LOSS TO AVIATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22349, 21 February 1936, Page 12

LOSS TO AVIATION

LATE MR. McGREGOR DISTINGUISHED WAR RECORD FAMOUS PILOT'S MODESTY Aviation in New Zealand has suffered an irreparable loss by the death of Squadron-Leader M. C. McGregor, M.C., D.F.C., and bar, one of the most distinguished airmen the Dominion has produced. Famous as a war-time flier, he was a formidable enemy in his singleseater 5.E.5, and as one of the select band chosen by the great Major W. A. Bishop for the 85th Squadron he gained a place in the first rank of the Empire's fighting pilots. Tall and sparely-built, with the halfclosed eyes and permanently-furrowed brow that seem inseparable from those whose flving-time is estimated in the thousands of hours, Mr. McGregor was known and held in high esteem, not only in New Zealand, but also among wartime pilots throughout the world. The Centenary Air Race Mr. McGregor's skill and daring are many times mentioned in the widelyread "War Birds —the Diary of an Unknown Aviator," yet even among his most intimate friends he was unwilling to discuss his period of service flying. Official records credit him baldly 'with ten victories over enemy aircraft, but members of his squadron know that many other hostile machines posted merely as missing fell victim to the taciturn McGregor* His modesty survived the heroworship poured so liberally on distinguished pilots at the end of the war. After he had flown in record time from England to Australia in the Centenary air race in 1934, he was deaf to the congratulations showered upon him. From Darwin he was reported as saying, typically, in reply to enthusiastic comment on the speed of his flight: "It feels like a month. We want to push on as quickly as possible. There is no sense in wasting time. We did not encounter any major trouble. We were bogged at Alor Star, where the mud seemed to be giving trouble to most of the aeroplanes. "Our flight over the Timor Sea this morning was a very good one, but at one stage we ran into a heavy rainstorm, and in order to dodge it we had to climb to a very great altitude. Night flying does not worry us a bit now, because we have done so much of it on this flight." Ruling Interest in Life

That was all; a few terse sentences to describe a flight half-way across the world in five days 154 hours, but it was typical of the man. Flying was with him more than a means of serving his country or earning a living. It w«s his ruling interest, and from boyhood he had devoted himself to the patient study, not only of actual flying. but also to that of aircraft design and construction and other related subjects. "Mad Mac" was a nickname not wholly undeserved, but largely misunderstood. Skill and experience enabled him to undertake with an aeroplane feats that would have been foolhardy in a lesser pilot, but which were recognised by those capable to judge as being safe if performed by the expert he was. 111-health and three severe crashes did not detract from his skill. He was injured gravely first during the war, then in a glider accident at Sockburn in 1921, and more recently at Palmerston North. His recovery after the Palmerston North smash was regarded as a personal triumph for Mr. McGregor, and was typical of his determination to succeed. He was back in the air as soon as Kis doctors would allow, and died as he had lived, at the controls of an aeroplane.