J.P. "Paddy" Saul

Captain J.P. "Paddy" Saul or Jonathan Patrick Saul (15 March 1894 - 22 June 1968) was a noted Irish aviator and seaman.

Early life and family
Saul was one of seven children of Thomas and Catherine Saul. He was born in Skerries, Co. 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.

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. His second wife also predeceased him.

Army service and later career
During World War I he joined the Royal Flying Corps (1917) 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.

Saul was amongst the speakers that Lady Heath invited to speak to National Junior Aviation Club in the 1930s. 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. Later in his career he was involved with the establishment of Irish Air Traffic Control. 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.

Death
Saul died suddenly, on a fishing boat whilst taking part in in the Lough Swilly sea angling festival on the 22nd June 1968.

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