High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Flight Lieutenant Herbert Carmichael "Bird" Irwin, AFC (26 June 1894 – 5 October 1930) was an Irish aviator and athlete. During World War I, Irwin joined the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), where he commanded non-rigid airships. After the war, the "tall sensitive Irishman" commanded larger rigid airships, initially for the Royal Air Force (RAF) and later on secondment to the (civilian) Royal Airship Works as part of the Imperial Airship Scheme.