test pilot dies at 94

[Hugh Spencer]

Alex Henshaw dies at 94. He was a test pilot for many WW2 planes but never went into battle. Are there any other records of a pilot rolling a large plane, like the Lancaster, 360 degrees? I heard of a Lancaster banking 90 degrees during the war and that must have been a 'hairy' experience.

[Annie K]

I haven't heard of Lancs or similar but when watching a programme on modern test pilots, I learned that the Boeing 707 was barrel-rolled on its test flights. Can't remember if the same was done with the 747

[sddsddean]

Beat me to it Annie. Heres a video of the 707 Chandelle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vHiYA6Dmws

[Clanad]

Having seen the 707 rolled in film before, it's always interesting to see it again... probably pedantic, but a Chandelle is a totally different manuever than a barrel roll which is also sometimes called an aileron roll.... trick is to maintain positive G- forces throughout the manuever...The Chandelle is a non-aerobatic manuever, by the way...

[Zen]

The barrel roll

At Seafair on August 6, 1955, Boeing test pilot Alvin "Tex" Johnston performed a barrel roll in the Dash-80 at 500 feet. Johnston was summoned to Boeing president, William Allen's office the next day and after explaining that the maneuver was absolutely non-hazardous was told not to do it again. To date Johnston is the only pilot to have performed a roll in a four engine jet transport. (Other big four engine jet aircraft have done barrel rolls; for instance, the Avro Vulcan XA890 was rolled by Roly Falk on the first day of the 1955 Farnborough Air Show, but it was a bomber). This story appears on a video called 'Frontiers of Flight - The Jet Airliner', produced by the National Air and Space Museum in association with the Smithsonian Institution in 1992. The roll can be viewed on video at AviationExplorer.com.

[Annie K]

There was an article recently on BBC Look East where it was stated that the pilot concerned (probably Alex H) was the only test pilot to barrel roll a Lancaster. That, I would have loved to see.