PEOPLE I'VE MET ON THE WAY
(Last updated: 05.01.08)
The twelfth person to include within this section is Ken's Navigator Ken Roberts
PERSON No. 12: Ken Roberts (Ken's Navigator)
I found out about Ken Roberts when I first started to investigate Ken's (Grandad) history. Gran remembered him very well along with his wife Joan Roberts, as they had met on a couple of occasions after the war. According to Ken's (Grandad) log-book they flew together 68 times, always in Fortresses and right up until the last operational flight that Ken (Grandad) had in 206 Squadron, before his transfer into Group 15 in August 1943. The log-book has Roberts going from a Sergeant to Flight Sergeant between the 1st and 5th November 1942 so I presume he was promoted at this time.
I wrote to Ken in 2002 to find out whether he remembered Ken (Grandad) or the 206 Squadron, I enclosed a few photographs including the one below of the Crew
Miller - Bass - Anderson - Hunt - Roberts - Morgan
Ken met grandad at Aldergrove in 1941, they flew together in
“They were a much better aircraft with a longer range”
They stayed together for around 18 months at which point Grandad was tour expired around 1943. This meant he would then go on to do other activities such as operational duties in a training capacity. Ken commented on Ranald Anderson who was the crew’s co-pilot;
“Anderson wasn’t with us for long, about 6 months or so I think. Co-pilots generally were short term as they went on to became pilots themselves and got their own crew.”
They flew in the 1,000 bomber raids over
Ken described my Grandad as follows;
“He was the very best type of pilot; he was a modest man, stable with a good sense of humour, reliable and competent. When we were in the middle of the Atlantic the autopilot was not steady enough but Ken flew it manually and could keep it very steady for 2-3 minutes, which was very important for the Navigator, as we would be using a sextant.”
Ken finished up in Farmbough in the mid 50’s.
After the war both chaps and their wives met in a service station near Stoke and they exchange mail at Christmas.
I heard through Gran that Ken had passed away a couple of years ago and with the development of the website I decided to get back in touch with his wife Joan in November 2007. I had a reply in December 2007 from one of their sons Clive Roberts who has kindly sent over some photographs of Ken and Joan, some from the RAF days and some from the 80's, along with a newspaper cutting below...
Ken Roberts
A Canadian Newspaper: Silver and Ebony Trophey
In the text below Ken is referred to as John and although that was his first name, everyone called him by his second name Ken
Ken Roberts and his wife Joan
