Was just informed that Peter Cope, a good friend of my uncle Cameron Bailey died on April 4. I just found this below obituary at
http://www.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi action=read&id=1113149803&user=avroarrow
I've also been informed that Peter has left my uncle all of his logbooks and related materials.
John H
http://www.boards2go.com/boards/board.c ... =avroarrow
Avro Arrow and CDN Aerospace Message Board
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Peter Cope
IP: 142.161.170.143
Posted on April 10, 2005 at 10:16:43 by Bill Zuk
Peter Cope: The Ultimate Professional
by Bill Zuk
Peter Roland Cope died on April 4, 2005 in Bellevue, Washington after suffering a heart attack. With his passing, the final chapter in a remarkable Canadian saga has also closed. Peter Cope was the last test pilot of the Avro Arrow, the nexus of Canada’s modern Greek tragedy.
Born December 21, 1921 in Croydon, England, into a time when ground-breaking aviation feats dominated the world’s headlines, Peter, from an early age, embarked on a life as a pilot. Graduating with a science and applied math degree, he applied with the RAF as the war broke out. While waiting for a posting, Cope worked as a research chemist until he was called up for flight training in August 1941 which was carried out at Maxwell Field, Alabama. Graduating as a Lieutenant in the United States Army Air Corps, he returned to England to fly the dangerous low-level photo-reconnaissance Mustang missions over occupied Europe in 1942. In February 1944, he was selected as a flying instructor before applying to become a test pilot at the Empire Test Pilots’ School in the first course offered to military pilots. He was in a select 10 that were rushed back to flight test centres and then became famous as the only test pilot to have been selected to a second course held after the war from 1947-1949 where he graduated with an exceptional rating.
With the first jet fighters being introduced into RAF service, Cope was hired as a civilian test pilot for Armstrong-Whitworth Company, flying two-seater Meteors. In April 1951, he came to Canada as an experimental test pilot at A.V. Roe Canada. At the time, the company had just produced a jet airliner, the C102 Jetliner and Canada’s first jet fighter, the CF-100 Canuck. Taking the lead in the experimental work, Cope also advised the company to hire S/L Janusz Zurakowski, then the Chief Test Pilot at Gloster Aircraft Company. The decision proved fateful as “Zura” would eventually become renown as the pilot of the Avro CF-105 Arrow.
The first five aircraft (RL-201- 204) were built as test aircraft for the advanced CF-105 interceptor series. Although testing had shown the incredible potential of one of the Cold War’s leading weapons systems, the entire program including the superlative Avro Iroquois jet engine were ultimately doomed when a new Conservative government of John Diefenbaker began to review the project in early 1959.
Peter Cope was one of four pilots assigned to the Arrow project and after Zurakowski retired in late 1958, he was elevated to #2 status behind the Chief Development Pilot, W/C Wladek “Spud” Potocki, another famous Polish test pilot. Cope flew the Arrow five times, achieving supersonic speeds. One of his most unusual flights occurred when Cope in Arrow RL-204 made a forced landing at CFB Trenton when the runway at Malton (now Lester B. Pearson International Airport, Toronto) was blocked after a Trans-Canada Viscount crash-landed. Peter was at his desk in the Avro plant on February 20, 1959 when the Diefenbaker government abruptly cancelled the Avro Arrow project in what has become known as “Black Friday.” Over 15,000 Avro workers and more than 30,000 other employees were laid off, tearing a grievous wound into the nation’s aerospace industry.
Many of the “Avroites” left the country; 26 engineers were recruited by NASA for their space programs, others left the industry forever. Avro Canada struggled to keep the company going and Cope was retained as a test pilot in the Avrocar “flying-saucer” project, making him the only pilot to have flown all of Avro’s remarkable aircraft. Leaving in 1960 for a job at Boeing in the commercial airliner field; Peter Cope helped introduce all of the 727- 767 series before his retirement in 1986.
Peter Cope had flown over 100 different aircraft in his career as both fighter pilot and test pilot. Always the consummate and articulate spokesperson for Avro’s “golden age,” he appeared in number of film documentaries including CBC’s “There Never was an Arrow.” He leaves behind his wife Annabelle and daughter Jolie; the aviation community has lost a true aviation pioneer.
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