Alan Heusaff - Meteorology

Meteorology

On 20 May 1950, Heusaff left Marburg under the alias "Bernard Heubacher", and travelled through Belgium to England and Wales, and then to Ireland, where he enrolled in University College, Galway, to finish his degree. To finance himself, he taught German classes. One of his students was Bríd Ní Dhochartaigh from the Fanaid Gaeltacht in County Donegal. In 1953, the couple married and had six children. He had learned to speak Irish fluently. The couple's two sons and four daughters were raised as an Irish speaking family. (16)

Heusaff joined the Irish Meteorological Service in 1952 still as Bernard Heubacher and worked at Dublin Airport for eighteen months before being transferred to Shannon Airport. He became a naturalised citizen under his own name in 1955. In 1958, the Heusaff family moved back to Dublin. He worked for the Meteorological Service at Dublin Airport for the rest of his career. Interested in ecological matters, he also spent time researching the history of weather patterns as recorded in Irish annals and documents from earliest times. After his death, Brendan McWilliams, director of the service, and a well-known Irish Times columnist, wrote:

"Alan spent his entire working life in aviation meteorology…. In addition to his operational duties, he made brave efforts over a period of 15 years to bring the ancient climate of our island into focus, delving into historical documents to identify and record whatever mention might be made of the weather. He found many such references, and unearthed nearly 1,000 useful records extending over 1,400 years from AD 490 to 1829 which, collectively, have added significantly to knowledge of the Irish climate in the centuries gone by".

McWilliams adds: "He was a meticulous and conscientious meteorologist, and I personally remember him as always cheerful, courteous and eager to help to solve whatever operational problems might arise." (17)