing accomplished on a single flight. LtCol Tomassetti also served as the USMC JSF Program Integrator at the Lockheed Martin Facility in Ft. Worth TX. He has over 2900 hours of flight time in more than 30 different types of aircraft and is currently qualified in the F/A-18 and EA-6B.
LtCol Tomassetti reported back to Pax River in 2004 and is currently serving as the Commanding Officer for Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23. He is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and on the Board of Directors for the John Glenn Squadron of the Marine Corps Aviation Association. He has a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University and a MS in Aviation System from the University of Tennessee. LtCol Tomassetti is a graduate of the USMC Expeditionary Warfare School and Command and Staff College in Quantico, VA. His awards include two Defense Meritorious Service Medals, Air Medal with "V" device for Valor and numeral three, two Navy Commendation Medals, and the Navy Achievement Medal.

Albert (Al) W. Blackburn 1923-2011

Al Blackburn is an engineer and test pilot who graduated from the US Naval Academy as a Marine, fought at Okinawa, returned to the States, and became a carrier-based fighter pilot. After leaving the service in 1949, he got a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then was recalled during the Korean war and spent a couple of years test flying for the Navy at the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland. In 1954, he became an engineering test pilot for North American Aviation in Los Angeles. At the company's Palmdale flight test facility, he earned the title of Glider King when, within one two-week period, he experienced unrelightable flame-outs in three successive F-86 Sabrejet flights and managed to land all three craft. In 1957, he was asked to participate in the resurrected zero-length-launch project, and flew the maiden flight of the F100ZEL.

He later saw government service in the Department of Defense and with the Federal Aviation Administration where he was Assistant Administrator for Policy, Planning, and International Aviation. He is a charter member, founding director, and third president of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots..

Peter Weger 1943 -

Peter Weger has beeen flying for 42 years,both Military,Civilian and Test Flying. He served in the German Air Force between 1963-1977 flying the F-104 Starfighter and F-4 Phantom and is a graduate of the Empire Test Pilots School. He retired as a Major.

He worked for Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm GmbH for 8 years as a Test Pilot.Chief Pilot and manager of Flight Operations before joining Fairchild Dornier at Oberpfaffenhofen as Experimental Test Pilot.

He tested Tornado and was the pilot on the maiden flight of the Eurofighter 2000. He became involved with the Dornier 328 Jet project, and again made the maiden flight of that aircraft.

He has flown in excess of 10000hours and was awarded the Kincheloe award by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots for his achievements as a Test Pilot in 1994

William 'Pat' Patrick Ingram Fillingham 1914 -2003

Pat Fillingham flying an early DH Chipmunk. He flew the maiden flight of the type
Pat Fillingham seated with DeHavilland Flight Test Crew

William Patrick Ingram Fillingham was born at Sutton Coldfield in 1914. He was educated at Worksop College and the de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School. He learnt to fly in the RAF Volunteer Reserve at Perth, soloing in a Tiger Moth in February 1937 and qualifying for his RAF wings in November 1938. On graduating as an aeronautical engineer in 1939 he joined the de Havilland Aircraft Company as a junior test pilot.
War brought big orders for new production aircraft, each of which had to be meticulously flight-tested. By April 1940 he was making more than 150 flights a month, mostly clearing new Tiger Moths. By September 1942, as chief production test pilot, he was making 30 Mosquito sorties a month.
In 1943 de Havilland sent him to Toronto and Sydney, where additional production lines were now rolling out de Havilland’s formidable “unarmed bomber with fighter speed”. His job was to advise the local de Havilland companies on Mosquito flight-testing. While in Canada he demonstrated Toronto-built Mosquitoes at a dozen military air bases, helping to win a substantial USAAF order. Back in England, where Mosquito production was running at five aircraft a day, he found himself flying more than 100 Mosquito test sorties a month. He flew more than 2,200 Mosquito sorties, undoubtedly a record. In 1944 production of the DH103 Hornet — the world’s fastest propeller fighter — added to the workload. Though the Mosquito always remained his favourite aircraft, he so admired the Hornet that he once flew it wearing a bowler hat.
He was quite a reserved person, never giving interviews or making speeches, but colleagues unfailingly recall his sense of humour. In September 1940, when the Battle of Britain was raging overhead, the boffins asked him to test a new atmospheric instrument. This meant flying an unarmed Dominie biplane at 15,000ft over southern England. When his flight-test engineer asked what they were supposed to do if they encountered a Messerschmitt, Fillingham said: “Don’t worry, I’ll wave my Nazi armband” — which he duly wore.
Peace brought big export and home orders for Dove and Heron commercial transports, Chipmunk trainers and Vampire jet fighters. Mosquitoes and Hornets were also still rolling off the production lines, joining the queue for air tests, demonstrations, customer crew-training, ferry flights and customer deliveries. In 1947, back from his Chipmunk work in Canada, he logged each of those types in one month.
Later in the 1950s, as de Havilland struggled to recover from the Comet 1 disasters, Fillingham turned his skills to testing the modified and redesigned Comets. He flew RCAF Comet 1As, RAF Comet 2s, BOAC Comet 4s, BEA Comet 4Bs, Mexicana Comet 4Cs, and variants for export customers. He took particular pleasure in delivering BOAC’s first Comet 4s to Heathrow in September 1958. The following month one of these inaugurated the world’s first transatlantic jet services, beating Pan American’s Boeing 707s. When that plane was retired by Dan-Air, he flew it to the Duxford air museum.
After the Comet 4s came the Trident series of trijet airliners, which came off the Hatfield production line from 1963. The Trident was the fastest subsonic jet airliner ever, and the first to be certificated for automatic landings in zero visibility. Customer crew-training took Fillingham to many countries. His most notable assignment, in 1972, was the delivery of China’s first Western jet airliner. He and a fellow test pilot flew CAAC’s first Trident from Hatfield to Canton. His logbook records: “Acceptance, 2 Test Frights — crew unable to speak a word of English.” He made further visits to China, and trained Chinese crews.

