An Cosantóir

an Aviat or Vincent Killowry's painting of Cecil Grace Farman biplane at Leopardstown Racecourse in Ireland in August 1910. | 17 In Memory of Madeleine C O'Rourke (1951–2006) by Brig Gen Paul Fry, General Officer Commanding the Air Corps & Director of Military Aviation Photos by Colm O'Rourke & Air Corps Photo Section M adeleine C O'Rourke (1951–2006), aviator and organiser of aviation events, was born in south Dublin in the spring of 1951 and lived on Lansdowne Road. When she was 16 she went to an air show in Ballyfree, Co Wicklow, and was thereafter "completely hooked" on all things to do with aviation. In 1971, aged 20, she joined the Irish Aero Club, one of only six women out of 200 members. O'Rourke was made social secretary, and as soon as she could afford to she took flying lessons, making her first solo on 23 July 1972. In November 1972 she married Colm O'Rourke, who worked in sound engineering in RTÉ. In 1975 the couple joined the Dublin Ballooning Club (DBC), later the Irish Ballooning Association. As a DBC official she attended board meetings of the Irish Aviation Club and volunteered to be organising secretary of a proposed fundraising air show. With a budget of only £500 and no previous experience, Madeleine and a small team of helpers pulled together a display, billed as an 'Air Spectacular', in Fairyhouse, Co Meath, on 27 August 1978. For the next nine years O'Rourke and her team managed increasingly elaborate and popular series of air shows. When the event went ultimately to Baldonnel airfield, the logistics of setting up catering, toilets, parking, and ticketing for over 100,000 visitors, was the equivalent to running a medium-sized town. The 1987 event was the most ambitious and successful on which she worked, and for the first time since 1922, the RAF officially visited the Irish state, when the famous Red Arrows performed before record crowds at Baldonnel. O'Rourke believed in stopping while she was ahead, and this was the last show with which she was involved as organiser. However, her involvement with aviation did not stop. In August 1980 she became the first woman to fly a microlight in Ireland, on Sandymount Strand in Dublin; she had also agreed that year to be first secretary of the Irish Microlight Aircraft Association to get the new organisa- tion up and running. Mr Colm O'Rourke pictured presenting Madeleine was elected The Madeleine O'Rourke Collection in to membership of the the FTS Library. Royal Aeronautical Society in January 1994. She also wrote on aviation matters: in 1989 her book Air Spectaculars: air displays in Ireland was published and in 1997 she wrote Flying for the Silver Screen and the Irish Story' for her MA in Pictured (L/R): Col Gerry O'Sullivan (CAS Sp), Film Studies. Mr Colm O'Rourke and Brig Gen Paul Fry (GOC Air Corps) accepting the presentation. Madeleine O'Rourke died on 2 June 2006 after a short illness, at the age of 55. She is survived by her husband and daughter Marguerite, who along with her father Colm O'Rourke kindly donated her extensive collection of aviation books to the Air Corps Flying Training School (FTS). These are now displayed as The Madeleine O'Rourke Collection in the FTS Library, Air Corps College. Furthermore, on August 1st 2013 a favourite painting of Madeleine's was also presented to the Officers' Mess. Painted by Vincent Killowry, it depicts Cecil Grace displaying his Farman biplane at the first air show in Ireland in August 1910 at Leopardstown Racecourse. www.military.ie the defence forces magazine

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