Early Years at Collinstown
North County Dublin has a long history of facilitating air transport. Dublin Airport was originally called Collinstown Airport, and before that it was a military aerodrome. When the airport was first built, the area surrounding it was still considered countryside. Here we will take a look at the early history of air transport at Collinstown.
Collinstown Aerodrome, 1925
Reproduced by permission of the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland.
Reproduced by permission of the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland.
Air transport was first brought to Collinstown during the First World War, when a military training aerodrome for the Royal Flying Corps was built. On 11 November 1918, the First World War ended. After that, the facilities at Collinstown were under-used for a period of time. However, there was some excitement in March of 1919, when fifty Irish Republican Army (IRA) men entered the base at Collinstown. They tied up all the guards and escaped with seventy-five rifles and bayonets and 5,000 rounds of ammunition. They also decommissioned around twenty military cars at the base.
Ireland gained independence from England in 1922. After that, during the civil war, Collinstown was first used for non-military flights. Aircraft were hired from England to transport news and photographs to London on the events of the civil war.
Collinstown aerodrome was handed over to the Irish Free State Government once the civil war had ended. It would be a further decade and a half before the site was turned into a civilian airport.
Early Years of Irish Aviation
Civilian air transport began to develop in Ireland in the 1930's. In the beginning, travel by aeroplane was available only to those who were very well off. Small companies, such as the Iona National Flying School, operated from several grass airstrips around the country. In the 1920's and 1930's, the Irish Air Corps was also developing a strong aviation culture. The technical ability fostered in the Air Corps would strongly contribute to the later success of Ireland's civil aviation industry.
The first aircraft company in Ireland was Iona National Airways, which was set up in 1930. It used Kildonan airfield in Finglas. In the 1930's, Baldonnel was also used for commercial civilian flights.
In July 1933, the well-known surgeon and wit, Oliver St. John Gogarty, was landing his plane at Baldonnel and ran into a flock of sheep on the runway. He commented that Ireland's principal aerodrome was being let as a sheep ranch.
In 1936, Air Lingus was set up: 'To carry on and foster the pursuit of aviation in all its forms both within and without Seorstát Éireann.' On 27 May 1936, a De Havilland 'Dragon' took off from Baldonnel to Bristol, carrying five passengers.
What follows is a quote from some of the advertising material that accompanied the launch of Aer Lingus:
'Éire has always had her place among the nations in Art, Drama and Literature - now she is in the air. Her scattered sons look homewards, proudly conscious of the Motherland's achievements in many spheres - not least her position in international transportation. Now are the 'Wild Geese' linked more closely with Éire, not only in spirit, but in fact.'