He retired in 1975 as deputy chief test pilot of Hawker Siddeley Aviation (into which de Havilland had been merged). In the last years of his career he enjoyed shuttle-flying the company’s 125 executive jets around Europe, and displaying his beloved Mosquito T3 RR299 at air shows. When he made his last flight he had flown 11,450 hours and 120 different aircraft types, including such rarities as the Flamingo, Albatross, Defiant, Battle, Henley, Botha, Cirrus Moth, DH84 Dragon, Audax, Lysander, Mew Gull, Vengeance, Catalina and Queen Bee.
He owned several vintage cars including a Bentley. He took part in three Monte Carlo rallies with his father-in-law, the racing driver Mike Couper. He restored a 1928 Austin 7, designed and built a racing car with a Cooper 500 engine and collected antique clocks.

Fillingham was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air in 1970 and the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators Derry and Richards Medal in 1973. Flying the Chipmunk G-AKND, he was British air racing champion in 1952 and winner of the Goodyear Trophy in 1952 and the King’s Cup in 1953. He was a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, which awarded him its RP Alston Memorial Medal, and a Master Air Pilot

Robert M ‘Bob’ Robbins 1916-2005

Air Force test pilot Guy Townsend (left) with Bob Robbins
XB-47 Take off on maiden flight
Roll out of the Prototype XB-47

After famed Boeing Experimental Test Pilot Eddie Allen and his crew were killed in the 18 February 1943 fire and crash of the #2 XB-29, Robert M. Robbins became the next Boeing Experimental Test Pilot for the #1 XB-29 flight test program. During the last 22 months of World War II he was the Project Test Pilot and Aircraft Commander on every #1 XB-29 test flight - 312 flights totaling 458 hours. The #1 XB-29 was appropriately named "THE FLYING GUINEA PIG" because of its extensive use for experimental and developmental testing of new ideas and changes.
Bob Robbins will be remembered as being the Test Pilot of the XB-47 prototype that first flew on 17 December 1947, with fellow test pilot Scott Osler. The aircraft flew from Boeing Field in Seattle to the Moses Lake Airfield in central Washington State, in a flight that lasted 52 minutes. There were no major problems, except the newer radical design and shape made the plane hard to stop on the shorter runways back then until the drag chute concept was utilized. Bob had originally been skeptical about the XB-47, saying that before the initial flight he had "prayed to God to please help me" through the flight. The aircraft was so unusual that he simply didn't know if it would fly. Robbins presently realized that he had an extraordinary aircraft.
He finished phase one of the XB-47 program, then turned the program over to the Air Force in July of 1948. Guy Townsend was the Air Force test pilot who flew phase two.
He the got a job as assistant project engineer on the B-47B production program. From there it was typical project engineer and program management assignments for the next 30 years.