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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. Laurence D. Roberts

Edmund L. Roberts served the cause of aviation and the airline industry as a flight crew member for Pan American World Airways, in the position of Flight Radio Officer (FRO). He served in Pan Am’s Latin American Division during its growth years, flying Caribbean and South American routes from early 1940 to late 1955. In Pan Am’s overwater operations, the FRO role during the flight included, among other things, taking the radio bearings used by the navigator to help plot the aircraft’s position and track. One Pan Am flying boat captain described in his book the technique of using radio bearings to initiate descent through cloud for landing approach.
His mementos indicate that Ed Roberts crewed at least one trip in Clipper Flying Cloud, NC 19903, the Boeing 307 in this museum; he supported its restoration and followed the progress carefully. Among the airliner types he crewed were the Sikorsky S-38, S-40, and S-42 flying boats; the Douglas DC-3, DC-4, and DC-6B; and the Boeing 307 Stratoliner and 377 Stratocruiser. He was based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the early 1940s and then again, with his family, from 1945 to 1955. In the later years, his trips would range north to Port of Spain, Trinidad, and Caracas, Venezuela, and south to destinations like Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay.
Ed Roberts was born in Adams, Massachusetts, in 1916 and went to Radio School in Boston before joining Pan Am. As with many in aviation, he was a man of many interests, such as tennis, music, amateur radio, and mountaineering (including an ascent of the Matterhorn). His flying career inspired me as his son to pursue an education in Aeronautical Engineering and a career in aerospace research and development. He lived in the Miami, Florida area after leaving Brazil and up to his death in 1992. He maintained a lifelong interest in the airline industry, serving with Aeronautical Radio, Inc. (ARINC) for many years after his flight crew days were over.