Herbert Carmichael Irwin

Who was Herbert Carmichael Irwin?

Flight Lieutenant Herbert Carmichael "Bird" Irwin, AFC was an Irish aviator and athlete. During World War I, Irwin joined the Royal Naval Air Service, where he commanded non-rigid airships. After the war, the "tall sensitive Irishman" commanded larger rigid airships, initially for the Royal Air Force and later on secondment to the Royal Airship Works as part of the Imperial Airship Scheme.

Both before and after the war, Irwin also had a successful career as a middle- and long-distance and cross-country runner, and he represented Great Britain at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium.

Irwin's career as an aviator culminated in his command of the airship R101, the largest airship in the world at the time. He was killed along with another 47 people when it crashed in northern France on a flight from Britain to India.