The Irish Parachute Club (IPC) is an air sports club, located in

Clonbullogue Clonbullogue or Clonbolloge () is a village in County Offaly, Ireland. Location The village is located at the junction of the R401 and R442 regional roads. The '' Figile River'' runs through the village under the R442 near its confluence wi ...

County Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland, ancient Kingdom of Uí ...

, in Ireland.

History

Londoner Percival Spencer performed the first parachute jump in Ireland, at Drumcondra in Dublin on 14 September 1889. He jumped from two thousand feet in front of 25,000 people at 6.30pm. The centenary anniversary of the jump was celebrated at Drumcondra in 1989 by 14 parachutists who performed the biggest group jump over an Irish urban area, from three thousand feet. The Irish Parachute Club was founded in 1956 by former

paratrooper A paratrooper or military parachutist is a soldier trained to conduct military operations by parachuting directly into an area of operations, usually as part of a large airborne forces unit. Traditionally paratroopers fight only as light infa ...

Freddie Bond, and began operations at Weston airfield in

Leixlip Leixlip ( or ; , ) is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border between the ancient kingdoms of Leinster and ...

. In December 1959, the IPC organised emergency supply drops to the islands of

Inishturk Inishturk (''Inis Toirc'' in Irish, meaning ''Wild Boar Island'') is an inhabited island of County Mayo, in Ireland. Geography The island lies about off the coast; its highest point reaches above sea level. Between Inisturk and Clare Isl ...

, Inishturbot and Inishark. In February 1963, the club organised emergency supply drops over the Wicklow Mountains during the severe winter of that year. The IPC trained several teams that competed internationally in 1962, 1964 and 1966, and at a number of other international events subsequently. IPC-trained skydivers participated in several world records. The club operated from a number of locations before establishing a

drop zone A drop zone (DZ) is a place where parachutists or parachuted supplies land. It can be an area targeted for landing by paratroopers and airborne forces, or a base from which recreational parachutists and skydivers take off in aircraft and land ...

in 1974 near the R402 road, southwest of

Edenderry Edenderry (; ) is a town in east County Offaly, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is near the borders with Counties County Kildare, Kildare, County Meath, Meath and County Westmeath, Westmeath. The Grand Canal of Ireland, Grand Canal runs along ...

. The first club aircraft, a

Cessna 172 The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.Daingean Daingean (; or ), formerly Philipstown, named after King Philip II of Spain (then King of Ireland by ), is a small town in east County Offaly, Ireland. It is situated midway between the towns of Tullamore and Edenderry on the R402 regiona ...

and an IPC-based team Gael Force competed internationally. In 1983, a

Cessna 206 The Cessna 205, 206 and 207, known primarily as the Stationair (and marketed variously as the Super Skywagon, Skywagon and Super Skylane), are a family of single-engined, general aviation aircraft with fixed landing gear, used in commercial air ...

was purchased and, in 1988, the club moved to its current location at Clonbullogue Airfield, south-southwest of Edenderry. A number of Irish skydiving records have been set at this location, including a 51 person formation in July 2008. Later developments have included the construction of

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

s and other buildings and the purchase of a

PAC P-750 XSTOL The PAC P-750 XSTOL, (formerly known as the PAC 750XL) is a utility aircraft of conventional all-metal low-wing monoplane design, with fixed tricycle undercarriage. Combining the engine and wings of the PAC Cresco with a new larger fuselage a ...

turbine aircraft. Averaging over twelve thousand jumps annually, the IPC operates on weekends, bank holidays, and on some weekdays in summer. The club offers

tandem skydiving Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes. For hu ...

, Accelerated Free Fall (AFF), and

static line A static line is a fixed cord attached to a large, stable object. It is used to open parachutes automatically for paratroopers and novice parachutists. Design and use A static line is a cord attached at one end to the aircraft and at the o ...

parachuting Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes. For hu ...

training programmes.

Airfield

Clonbullogue Airfield has one grass strip runway running east-west which is 770 m long and 18 m wide.Clonbullogue village information

Offaly County Council
website

References

External links

Irish Parachute Club
Sports clubs and teams in the Republic of Ireland Parachuting organizations Sports clubs and teams in County Kildare Sports clubs and teams in County Offaly 1956 establishments in Ireland Sports clubs and teams established in 1956 {{Ireland-sport-stub

History

Airfield

References

See also

External links