Richard Whitelegge O'Sullivan, who died on June 23rd, aged 95 belonged to the generation who were in on the birth of the age of air travel in Ireland.
His life spanned the history of powered flight from the Wright brothers to the Concorde and Jumbo jet.
As aeronautical engineer to the Air Corps he was among a small key group who selected the site at Rineanna which is now Shannon International Airport.
It became the refuelling link for the development of transatlantic air travel and for many years virtually all aircraft flying between the two continents stopped off at Shannon. He selected Rineanna over other possible sites and his decision was later backed by Charles Lindbergh who was brought in by Pan American Airways to assist them in building up a route structure linking Europe and North America.
One of many stories of those pioneering days tells how "RW" as he was known to his colleagues and Lindbergh rescued Frank Aiken , Minister for Defence, from being swallowed up in the Shannon tidal mud while on an inspection trip of the site. As Richard O'Sullivan explained it later "his (Aiken's) weight per square inch of foot exceeded the bearing capacity of the mud" until Lindbergh got him under one arm and O'Sullivan the other hoisting him to safety.
Richard O'Sullivan was born in Dublin on May 9th, 1905. His father was Patrick O'Sullivan who was the art inspector of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction in Ireland.
His mother was Frances Sarah Amy, nee Whitelegge, who met her future husband while they were students at the Crawford College of Art in Cork.
Educated in Earlsfort House School in Dublin, he entered the Royal College of Science in 1921, transferring to the engineering school in Trinity College, whence he graduated with two degrees, BA and BE in 1927.
He went to London, worked in a cement business for a short time before finding his true career.
Richard O'Sullivan got a job with the Fairey Aviation Company as a technical assistant in the design office from 1928 to 1934. During this time he joined the reserve of air force officers' general duties flying branch and was awarded his wings in 1929.
In 1934 he met his first wife Jean Anderson and they were married in Westminister Cathedral. He returned to Ireland in the same year to take up the appointment of assistant aeronautical engineer to the Air Corps in the Department of Defence at Baldonnel .
A year later he was promoted chief aeronautical engineer. In 1945 he transferred to the Department of Industry and Commerce as chief aeronautical officer.
He retired from this post in 1970 but was retained as adviser on aeronautics until 1973 when he retired from the Civil Service. His first wife died in 1968 and a year later he married Mary Langstaff. They were married for eighteen years until her death in 1988.
In his capacity as chief aeronautical officer Richard O'Sullivan was responsible for the licensing of aircraft in terms of airworthiness and safety. Government investigation of accidents of Irish aircraft both at home and overseas came under his jurisdiction and on the international front he was involved in the setting up of the International Civil Aviation Organisation in Montreal which established and monitored air safety throughout the world.
One of his last official air accident functions was to chair the government investigation in to the 1968 Aer Lingus Tuskar Rock crash .
A member of the Royal Aeronautical Society since 1933, he was elected Fellow in 1969, served as chairman of the Dublin branch from 1973 to 1976 and as president in 1978.
He was predeceased by both wives Jean and Mary and daughter Carole. He is survived by daughters Sallie and Merrie; sons Robert, John and Tim.
Richard Whitelegge O'Sullivan born 1905; died, June 2000.