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DEAR EDITOR, I enjoyed reading about Donegal airport in a recent issue of Ireland of the Welcomes. In May 1984 my wife and I were on our honeymoon in Ireland. Driving through Sligo at 11am, I noticed a sign for Sligo airport and, being a pilot in the US, I really wanted to stop by. The pub was open and an 18-year-old girl was behind the bar with asmall baby she told us she was babysitting. There were two planes parked out on the ramp, both of which I had flown many times back home. The young girl showed us around the tower and facility as I was, of course, interested. We were the only people there. She told us a woman pilot had flown one of the planes up from Cork with two businessmen as its passengers and was due to fly them back that same day. Sure enough the pilot arrived, we all sat down together and started talking about flying and aviation in Ireland. She was a very intelligent woman who knew all about the historic areas of Ireland. She asked me would I like to fly, I said "Of course," and she replied, "if you pay for the gas then there's no problem". All three of us got into the plane when the pilot, who we later realised was Daphne D.C. Pouchin Mould, explained that she’d hand-prop the plane. I asked why and she replied: "The starter is back in Cork. The mechanic fixed it but helost the bolts to put it back in". Daphne hand-propped the plane, jumped in and away we went! We flew for a good while over Inis Murray, Benbulben and some fairy circles. Daphne knew all about them. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful approach to an airport. We parted ways and she left me a note with information about some flying clubs I could contact should I want to fly some more during my trip. One week later we were in Cahirciveen, where my wife’s father was from. We were staying in an old doctor’s house which had a library. My wife was looking at books when she came across a photograph of a woman we recognised. It was of course Daphne, her picture was on the back of a book she had written. In fact, we found out that Daphne had written 17 books on Ireland. Much later I discovered that she was the first woman flight instructor in Ireland. I have a copy of that book and keep the note she left me tucked inside. Since then I have been to Ireland 14 times and plan to return in 2021. I have flight instructed and flown in theUS for 35 years but this is still my favourite flying story. This is something of a long letter and probably won’t be published but I wanted to share it with you so it would not be lost to others. She was quite a woman! Eugene O’Brien, Massachusetts Eugene thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful story!