Hans Roser was born in 1937 and raised in the Freiburg region of Germany.
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In 1949 Hans arrived in Cowra with his parents and limited English. In 1954 he topped the state in the Leaving Certificate after attending St Raphael's High School for the previous five years.
In January 1955 Hans entered the RAAF College at Point Cook as a member of No 8 Course and graduated as a GD Pilot in December 1958.
He was posted to No 23SQN at Amberley then to No 76SQN at Williamtown in 1960 flying Vampires.
He completed No 5 Sabre Conversion at 2 OCU in1961 and remained in 76SQN as they re-equipped with Sabres.
After a tour in Department of Air as a Personal Staff Officer, he was posted to 78Wing in Butterworth in 1965 serving as squadron pilot and later FLTCDR in 3SQN with four tours in 79SQN in Ubon. He completed a Mirage OCU in 1968 after he returned to Australia.
In 1969 he was selected, with three other fighter pilots to undergo USAF F-4C training at Davis Monthan AFB, then served a full tour in South Vietnam initially at Cam Ranh Bay with the 12th TFW flying strike operations. He was awarded a Mention in Dispatches for his efforts with the USAF. Hans was awarded the American medals DFC (with Oak Leaf Cluster) and the Air Medal.
He returned to Australia to undergo No 25 Staff College Course after which he served at Headquarters Operation Command as a WGCDR.
In January 1974, he assumed command of No 75SQN in Butterworth after which he returned to Canberra, on promotion to GPCAPT, as the Director of Air Force Plans.
He was appointed OC RAAF Laverton in January 1979, and after two years was promoted to AIRCDRE and became the Director General of the Tactical Fighter (Hornet) Program until 1986.
He was appointed as a member of the Order of Australia for his duty on the Hornet project.
On promotion to Air Vice Marshal he was appointed as Commander, Integrated Air Defence System in Malaysia-Singapore after which he returned to Canberra as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff-Materiel (ACMAT) where he served until appointed as Assistant CDF (Personnel) until retirement in the early 90s.
Hans has been chairman of several industry associations and has been a member of several Australian and overseas boards.
Between 1998 and 2002 he was a member of the board of Eurocopter International Pacific and from 2000 to 2003 he was Chief Executive Officer of Thales International Pacific Holdings. More recently he was a Director of both ADI Limited and Thales Australia Holdings.
