Who was the first man to land in Ireland by parachute?
John Joseph Gilmore
The first Irishman to descend upon his country by parachute is to be honoured with a blue plaque.
The Ulster History Circle plaque in memory of John Joseph Gilmore will be unveiled on Saturday by his son, Patrick, at the house where he lived more than 70 years ago.
Mr Gilmore was born on 22 June 1900 in Lowry Street in east Belfast and joined the Irish Free State Army Air Force in Dublin as a civil engineer in 1929.
He became the first Irishman to parachute from an aircraft and land on Irish soil on 17 April 1933 at Baldonnell Airport, from a height of 2,500 feet.
In all he made a total of 15 parachute descents.
In 1935, Mr Gilmore joined Imperial Airways and he was sent to Quebec three years later to help set up North Atlantic flights.
He transferred to Gander in Newfoundland in 1940 where he was in charge of the preparation of the bomber aircraft that RAF Transport Command were ferrying across the Atlantic to assist the war effort and personally flew with many of the 9,000 aircraft involved.
Inventions
Mr Gilmore also flew about half of more than 500 rescue missions made from Gander.
As an engineer, he also had an impressive record of inventions to his credit.
He designed air intake shutters, as well as de-icing and fuel pump systems that were taken up more widely, unfortunately, he was unable to afford the cost of patenting these and lost a potential fortune.
Away from the world of aeroplanes and engineering, Mr Gilmore was arrested in July 1923 while helping a wounded IRA prisoner escape Northern Ireland to the Irish Republic.
He was killed on 1 May 1945 when a plane he was flying crashed near Prince Edward Island off the Canadian coast.
Mr Gilmore was posthumously awarded an MBE in 1946 for his part in the war effort and is the only civilian buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Gander.
Doreen Corcoran, Chair of the Ulster History Circle said: "The blue plaque to Joe Gilmore will at last bring public recognition to an unsung hero whose personal and professional achievements were quite remarkable.
"The circle is pleased to pay tribute to this pioneer of Irish aviation whose distinguished career in the second world war ended so tragically."
