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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1738.PDF
FLIGHT International, 26 September 1963 "Flight International" photograph 545 Vickers Vespas, used by several air forces in the 1930s, though not by the RAF, were favoured by the Eire Air Corps. This Mk IV was one of eight which they operated participation in Army manoeuvres. The following year, 1927, the Corps came into the public eye by participating in the military tattoo held in Dublin. Its strength was then 26 officers and cadets and 126 men. From time to time new equipment was acquired. In March 1928 the officer commanding the Corps, Cmdt J. Fitzmaurice, ferried over a Fairey IIIF from Hayes to Dublin. Shortly afterwards this aircraft escorted out to sea the German Junkers W.33 making the first east-to-west crossing of the Atlantic, carrying Cmdt Fitz maurice as co-pilot. Four Vickers Vespas were ordered in 1929, and two of them were offered on loan to the Houston Everest Expedition—which, however, eventually used Westland aircraft. The Vespas were supplemented by four more in 1931. New training aircraft were purchased; as a testimony of faith in Avro trainers, six Avro 631 Cadets were ordered before the prototype had completed trials. A few Avro 626s were also bought, and later Avro 636s were After the Second World War the Corps operated a number ofSeafires and Spit/ires, including six LF.9 Spitfire two-seat conversions, one of which is seen here re-engined with Jaguar IVc powerplants from wrecked Vespas. In spite of periodic acquisitions there was fall in the number of aircraft on charge, owing to rising costs: the limited funds available did not allow for full replacement of obsolete initial equipment. In 1931, twenty-four aircraft were on strength, with fifteen capable of "warlike operations." but in 1936 the total dropped to eighteen, wHh only four suitable for operations. But now the whole of Europe was on the verge of rearmament, and Ireland did not long remain unaffected. There came expansion and reoganization. Gonnanston, seasonally used for exercises, was reopened as a jPermanent station. The single squadron was split to form several, P&ch wjm a different function—fighter, general reconnaissance, Jcoastal patrol and army co-operation. Ireland was determined to protect her soil, and a strong Ireland •*as clearly desired by the British Government, who accordingly •pleased new aircraft from delivery to the RAF to meet her needs. B*Mes Magisters, Gladiators, Ansons and Walruses, built to Air •Ministry contracts, were diverted direct from production to pland. When war came the neutrality of Ireland did little to guarantee fer safety, for in retrospect it is known that Operation Sealion, the German invasion plan of 1940, included diversionary raids planned to fall along her southern coasts. Although Ireland did not go to war, war came to her by air. Bombs fell on Irish villages on August 26, 1940, followed by an official German apology. On the first day of 1941 an unidentified aircraft dropped bombs in various parts of Eastern Ireland, killing three people, and seriously wounding two others, in a farmhouse near Borris, Co Carlow. Bombs also fell in Rathdown Park, Dublin, and part of the Curragh's famous turf was set on fire; an incendiary bomb was later identified as German. A few days later bombs again dropped in Dublin, injuring over 20 civilians and rendering a larger number homeless. Other serious bomb incidents occurred on a Saturday morning at the end of May 1941, in parts of Dublin, particularly at North Strand. Measures taken for the security of the State on the outbreak of the European War included general mobilization of the Army, followed by large-scale recruiting and expansion in the critical spring of 1940. An efficient sea and air watching service was organized and civil aircraft visiting the country were conditioned to use certain approach channels to avoid false alarms. The absence of black-out precautions was deliberate, so that all aircraft should be aware of Irish territory and take avoiding action. As some parts of the country were sparsely populated, headlands were marked with illuminated signs to give emphasis. Whenever an unauthorized aircraft approached the coasts its presence was broadcast over a wide frequency-range in an attempt to warn the crew. At the same time its plotted course and height were revealed by the broadcasting station in an effort to discourage flying over Irish territory as a matter of operational expediency. Off-course Acquisitions Occasionally unauthorized aircraft "dropped in." One of the first was a Miles Master 1, N8009, from No 307 Squadron, RAF: slightly off-course, it forced-landed the wrong side of the border near Dundalk on December 21, 1940. Partially repaired by the Air Corps, it was taken on strength, but was not flown. In the following April the Corps gained a new target-towing aircraft through a serious navigational error, when Fairey Battle I V1222, with a Polish pilot from No 4 Air Observers School, RAF, put down in Co Waterford. It so happened that the Corp's D.H.84 Dragon, purchased in 1937 and used for target-towing, had crashed that year on take-off with locked controls. Several RAF Blenheims came down in Eire. A young sergeant- pilot was reported overdue from No 5 Bombing and Gunnery School when his estimated return time has passed; the sector controller called him up and, finding that he was way out over the Irish Sea, passed him over to a controller in Northern Ireland. Fuel was giving out, and in failing light the pilot force-landed in a field the wrong side of the border, coming to rest in a ditch not far from Drogheda. Other Blenheims, a Mk I (L6720) and a Mk IV (L9415), were beyond economical repair after landing in the Republic; but another, according to Irish Press reports, was landed deliberately. The pilot, who broke his ankle on landing, reported himself a deserter. He spent the rest of the war in the Curragh internment camp. Whatever the truth in the reports, there is no doubt that a popular sardonic comment in the RAF was "Let's go to Ireland, like that in the Blenheim!" Almost the reverse happened when a Walrus of the Corps was stolen from Shannon aerodrome and was later reported by the British authorities off the coast of Cornwall. Several German machines came down in Ireland. An Fw200,
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