Brendan Gallagher 1950 – 2011

The first reaction of many might be ask “Brendan who?” But anyone wanting to start a new aerospace publication would have found a good recruiting ground among the journalists, photographers and production people standing outside the chapel of Mill Hill Cemetery in North London yesterday but unable to get into the building. And if you needed greater choice, there were also those who had managed to find a place within the chapel as the aviation and defence publishing community said goodbye to one of its best-loved and influential members, who had died at the early age of 60.

Brendan Gallagher entered in aviation scene in the early 1970s when he became a subeditor at ‘Flight International’. Later its chief subeditor, he taught many of today’s ‘old hands’ the art of good writing. They in turn, took those lessons and high standards with them when they moved to other publications.

Many at his funeral spoke of the lifelong role Brendan had played in mentoring newcomers to the profession, another way in which this gentle giant of a man cast his shadow over today’s community of writers and photographers. You may not have heard his name, but indirectly he made his mark on many of the magazines that you read.

To see the calibre of the man we have lost, turn to the ‘Flight International’ archive at…

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1976/1976%20-%202198.html

…and read the first part of the article ‘The Ark’s Strike Power’. (The second part was published in the following issue, and is also available online.)

Although one of his earliest feature-length articles, it displays a standard of craftsmanship and sheer readability that most of us can only aspire to.