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IT'S NOT every day you get to unveil a statue, or even to assist at the unveiling of one, which is as much as the invitation promises. But such is the honour that befalls me this weekend when the south Dublin suburb of Ranelagh finally honours in bronze one its greatest residents: the balloonist Richard Crosbie.

I can hardly complain if someone else gets to pull the ceremonial cord. After all, my main contribution to this event was failing to mention Crosbie in a 2006 column about Ireland's remarkable - if often accidental - contribution to the history of aviation.