Edmund Hillary RIP

[pagen01]

Got a lump in my throat when I heard that this great explorer passed away today. Not aviation news in itself, but conjurs up a time of when Great Britian was truley great and still had the pioneering spirit. Thats when he conquered Everest (at the time of our last Coronation).
Edmund was a navigator on Catalinas in the New Zealand airforce during the war. He has many other links to aviation aswel.

[Pondskater]

He was, of course, a New Zealander, and a great man.

I didn't know he served in Catalinas - thanks for that. Channel 4 News today described him as an explorer, which I thought was right.

He was also, IIRC, the first man to the South Pole (in 1958) after Amundsen and Scott. He was supposed to wait for a rendevous with the Sir Vivian Fuchs' Trans-Anarctic expedition but he wasn't the sort to sit and wait so he made a dash for the pole and met the main expedition there.

http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_art...cname=Politics

Great loss.

[Grey Area]

We already have a thread on this subject, chaps.

GA