KEITH RAYMOND MEGGS OAM, DFM, AAM(US)
07 Jan 1928 - 13 Mar 2022
Age 94 years
It is with great sadness that we advise of the passing of Keith Raymond Meggs OAM, DFM, AAM(US), former AHSA President and Patron, on Sunday, 13 March. He was aged 94. He had been in a retirement home for some time.
Keith entered the Australian aviation industry in 1943, commencing with Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation as a teenager while the company was producing Boomerangs and Wirraways. He commenced his flying, in gliders, at the end of 1945.
On 5-Feb 1948 he joined 1FTS at Point Cook for flying training on No 2 Pilots Course
In 1950 he served with No 3 Squadron (TAC/R) in Canberra, and then with Nos 75 and 76 Squadrons at Williamtown until the end of 1950.
Keith was posted to Korea on 14 Dec 1950 where he flew Mustangs and Meteors with No 77 Sqn in the Korean war, earning a DFM and AAM (US). He completed his Korean tour on 7 Feb 1952.
Short postings over the next six months included Laverton, No 78 Wing HQ and No 2 OTU.
Then in 1952-53 he saw service in the Mediterranean - Malta with No 75 Squadron flying Vampires. Later he flew Vampires with No 75 Sqn in Australia until he was discharged July 1956.
He re-joined CAC in 1957 working for several years on Sabre fighters and the Ceres agricultural aircraft. He then worked at the Department of Civil Aviation as an Air Traffic Controller before taking up freelance charter flying. His log books have a total of some 19,500 hours on 109 types of aircraft.
Keith was a foundation member of the Aviation Historical Society of Australia in 1959, served as AHSA President from 1988 to 2013, and was later a Patron of the Society. Over the past 50 years Keith compiled, in four volumes, a comprehensive history of 100 years of Australian aircraft building activity, published as Australian-Built Aircraft and the Industry.
Keith has left an indelible mark on Australian aviation history since it is no longer possible to gather the amount of detailed information that he compiled over such a long time.
He leaves behind a former wife, a daughter and three sons.
VALE KEITH RAYMOND MEGGS
Good and True Australian