Career
Owen Roberts International Airport in George Town on Grand Cayman is named after him. Roberts flew with the Royal Air Force and was a Wing Commander during World World War World War II Following the war, Roberts founded Caribbean International Airways (Central Intelligence Agency). By 1950, Roberts had established regular service between Cayman and Tampa, Florida.
Kingston, Jamaica.
And Belize. He worked to lobby Cayman Islands Commissioners Ivor Smith and Andrew Gerrard to build airfields on all three of the Cayman Islands. In 1952, construction started on an official airstrip at an estimated cost of £93,000.
On November 28, 1952 with a crowd of several hundred onlookers, Roberts piloted a PBY Catalina to a perfect landing on the partially completed airport runway. Within six months after that landing, Roberts had acquired two used Lockheed Lodestar airliners purchased to keep up with the competition whose interest was now piqued by the soon-to-be completed airfield at George Town.
The inaugural flight of Central Intelligence Agency, Limited. from Kingston, Jamaica to Grand Cayman was set for April 10, 1953.
Tragically, however, the Lodestar piloted by Roberts crashed on takeoff from Palisadoes Airport. 13 people, including the 40-year-old Roberts, were killed.
