'Pilot Has a Million Reasons for Saying "Flying is Safe" Do you know what Captain W. Rogers, I...

'Pilot Has a Million Reasons for Saying "Flying is Safe"

Do you know what Captain W. Rogers, Imperial Airways senior pilot, says?

"I have flown more than a million miles and have never had an accident. That shows how safe flying is."

Bald facts about Captain Rogers apart from the million-mile achievement are:

He has just completed 10,500 hours in the air.

He has crossed the Channel more than 4,000 times.

Human facts about Captain Rogers are still more interesting:

He is the fittest, most invigorating man you could hope to meet.

He told me: "Yesterday I was taking up a small aeroplane; left the ground in a few seconds, naturally. Yet I can remember when one got into the forerunner of that aeroplane and friends on the aerodrome would lay odds as to whether you would ever get off the ground, or, if you did, which tree you would hit before you got clear." '

The Daily Express, 16 November 1935, refers.

The exceptional Great War A.F.M. group of four awarded to Sergeant W. 'Cockney' Rogers, Royal Air Force, late Royal Flying Corps, who flew operationally in France before being decorated for his gallant work in the hazardous employ of the Ferry Service

One journalist described his as a man bereft of nerves, another as a 'fantastic person' who was blessed with 'a keen sense of humour', all essential prerequisites for the early days of civil aviation. A founder pilot of Imperial Airways, he set about blazing a trail of 'firsts' in the 1920s and 1930s

His friend 'GPO' Olley may have beaten him to the one million miles flown mark in 1931 but 'Cockney' claimed a 'royal first' in March 1928, when he flew King Amanullah of Afghanistan over London. His Majesty - the first King to have taken to the skies over the capital - rewarded his pilot with the Order of the Throne, in gold

The ongoing success of the 'Silver Wing service' out of Croydon to Paris was largely due to 'crack' pilots such as 'Cockney' Rogers, but in common with his fellow aircrew he was often diverted on special-charter work further afield. He hit the headlines in 1936 - 'Italians Brutal to British Flyers' - when he and his crew were arrested in Libya. It was a nasty incident which resulted in a formal complaint being delivered to the Italian ambassador

Having also led the way in opening-up the first commercial flights to Scandinavia and Athens - the latter in his Argosy's open-cockpit - he became a prime mover in establishing the British Air Line Pilots Association (B.A.L.P.A.). It was, he went to great pains to explain, 'a professional association and not a union'. Imperial Airways remained unconvinced and he was made redundant in 1937

Never idle, 'Cockney' carried on work as a freelancer and found much work flying journalists around at the time of the Munich crisis. He finally hung up his flying helmet at the end of the 1940s

Air Force Medal, G.V.R. (1018 Sergt. Mech. Rogers. W., R.A.F.), with original horizontal-striped riband; 1914-15 Star (1018 1.A.M. W. Rogers R.F.C.); British War and Victory Medals (1018 Sgt. W. Rogers. R.F.C.), good very fine or better (4)


A.F.M. London Gazette 1 January 1919.

Walter 'Cockney' Rogers was born in Vauxhall, London on 31 May 1895. He left school at the age of 14 and had several jobs locally before he joined the Royal Flying Corps on 2 January 1914, aged 18 years.

Off to war

Initially attached to No. 6 Squadron as a mechanic on the home establishment, he went to France with No. 10 Squadron in late 1914 and witnessed active service as a Gunner and Observer before returning to the U.K. in November 1915, to be hospitalised after an appendix operation.

In April 1916, he was posted to Castle Bromwich, and thence to the Flying School in May 1917, where he gained his Royal Aero Club Certificate No. 5800 in August 1917.

He was again posted to France, serving with No. 11 and No. 48 Squadrons, flying artillery reconnaissance sorties from Bellvue.

In February 1918, he came home to take up an appointment in the Ferry Service, a challenging - and hazardous - occupation. His fellow 'ferryman', 'GPO' Olley, M.M., takes up the story:

'This work of testing new and untried craft certainly had its exciting moments. Cylinders would suddenly blow off engines. Mechanical defects of all kinds would develop in the air. One had to make hurried forced landings in all sorts of awkward places. But, though it was all rather trying, it was, of course, fine experience from a flying point of view, teaching one to be ready for any sort of emergency that might arise.'

Rogers - who was injured in an incident on 24 February 1918 - was awarded the A.F.M. He nonetheless made light of his exploits, for his modesty was as well-known as his skills as a pilot.

Thankfully, his demanding role as a Ferry Pilot had been the subject of lighter moments, such as the occasion he was returning from delivering an aircraft to France. On disembarking at Dover - covered in grease, oil and mud - a group of ladies thanked him for 'doing his bit against the Hun' and presented him with chocolates and cigarettes. A humbled Rogers could not summon the courage to tell them he made the same trip at least twice a week.

The golden age of civil aviation

On leaving the Royal Air Force in February 1920, he took up a job with Handley-Page, flying passengers in converted bombers, a business that evolved into Instone Air Line Services.

He then became a founder pilot - one of 16 - of Imperial Airways. In that pioneering capacity, he had the distinction of being the first pilot to carry out commercial flights to Norway and Sweden, in addition to being the first pilot to fly a King over London. This was King Amanullah of Afghanistan who visited England in early 1928. As reported in The Times, he asked to be introduced to Rogers when they landed back at Croydon. He 'complimented him on the skilful way in which the aircraft had been handled, expressed his pleasure at the smoothness of the flight, and remarked that he had never before flown in a commercial airliner'. Rogers was duly awarded the Order of the Throne, in gold, which distinction, alas, was later lost.

During the 1930s he was Senior Captain with Imperial Airways flying the 'Silver Wing service' from Croydon to the Continent, mainly in HP 42s and Argosy aircraft. He also undertook some notable trail-blazing flights to Italy, Greece and the Middle East.

In 1935, as cited above, he completed his millionth mile flown in the air, totalling some 10,500 flying hours. In the following year, he had the misfortune to be the subject of brutal treatment by Italian soldiery in Libya. A newspaper feature takes up the story:

'Reports of "brutal treatment" of an Imperial Airways "crack" pilot and his crew of three men, by the Italian army authorities in Libya, are being investigated by the Foreign Office.

It is alleged that the four men were treated with extreme harshness by the Italian soldiers, and that one least one occasion they were paraded as objects of derision, and at the point of bayonets, before Italian troops … The machine landed at Mesylam, in Libya, and was immediately put under armed guard. The pilot and crew were also put under escort and closely questioned. All their documents were seized … '

It was a deeply unpleasant experience but ended the following day, when 'Cockney' and his crew were permitted to continue their journey. The Italians claimed his aircraft had flown over 'military areas' at Amsat, even though these areas were - by earlier agreement with the Italians - on a pre-arranged flight path.

In 1937, following his leading role in establishing B.A.L.P.A., he was made redundant. Never idle, he set about work as a freelance p...