AIR ACE IN COURT

Manawatu Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 4402, 9 October 1934, Page 1

AIR ACE IN COURT

“A SHATTERED WRECK.”

LIFE BAN AS MOTORIST,

Stated to have trained in the machine in which Bleriot first crossed the Channel, and to hold war decorations from three conntries, a flying ace was described at Beaeonsfield, England, a few weeks ago, as “a shattered wreck.” The man, Harry O’Hagan of Queen’s Gate Place, Kensington, was fined £2 for being in charge of a. motor-ear while under the influence of a drug, and he was disqualified for life from driving. Mr F. Peregrine appeared for him and pleaded guilty. A police officer stated that he saw* O’Hagan come from a publichouse and stagger to a car. He (the inspector), stopped the car as it -was being started. A doctor who examined O’Hagen in court explained that his pulse was .120 and the pupils of his eyes were dilated. A London doctor stated that O’Hagan had been under his care for several months. He was suffering from a nervous breakdown, for which he had prescribed. Mr. Peregrine: In your view is this man an absolute danger on the road?—ln my opinion he should not have been driving a car in this state. “This man was one of the finest pilots ever trained in this country,” Mr Peregrine said. “He actually trained in the first aeroplane flown by Bleriot across the Channel. Throughout the war he was flying in France. He has crashed on more than one occasion.

“To-day, you are dealing with a shattered wreck, but a man who holds the D.S.C. with bar, the French Croix de Guerre with two bars, and the Belgian Croix de Guerre with'five bars. He has become a complete nervous wreck — a menace to the public if he is allowed on the road.”

The magistrates observed that when O’Hagan recovered his health he could apply for the removal of the disqualification.