George Bolt

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George Bruce Bolt New Zealand aviation was a pioneer noted for many firsts.

Bolt was born in Dunedin in 1893. He formed the Canterbury Aero Club in 1910, helping making and flying gliders on the Cashmere hills. He used these to take aerial photographs in 1912.

In 1916 Bolt was hired by pioneer pilot Vivian Walsh as a mechanic at the Walsh Brothers Flying School at Kohimarama . He learnt to fly the brothers Curtiss flying boats and the machines of their own design, including the Walsh brothers Type D, as well as the two Boeing Seaplanes which were the first machines made by that company.

In 1918 he flew Auckland to Wellington non stop (in 5 hours and 16 minutes). He flew New Zealand's first air mail and established an altitude record in 1919.

He was an RNZAF and Royal Air Force pilot during World War II, and Chief Engineer of Tasman Empire Airways Limited, (now known as Air New Zealand), from 1944 to 1960, where his experience with the Short Sandringham lead him to play a role in the development of the Short Solent.

Several streets and aviation related facilities in various New Zealand cities are named after him, including George Bolt Memorial Drive, the main access road to Auckland International Airport.

Bolt performed initial research into the achievements of aviation pioneer and inventor Richard Pearse during the late 1950's and early 1960's.

He received an OBE. George Bolt died in 1963,