Revised Foynes

Ireland, the Irish Meteorological Service and "The Emergency" [an expanded version of a paper that appeared in Weather 56(11) (2001) 387 - 397] Donard de Cogan1and John A. Kington2 1School of Information Systems 2Climatic Research Unit University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ Note: The figures that appeared in the original article are cited next to the figures in this revised version Introduction Obtaining meteorological information about the development and movement of weather systems over the North Atlantic was an essential element of forecasting for both Allied and Axis forces during the war. An obvious source for such data was Ireland, or Eire as it was then called. Yet, Ireland had declared itself as neutral and in an effort to ignore the events beyond its borders, the euphemism, "The Emergency", was generally adopted. However, the official line on neutrality seems to have been slightly different from what actually happened. For example, an examination of the synoptic coverage on the wartime weather maps presented by Lewis (1985) shows that meteorological observations were available at the Central Forecasting Office, Dunstable from southern as well as Northern Ieland (Fig. 1). The key factor in this, something which is frequently overlooked, is the detail contained in the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922 which led to the establishment of the Irish Free State. This stipulated that anchorages, airfields, radio transmitters and submarine cables remained under British control, and, in fact, this situation remained in force (apart from anchorages) until 1949-1950. Anchorages had been relinquished in 1938 through negotiations with the British government (MacDonald 1972) but the ensuing unfavourable relations with Churchill overshadowed the extent to which the Irish Prime Minister, Eamon de Valera, assiduously adhered to the terms of the Treaty even if these required a slightly biased form of neutrality. How these Treaty obligations manifested themselves during the war is still not clear as much information remains closed to public scrutiny in the Public Record Office. However, some insight can be gained by examining the history of the individual elements which were specifically cited in the Treaty. A primary interest of one of the authors (D. de C.) lies with the Irish trans-Atlantic cable telegraph stations and his researches have invariably led to the examination of wider issues (de Cogan 1984, 1993; Coggeshall 1993). One of these, in particular, is the flying-boat base at Foynes, Co. Limerick on the Shannon Estuary (Fig. 2) which was a pivotal link in Allied communications during the war. This paper starts with a brief review of the development of synoptic meteorological observing in Ireland. The establishment of trans-Atlantic flying-boat operations at Foynes in the late 1930s is outlined. The development of related meteorological services at the base is discussed using a combination of personal interviews as well as writings of those who were closely involved both before and during the War. The paper concludes with a consideration of the broader subject of war-time weather reporting from Ireland. A brief history of Irish meteorological stations Outside Dublin, the oldest meteorological stations in Ireland with continuous records are Armagh Observatory (Armagh), Markree Castle (Sligo) and Birr Castle (Offaly). These stations were originally founded as astronomical observatories: Armagh in 1790, Markree in 1824 and Birr in the 1840s. With astronomical observing dependent upon local weather conditions, the practice of making systematic meteorological reports appears to have became part of the scientific work undertaken at these establishments. During the latter part of the nineteenth century further meteorological stations were established in Ireland, including a series round the coast maintained by the British Meteorological Office (Dixon 1950). The first of these coastal stations was sited near Cahirciveen (Kerry) as part of the telegraphic network of observing sites introduced by Admiral FitzRoy (Fig. 3) in 1860 (Murphy 1987). The Kerry station was also part of the telegraphic line that had been laid for the ill-fated attempt to lay a trans-Atlantic cable in 1857-1858 (de Cogan 1985). In 1867 the Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society decided to establish an observatory on Valentia Island with James Graves as its first Superintendent. There is little doubt that this move coincided with wider developments in communications as a permanent telegraph link between Valentia and Newfoundland had been established in the previous year with Graves as Superintendent of the cable station. In 1860, as clerk-in-charge of the telegraph office at Jersey, Graves had been in correspondence with FitzRoy concerning the transmission of weather observations by telegraph to the Board of Trade (de Cogan 1984, 1998). In 1892 the location of the meteorological station at Valentia was moved back to the mainland near Cahirciveen, where it has remained ever since. During World War II the telegraph office at Valentia allowed meteorological data to be transmitted quickly and exclusively to Dublin, London and even Newfoundland1. R.H. Scott, Dublin-born Director of the British Meteorological Office, was mainly responsible for the setting up of other meteorological stations round the coast such as Malin Head (Donegal) and Roche's Point (Cork) (Dixon 1950). Pre-war trans-Atlantic flights 1999 marked the eightieth anniversary of the first aircraft flight across the North Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland in 1919 by Alcock and Brown in a World War I two-engine converted Vickers-Vimy bomber. The first westbound flight from Ireland to Newfoundland was made nine years later by J.C. Fitzmaurice of the Irish Air Corps who flew with Koehl and von Huenfeld, in the German monoplane, Bremen (Fig 4) (Roche 1987). After these pioneering flights, the first trans-Atlantic passenger air service was established in 1936 by the German airship, Hindenburg. Ten round trips between Friedrichshafen and New Jersey were made by the airship before it was wrecked in a disastrous explosion in 1937. Although Germany claimed that Lufthansa was the first 1 Although leased to the Western Union Telegraph Co., the terms of their landing licences and the Anglo-Irish Treaty meant that they would not fail to provide this service. airline prepared to establish a regular trans-Atlantic service, at least for mail, landing rights in North America were refused. Activities by other interested countries at this time were more successful with Ireland, Britain, Canada and the USA working together to set up a regular flying- boat trans-Atlantic service. At a conference held in Ottawa in 1935, the administrative framework and support requirements, such as landing facilities, radio communications, air traffic control and meteorological services, were agreed (Rohan and Gillman 1987). Newfoundland, which had long served as a site for cable-relay stations, now gained further importance due to its position on trans-Atlantic air routes and Botwood, deeply set in the Bay of Exploits on the northern coast, was selected as a base for the trans-Atlantic flying-boat service being planned to operate between New York and Southampton. On the eastern side of the Atlantic, