James Fitzmaurice

James Fitzmaurice (1898 to 1965) was an Irish aviator who served as co-pilot of the Bremen on the first successful transatlantic aircraft flight from east to west. Born in Dublin and raised in Portlaoise, he enlisted in the British Army in 1915, was wounded in France and trained as a pilot in 1918. In May 1919 he was selected to undertake the first night mail flight from Folkestone to Boulogne. He joined the Irish Army Corps in 1922 and in 1925 became second in command of the Irish Air Corps at Baldonnel. In September 1927 he was a co-pilot on the Fokker aircraft Princess Xenia, whose attempt to reach New York was abandoned over the Atlantic because of bad weather. On 12 and 13 April 1928 he was co-pilot in the crew of the Bremen, which reached Greenly Island in Canada and landed on an ice covered reservoir, breaking through the ice as it stopped. The three flyers were then celebrated on a two month tour of North America and Europe. He died in 1965.