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Well known aviator dead

PA Auckland. Mr Thomas Harrison McWilliams, radio operator for Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith on the first air crossing of the Tasman Sea almost 50 years ago, has died in Auckland.

He was one of the few remaining links with the Australian pioneer aviator. Mr Beau Sheil, a New Zealander who was a close friend of KingsfordSmith and his logistics expert, died earlier this year in Sydney. Mr McWilliams, when World War II broke out, joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force. His duties were connected mainly with administration and the Air Training Corps. After the war, he was a partner in a machineryimporting business in Wanganui and stayed in this until he retired in 1963. Nine years ago he moved to Auckland. Mr McWilliams is survived by his wife, and two sons one of whom is an Air New Zealand DC 10 captain and the other, an Air New Zealand flight engineer.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19780508.2.100

Bibliographic details

Press, 8 May 1978, Page 12

Word Count
155

Well known aviator dead Press, 8 May 1978, Page 12

Well known aviator dead Press, 8 May 1978, Page 12