George Bruce Bolt (24 May 1893 – 27 July 1963) was a pioneering

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

Biography

Bolt was born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

in 1893. He formed the Canterbury Aero Club in 1910, helping to make and fly 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 Kohimarama is a coastal residential Auckland suburb, located to the east of the city. Kohimarama is situated between Mission Bay and St Heliers and has an accessible beach with a boardwalk and green recreational spaces located amongst reside ...

. 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 and Westervelt

floatplanes A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land ...

which were the first machines made by that company. In 1919 he flew New Zealand's first

air mail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

and established an altitude record of .Rendel, David (1975) ''Civil Aviation in New Zealand: An Illustrated History''. Wellington. A.H. & A.W. Reed. In 1921 he flew from

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

in 5 hours and 16 minutes with stops at

Kawhia Kawhia Harbour () is one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located to the south of Raglan Harbour, Ruapuke and Aotea Harbour, 40 kilometres southwest of Hamilton, Ne ...

and

Wanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest nav ...

with Leo Walsh as passenger. He was a

Royal New Zealand Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF; ) is the aerial warfare, aerial military service, service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed initially in 1923 as a branch of the New Zealand Army, being known as the New Zealand Perm ...

(RNZAF) and

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

(RAF) pilot during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and Chief Engineer of

Tasman Empire Airways Limited Tasman Empire Airways Limited (1940–1965), better known by its acronym TEAL, is the former name of Air New Zealand. TEAL was formed by the Intergovernmental Agreement for Tasman Sea Air Services (also known as the Tasman Sea Agreement), wh ...

(TEAL), now known as

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 28 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily within the Pacific Rim. The airline h ...

, from 1944 to 1960, where his experience with the

Short Sandringham The Short S.25 Sandringham is a British civilian flying boat designed and originally produced by Short Brothers. They were produced as conversions of the widely used Short Sunderland, a military flying boat that was commonly used as a maritime ...

led 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 Auckland Airport is an international airport serving Auckland, the most populous city of New Zealand. It is the largest and busiest airport in the country, with over 18.7 million passengers served in the year ended December 2024. The airport ...

. Bolt performed initial research into the achievements of aviation pioneer and inventor

Richard Pearse Richard William Pearse (3 December 1877 – 29 July 1953) was a New Zealand farmer and inventor who performed pioneering aviation experiments. Witnesses interviewed many years afterwards describe observing Pearse flying and landing a powered h ...

during the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the

1953 Coronation Honours The 1953 Coronation Honours were appointments by Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours on the occasion of her coronation on 2 June 1953. The honours were published in '' The London Gazette'' on 1 June 1953.New Zealand list: The rec ...

, Bolt was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, for services to aviation. His son Richard Bolt also served in the RNZAF and rose to the rank of air marshal. Bolt died in Auckland in 1963. He was buried at Purewa Cemetery in the Auckland suburb of Meadowbank.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolt, George 1893 births 1963 deaths New Zealand World War II pilots New Zealand aviation pioneers New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire Engineers from Dunedin New Zealand aviation record holders Burials at Purewa Cemetery

Biography

Further reading

References