Captain Jonathan Patrick Saul (15 March 1895 – 22 June 1968) was an Irish aviator and seaman.

Early life and family

Saul was one of seven children of Thomas and Catherine Saul. ^[1] He was born in Skerries, County Dublin in 1894. Saul was educated in St Patrick's Cathedral Grammar School, Dublin, but left education early to pursue a life at sea. His first job was nautical going to sea at the age fifteen and gained a Master's Certificate in navigation. ^[2]

Saul's first wife drowned at sea in a boating accident in 1922 off the French coast, Saul swam to safety with their infant daughter and Saul's only child, Patricia. ^[1] His second wife also predeceased him. He retired and lived at Ashfield Park, Stillorgan, County Dublin.

Army service and later career

During World War I he joined the Royal Flying Corps (1917) ^[1] and a while after the war the Irish Aero Club becoming a committee member in 1929. In 1930 he was the navigator for a stage of Charles Kingsford Smith the round-the-world flight in the Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor monoplane The Southern Cross. ^[3] But his most important flight was to navigate the first East to West transatlantic flight from Ireland to Newfoundland in June 1930.^{[ citation needed]} Kingsford-Smith captained the flight with Dutch co-pilot Evert van Dyke, radio operator John Stannage, and Paddy Saul navigating. They were treated to a ticker-tape parade in New York on 25 June 1930 - a parade that stretched for miles. They had aimed for New York but ran short on fuel and had to land in Newfoundland after contacting US warship Wyoming by radio.^{[ citation needed]}

Saul was amongst the speakers that Lady Heath invited to speak to National Junior Aviation Club in the 1930s. ^[4] In 1932, Saul and W.R. Elliott flew Amy Johnson and her husband Jim Mollison over the west of Ireland to survey suitable sites for Mollison's Atlantic attempt in The Heart's Content. ^[4] Later in his career he was involved with the establishment of Irish Air Traffic Control. ^[5] Saul became a civilian navigational instructor with the Royal Air Force in 1937, rising to the position of Commanding Officer of Coastal Command Operations at Crown Hill, and implementing a scheme to replace male operatives with women. ^[2]

Death

Saul died suddenly, on a fishing boat whilst taking part in the Lough Swilly sea angling festival on 22 June 1968. ^[1]

Legacy

Saul was one of four pilots to be commemorated in the An Post series of stamps in 1998 of Irish Aviation Pioneers. ^[2]

References