Tribute to Alexander Campbell "Monkey" Morgan 1919

Major A. C. Morgan R.A., D.F.C.

An Appreciation

From time to time every profession and every craft is enriched by the talents of someone with an inordinate pride in his calling-someone who by his enthusiasm transforms an occupation into a way of life or an art form. So were the less commercialised reaches of aviation in Ireland enriched by their all too brief association with the name of Major A. C. Morgan, D.F.C.; for "Monkey" Morgan in his own quiet way, did more probably than any other single individual to foster a broad interest in flying throughout this country in recent years. By his tragic death, private flying has been robbed of a great champion and advocate.
He was known everywhere and to everybody by the nickname he carried from his school days. He carried something else too. In trying to assess the characteristics which gained him the friendship and respect of all those with whom he came in contact, one remembers especially certain indefinable qualities of the schoolboy about him. His knack always to appear elegantly dishevelled, allied to his improbable nickname, made it impossible for snobbishness to exist beside him. He had a sense of humour, which let him see the amusing aspect of a difficulty, and, above all, allowed him to laugh at himself.
He did not conform to the popular notion of the war-time flyer, but then his branch of service was an

exclusive one, and he did fill the role of a gentleman and officer who went to war in an unarmed aircraft. In manoeuvring his puny craft above the lines he found expression of his personality.
"Monkey" Morgan was more fortunate than many of his war-time colleagues in that having grown to love flying he was able to translate into useful peacetime activity the skill and experience bred amid the perils of war. He persevered through the dangerous apathy of peacetime to establish a light charter and an aerial photography business.
Latterly, he had devoted himself to the establishment of a more sophisticated charter business and he introduced to these islands a new era in passenger flying by the type of aircraft he brought across the Atlantic. His accident was made all the more bitter by the combination of his peculiar skill and the safety reputation of his aircraft.
His skill as a pilot had been established before he came to settle in Ireland after the war, and It was always evident whether on a five minute airfield circuit or in the public glare of an air display. The unknown numbers he introduced to flying in his little Auster will remember the confidence of his quiet voice and unassuming manner. He was known far outside the confines of the country and he was an excellent ambassador. But to most people the most cherished memory of "Monkey" Morgan will probably be that of him bumping an Auster across the grass of Weston in the stillness of the evening to take off into the regions of the true airman.

H.N.