It’s all a bit Biggles, isn’t it, this image? A chap with a moustache, kitted out in one of those first World War leather flying helmets with built-in goggles. His droopy moustache, mournful eyes and dark clothing all add to the impression that this is a pilot off to do heroic sky-based battle with bounders of some unpalatable variety.
The caption, therefore, reads as something of a surprise. "George Leitch (RFC)," it says. "Photographer with The Irish Times. Sitting in a two-seater biplane waiting for takeoff, yesterday."
I would regard all of our photographers as heroic. Still, though: this gnomic inscription raises more questions than it answers. Where was the picture taken? Why? And if the photographer is in the plane, who is flying the camera?
Wondering if it might be some elaborate prank I contact one of the photographers, now retired, whose first-rate images appear regularly in this column. "George Patrick Leitch, " declares Jack McManus. "Of course I remember him. He was chief photographer with The Irish Times when I joined in July 1950."
According to Jack, Leitch was a member of the Royal Flying corps – the precursor of the RAF – and had indeed flown biplanes during the first World War. No wonder his expression is so striking in the picture, then. Who knows what memories lie behind that half-amused, half-haunted stare?
In real life, it seems, he was a pretty no-nonsense type. “He was married to a woman he affectionately called ‘Bates’,” Jack recalls. “I think it must have been her maiden name. When he was ready to leave the IT he would phone her and say: ‘That you, Bates? I’m on my way’. Seven words.”
So our mystery man is identified – but remains satisfyingly enigmatic. What we still don’t know is the name of the photographer. Whoever it was, they were a spiffing snapper. There’s a bubble of excitement in the image with the gaggle of young plane-spotters to the right. The pilot is about to climb on board.
And though we can’t see the nose of the plane, it’s rising irresistibly, poised for flight. Don’t be surprised if it soars off the page, before your eyes.
– Arminta Wallace
These and other photographs from The Irish Times can be purchased from: irishtimes.com/photosales