Pilot and family killed in 1964 flight

WHILE Thursday’s accident was the first to involve a commercial aircraft at an Irish state airport, in 1964 four people did die in a private plane crash just 300 yards from Cork Airport’s runway.

The pilot and three members of a Youghal family were killed almost instantly after the blue and yellow Piper Comanche in which they were travelling got into difficulty seconds after take-off and nosedived into the ground just outside the airport boundary. Maureen Gaule, her 25-year-old dentist son Brian and 12-year-old son John were being taken on what should have been a 30-minute pleasure trip over Cork by British pilot James Coupe.

Mrs Gaule’s husband, Patrick Gaule, declined to take part in the flight but watched the take-off from the airport. Despite making what was reported to be a perfect take-off, the plane only made it to 150 feet before black smoke started pumping from the engine.