Yesterday afternoon I went over to Tauranga for the Royal Aeronautical Society of New Zealand's Jean Batten Lecture which was given by Paul Harrison on The Life and Times of George Bolt who can surely be called the father of aviation in New Zealand. It is a 100 years since he brought the first aeroplane to Tauranga. On the 12th of March 1920 George Bolt flew the Catholic Bishop of Auckland, Bishop Cleary to Tauranga as pictured below.
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| Source : http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/tauranga_local_history/images/show/2450-george-bolt-1920-99-133 |
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| http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/tauranga_local_history/topics/show/464-bay-of-plenty-aviation-history |
The NZ history site gives a simple biography of a great airman...
George Bolt’s flying career began in the South Island in 1911. Aged just 18, he launched a glider that he had designed and built himself from the Cashmere Hills above Christchurch. In 1916 he began work as an apprentice mechanic at the Walsh brothers’ New Zealand Flying School in Auckland. By 1919 he was the school’s chief pilot. He achieved a number of early aviation milestones, including long-distance and altitude records.
Bolt made his first experimental airmail flight from Auckland to Dargaville in 1919. He made further mail flights to Thames and Whāngārei the following year, then in 1921 joined forces with the Walsh brothers to begin a regular airmail service between Auckland and Whāngārei. This proved uneconomic and was soon discontinued.
In late 1923 the New Zealand Flying School ceased operations. Bolt now turned to military aviation, becoming an instructor at refresher courses for ex-service pilots who were to form the nucleus of the New Zealand Air Force (Territorial).
During the 1930s Bolt worked for a number of commercial airlines. In 1935 he became the chief pilot for Cook Strait Airways. When the Second World War broke out the company’s aircraft were requisitioned for air training. Bolt was appointed chief engineer at the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Ōhakea station. He then became chief engineer at the RNZAF repair and assembly facility at Hobsonville, attaining the rank of wing commander in 1943.
In 1944 Bolt was appointed chief engineer of Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL), the forerunner of Air New Zealand. He remained with TEAL until his retirement in 1960. Today, people driving between the city and Auckland International Airport travel along George Bolt Memorial Drive.
On this blog I have done three posts that feature George Bolt...
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| George Bolt in front of Gisborne Air Transport's Desoutter ZK-ABY |
Accounts of his early air mail flights to Dargaville...
His role in the foundation of Dominion Airlines...
And more about the West Coast airline operations (rather than Bolt himself) of Cook Strait Airways that flew from Wellington to both Blenheim and Nelson and from Nelson to the West Coast...
Some 100 years later it was a beautiful evening for plane spotting at Tauranga on 4 September 2020...
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| Classic Cessna 180s ZK-DKP and ZK-RAD... They were doing formation flying while I was at the lecture.... |
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| My first photo of Stolp Starduster SA100 UL ZK-SDI which was in the circuit |
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| Meanwhile some airline movements... Having dropped off its passengers at Motiti Island, Island Air's Cessna 172 ZK-FII returned empty... |
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| ...and Air New Zealand's ATR72-600 ZK-MVH was blasting off into the sunset |
Bravo - a centenary very well recorded here Steve
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