Ireland

Fog foils recreation of first flight

IT WAS meant to mark the 225th anniversary of the first Irishman to fly, but weather conspired against the recreation of Richard…

Milo, a bichon frise owned by Suzanne Murphy from Harolds Cross, at the Ranelagh Arts Festival event to commemorate the first Irish manned flight by Richard Crosbie 225 years ago from Ranelagh Gardens.

Mon Jan 25 2010 - 00:00

IT WAS meant to mark the 225th anniversary of the first Irishman to fly, but weather conspired against the recreation of Richard Crosbie's famous traverse of Dublin in a balloon, writes RONAN McGREEVY

Balloonist Tom McCormack had hoped to recreate Mr Crosbie’s flight from Ranelagh Gardens to Clontarf, which took place on January 19th, 1785.

That was just two years after the Montgolfier brothers amazed the world with their first manned flight in a hot air balloon.

A member of the Irish Ballooning Association and the National Aero Club of Ireland, Mr McCormack has been “flying without wings” since 1977.

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Dense fog in the Dublin area and winds blowing out to sea prevented his flying on Saturday. “Met Éireann said the winds were light and variable, but they weren’t when we were making our attempt,” said Mr McCormack.

The event was to have been central to the Ranelagh Arts Festival at the weekend. Other recreations of Mr Crosbie’s flights are scheduled later this year.

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