To a generation born to the luxury of air travel, his achievement may not seem all that remarkable. However, in an age when air travel was a relatively new invention, an Irishman, Col James Fitzmaurice, was a trailblazer.
Seventy years ago tomorrow Fitzmaurice, along with two Germans, managed to make the first transatlantic flight from Europe to the US, just 25 years after the Wright brothers managed to keep their flying machine airborne.
His story is one of glory marred by disappointment. Having achieved what is now recognised as one of the most difficult flights ever, the dream soured.
James was born on January 6th, 1898, the son of a prison officer in a house near Mountjoy Prison, and the family moved to Portlaoise when James, affectionately known as Fitz, was five years old.
It was in Portlaoise that he felt the first stirrings of what it would be like to conquer the air. At a local garage he spent every free minute tinkering around trying to build an aeroplane, although his first attempt crash-landed in a field.
The outbreak of the first World War led to Fitz joining the British army and taking part in one of that war's bloodiest battles, the Battle of the Somme. After his time in the trenches, he joined the Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force, and had dreams of becoming a bomber pilot. However, just as he was posted to the front, Armistice Day arrived.
After the war he married Violet Clark, got involved in air-mail deliveries and was selected as second pilot on the first experimental night air-mail flight in Europe. On return to Ireland he was appointed officer-in-command at the Air Corps.
In the spring of 1928 there was a public outcry at the number of deaths in the pursuit of what was seen as an "impossible dream", to fly across the Atlantic. Many lives had been lost in failed attempts to fly across it, and British and German authorities imposed an official ban on anyone attempting the flight.
However, considerable national pride was at stake and the race was on to be the first to cross the Atlantic non-stop in a plane from east to west. The feat had been achieved the other way around by Alcock and Browne in 1919.
Despite the treacherous meteorological conditions and technical difficulties, like the lack of navigational aids, Fitz was determined he would be the one to make it. Finance was a major stumbling block, and he was left with a sour taste in his mouth when he met with negative responses from the Irish public and the army in his quest for financial support.
However, a German living in Ireland, Waldemar Klose, kept Fitz informed of intense activity in planning a German assault on the Atlantic. Another two Germans, Hermann Koehl and Baron Ehrenfield von Huenefeld, who was to finance the forthcoming air project, had their sights set firmly on Fitz to undertake the perilous journey from east to west.
On Monday, April 2nd, 1928, a German craft purchased by Baron von Huenefeld, the Bremen, described by Fitz as "one of the best ships that it has been my good fortune to fly", had a trial flight over Dublin with Fitz and Koehl in the pilot cabin and Huenefeld as a passenger. On Friday, April 6th, The Irish Times carried the headline "Irish Pilot on the Bremen - Special Leave for Commandant Fitzmaurice".
However, the week the flight was due to take off reports of unfavourable weather arrived. Torrential rain swept through Baldonnel, and the takeoff had to be postponed.
Finally at 4 a.m. on Thursday, April 12th, 1928, 50 Irish Free State soldiers pushed the Bremen from Hangar no 3 to the takeoff point. The single-engine Bremen was on its way. Arriving on American soil 36 hours later, the three airmen had done it.
Fitz and the two Germans received a hero's welcome in New York, and a special bill was rushed through Congress to allow President Calvin Coolidge to present the three with the Distinguished Flying Cross. On his return to Ireland Fitz was made a Freeman of the City of Dublin and one month later helped found the Irish Aero Club and became its chairman.
In the period that followed Fitz's good fortune left him. He felt thwarted by the lack of enthusiasm shown for his ideas to make Ireland a major player in the field of civil aviation and moved to the us.
The country he felt had turned its back on him welcomed him back with open arms when he died in 1965, and he was given a State funeral with full military honours. Fitz's own opinion of the country was, however, long embittered, and this simply served to validate his view of the country.
"If you have the misfortune to do anything useful for Ireland they do everything possible to destroy you. Then when you are dead they dig you up and laud your achievements as a bolster to their own mediocrity," he said.
An RTE director, Tim Costello, who has made a documentary about the famous flight, recalled his first encounter with the Fitz story. "I was working one night, and a call came through to me from a woman complaining that April 12th had passed yet again without any commemoration or mention of what was arguably one of the most difficult flights ever. The call was from Fitz's sister, May.
"It was from there that I got interested in Fitz. There is no doubt that it is one of the great forgotten flights. It is curious that not one British aviation book mentions the flight of the Bremen," said Mr Costello. His half-hour documentary, Colonel James Fitzmaurice - Transatlantic Pioneer, will be broadcast tomorrow night on Network 2 at 7 o'clock.
To commemorate the Fitzmaurice legend, his daughter, Ms Patricia Selwyn-Jones (76), and her daughter, Edwina, are arriving today to unveil a plaque marking the birthplace of Fitz at Dublin's North Circular Road, while they will travel to Portlaoise tomorrow to perform the unveiling of a bronze bust of Fitz. Ms Selwyn-Jones will also name the town square Fitzmaurice Place after her father.
Fitz - and the Famous Flight by Teddy Fennelly is published by Arderin in conjunction with the Leinster Express, price £19.95