NEW BRITISH AIRSHIPS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3972, 29 April 1930, Page 5

NEW BRITISH AIRSHIPS.

PILOT’S RISE TO FAME.

VAN DRIVER IN AUCKLAND,

AUCKLAND, April 23. Further news is to hand of Captain G. F. Meagher’s meteoric rise to fame in the Royal Air Force since he left Auckland some years ago. At the end of 1923 he wheeled cases of fruit about in the city market of Messrs Turners and Growers. Later, he drove one of the firm’s vans. Then he was appointed a traffic inspector by the Auckland City Council, which position he retained for 18 months until he was invited by the British Air Ministry to return to England and accept a position in the Royal Airship Works of the British Air Ministry at a salary of £750 per annum. This is but giving a little of the romantic and eventful career of George F. Meagher, who was recently appointed first officer of the largest and finest airship in the world, RlOO. Throughout the period of the war Captain Meagher was attached to the British airship branch, and he was singled out to pilot the type of airship built by the Italian Government from Italy to England. He took a number of these airships across to England successfully, and for his good work during war time he was decorated by both King George and the King of Italv.

Captain Meagher, who is an Englishman by birth, speaks a number of foreign languages. Shortly after the Armistice he left the service with the rank of captain. Like many other demobolised officers, he came to New Zealand to try his hick. There was “ nothing doing ” so far as airships were concerned out here Rather than be idle, Captain Meagher, unable to secure a better position, commenced work for Messrs Turners and Growers at the city markets, spending some time later in driving a motor van. He succeeded in gaining an appointment as assistant traffic inspector with the Auckland City Council. One morning towards the end of April, 1927, when about to leave the traffic department’s office to commence his duty in the street, he met a telegraph boy. “ Yes, I’m Meagher. What have you got for me?” he asked the messenger. On opening the message he found that it was from the British Air Ministry. The message asked him to accept a position as navigating officer of one of the large

airships, and, if so, would be leave for England as soon as possible? Needless to say, his resignation was immediately forwarded to the town clerk.

That Captain Meagher was summoned to England by the Air Ministry indicated that durin" the war he had built up a reputation for solid work and skill. With his wife he left Auckland early in June of 1925 and went straight to the airship works at Pulham. Captain Meagher, who is 35, holds the Air Force Cross, the Order of the Crown of Italy, and the Croix de Guerre, besides the usual war service medals. In Auckland, he was known as a man of quiet disposition. He was very prominent in Association football circles while in Auckland, and for three seasons prior to his return to England he played as half-back for the Ponsonby Senior Club and gained Auckland representative honours on three occasions. In a letter to a friend in Auckland, Captain Meagher, writing from the airship depot at Cardington, near Bedford, states that he has been appointed first officer of 8100, with an increase of £l5O per year to his salary. “ You will have seen ere this reports of our flights,” he says. “We are preparing for a flight to Canada in May, then one to Egypt, and another to Canada in the autumn. Both ships are excellent, but ours is the better, as RlOO has more lift and is faster. We got 85 miles an hour recently, going at full throttle. Our last flight was of 53 hours, mostly in fog and cloud. We don’t need erial traffic in spectors yet, but I suppose that will be a job for our descendants.”