Donald Howard Rogers

Donald Howard Rogers was born in Hamilton, Ontario, on November 26, 1916, and received his early education in Dundas, Ontario. He earned his Pilot's Licence at the Hamilton Aero Club in 1936, followed by a Commercial Licence in 1938, and an Instructor's Rating in April 1939. He attended the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) instructor course at Camp Borden Military Base, Ontario, in September 1939.

Rogers instructed RCAF Provisional Pilot Officers and civilian students at the Hamilton Aero Club until October 1940. From that date until December 1941, he was Assistant Chief Flying Instructor at No. 10 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) at Mt. Hope, Ontario. In 1941 he was transferred to the aircraft division of the National Steel Car Co. plant at Malton Airport, Toronto, Ontario, serving as a test pilot for their Westland Lysanders and Avro Ansons until April 1943.

Rogers obtained a posting with the Royal Air Force Ferry Command (RAFFC) flight test section at Dorval, Quebec, flying Lockheed Hudsons and Venturas, North American B-25 Mitchells and Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers from May through August 1943. He delivered a Hudson and a B-24 to the United Kingdom (U.K.) and during one trip spent five days at the A.V. Roe test flight centre at Woodford, test flying Lancasters.

He became a test pilot for Victory Aircraft Ltd. at Malton Airport, test flying their Canadian-built Mk 10 Lancasters from September 1943, until the war's end in August of 1945. In December 1945, Avro Canada Ltd. was formed, and took over the Victory Aircraft Ltd. facilities.

In December 1945, he joined the newly formed Avro Canada Ltd. as Chief Test Pilot flying Lockheed Venturas, B-25's, C-47's, and Lancasters following overhaul and modifications for the RCAF, as well as the Hawker Sea Fury for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). At this time Avro Canada was planning to build a 30-seat turbine-powered airliner for Trans Canada Airlines. James C. Floyd arrived from Avro (U.K.) to be Chief Technical Officer on the airliner project. The Avro C-102 Jetliner made its first flight on August 10, 1949, at Malton Airport, the first flight of a turbo-jet airliner in North America. Rogers was the co-pilot on this flight, with Avro (U.K.) Chief Pilot Jim Orell, and Bill Baker as Flight Engineer. Rogers was pilot-in-command on April 18, 1950, when the C-102 carried the world's first jet-transported air mail from Toronto to New York.

Rogers did most of the test and demonstration flying of the C-102 Jetliner. In addition to the many local flights in which he tested handling, performance, fuel consumption, and de-icing, numerous demonstration flights were made with senior airline pilots in New York, Miami, Chicago, and Winnipeg, as well as military pilots at the Wright-Patterson Airforce Base at Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A. He also spent a period of six months in California flying the Jetliner with Howard Hughes of Trans World Airlines.

Rogers logged a total of 340 hours on the Jetliner. Donald Rogers wrote:

“The Korean War broke out in 1950 and there was concern that it would escalate into World War III. In spite of Avro Canada having received a letter of intent from National Airlines and a tentative order by the United States Airforce and a strong desire by Howard Hughes to have the Jetliner in service with TWA, the Canadian Government ordered sales efforts and plans for production of the C-102 Jetliner to be terminated and maximum resources to be concentrated on production and delivery of the CF-100 fighter for the RCAF”.  

During Rogers' employment with Avro, the Lancaster was being used as a 'flying test bed' for the new jet engine, the Orenda. He was the pilot on the first flight, and further development flights, of the Lancaster which had its two outboard Merlin engines replaced with Orenda engines.

He made the first flight of the Orenda-powered Avro CF 100 Mk 2, and eventually accumulated hundreds of hours test flying all marks of this all-weather interceptor.   In 1958 he was appointed Flight Operations manager for the test-flying program of the Avro Arrow.

Following cancellation of the Arrow and the final shut down of Avro Canada, Rogers moved to the flight operations department of de Havilland Aircraft of Canada at Downsview Airport, Toronto, as a test, demonstration, and training pilot on all of their short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft including the Beaver, Otter, Turbo Beaver, Twin Otter, Caribou, Buffalo, and Dash 7.

In addition to the hundreds of local test flights and training of the customers' pilots in STOL procedures, Rogers carried out many demonstration tours, including flying a Turbo Beaver through Central and South America. He then flew a Caribou to Anchorage and Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, a Buffalo to Brazil and Argentina, a Twin Otter from Morocco through the Middle East and India to Kuala Lampur, and a Twin Otter from England through Scandinavia and return to Downsview via Iceland, Greenland, and Baffin Island. He also demonstrated a water-bomber version of the Twin Otter on floats across Canada.

Delivery flights were also his responsibility. They often involved remaining for a sufficient period of time to train and check out the customer's pilots in the operation of STOL aircraft. Such deliveries included a Caribou to Kawajalen Island in the Pacific, a Buffalo to Togo in Africa, and Twin Otters to Puerta Mont, Chile, as well as to Panama, Switzerland, Iran, and Nepal. Rogers spent six months in Nepal training Royal Nepal Airline pilots and wrote operational procedures for take-off and landing on their short strips in the Himalayan Mountains.

In 1980, at age 63, Rogers retired from the flight operations department at de Havilland but continued to do part-time flight training and ground school instructing of their customers' pilots for another seven years. He logged more than 12,000 flying hours on 30 aircraft types.

In recognition of his years of testing and demonstrating the Avro Jetliner and many other Canadian designed and built aircraft throughout the world, Rogers was awarded the Trans-Canada (McKee) Trophy for 1983. He was made an Associate Fellow of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI) in February 1957 and promoted to Fellow in 1998. He died on July 19, 2006, at Toronto, Ontario.

Roger's career in aviation, like so many fellow Members of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame, has been interesting and varied. He began flying in the mid-thirties and went on to become chief test pilot at Avro Canada, reaching speeds of more than 500 miles an hour in the Jetliner in the mid-fifties. In the sixties and seventies, he test-flew and demonstrated the slow-flying STOL aircraft at de Havilland Canada.

Donald Howard Rogers was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1998 at a ceremony held in Montreal, Quebec.