MAURICE GIBLETT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21266, 21 February 1931, Page 18

MAURICE GIBLETT.

BRILLIANT SCIENTIST. KILLED IN RlOl DISASTER. Life is the most precious possession of man; yet there are those who are ready to risk it for a high ideal. Religion, patriotism, affection, knowledge, are all ideals which at times demand the decision to put life to the hazard, and we honour to the full those who accept the risk for the sake of the ideal. A long list of names of those who have taken this risk and lost is easily recalled. These are names which we quote with pride of race. To that long list must now be added that of Maurice Alfred Giblett, who lost his life when on meteorological duty in the ill-fated airship RlOl. Since 1924 Mr Giblett had devoted his life to the study of the atmosphere as the highway of the airship. His ideal was to make the atmosphere the servant of the airship and not its master. He saw plainly that an airship could not, like_ a train or even an aeroplane, go straight ahead and conquer the air by superior force. He saw that on occasion the airship would have to submit to the winds; but he also saw that with sufficient knowledge the winds could be used to help the airship. In telling the story of the life of Maurice Giblett in the Meteorological Magazine, of last November, Mr G. C. Simpson states that for six years Giblett worked indefatigably on the problem of atmosphere and airships. “ By a laborious study of past weather,” he writes, “he worked out the best air tracks for airships, and in co-operation with the ship’s navigators he examined how to navigate the airship along these lines so as to make the best use of the wind currents as they changed from day to day. He organised a wonderful system for the transmission of weather information to the airship by wireless, and taught the navigators of the ship how to use the information received. He studied thunderstorms, line squalls, and waterspouts in order to estimate their danger and how to circumnavigate them. . . . “The Meteorological Office has lost an assistant of whom great things were expected, an able scientist and an exceptional organiser; his colleagues have lost a friend, but his mother, wife, and daughter have lost much more, and it is to them that our thoughts go out with the deepest sympathy. May the knowledge of the high esteem and affection in which he was held comfort them in their grief.” STORY OF HIS LIFE. Later on in the Meteorological Magazine the story of his life is told by other writers, each one of whom extols his work for science and for the cause of aerial navigation. Maurice Giblett was born at Englefield Green, Surrey, on July 15, 1894, and was educated at Upton School, Slough, and Modern School. Maidenhead. He received his university training at University College, Reading, from which he took his B.Sc. degree in 1914, with first-class honours in pure and applied mathematics. He afterwards completed two years ’post-graduate work at the East London College, University of London, taking his M.Sc. degree in mathematics later. In 1916 lie joined the staff of H.M.S. Worcester as instructor in meteorology and navigation, and three years later he was transferred to the Meteorological Section of the Royal Engineers for service with the British Expeditionary Force in North Russia. On the withdrawal of this force a month or two later he returned to England, and was appointed professional assistant in the Forecast Division of the Meteorological Office. Giglett’s association with airships began about the year 1921, when he was released from his forecast work and posted for duty in connection with trials of the airships RBO, R 36, and R3B. In 1924 he was selected for the post of Superintendent of the Airships Service Division of the Meteorological Office, into which work he threw himself, wholeheartedly, with the idea of mastering the problems connected with meteorology and airship navigation. The first two years of this work were devoted almost entirely to carrying out a programme of work for the investigation of meteorological conditions along the proposed airship rules to Egypt

and India, and the discussion of special conditions pertaining to air bases. VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND. The Imperial Conference which waa held in London in 1926 made furtherdemands on Mr Giblett’s resources, fori he was called upon to prepare a compre-j hensive memorandum on various aspects, of meteorological work in relation to the! operation of Empire air services. This > work formed the basis of the discussions 1 with the dominion authorities when, in 1927, the Air Ministry despatched an Airship Mission in charge of Group Captain R. F. M. Fellowee, Director of Airship Development, to visit New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Ceylon for the purpose of surveying possible sites for the erection of airship mooring towers. Mr Giblett was a member of this mission, and during his stay in Wellington made many friends. By 1929 the two big airships were nearing completion, and Mr Giblett’s attention was directing to perfecting his forecasting service, which had been gradually built up at Cardington, and to completing the details of the meteorological organisation along the airship route to India. When the RIOO made her flight to Canada and back, although he could have arranged for a member of his professional staff to go on the flight as meteorological officer, h? decided to fill this post himself. He also chose to accompany the ill-fated RlOl in a similar capacity. Mr Giblett lived for his work. Thoroughness was the keynote which marked the whole of his career. Although his work meant so much to him, he could relax at the proper time, and it would have been difficult to find a more agreeable companion. By bis untimely death the world has lost a brilliant scientist.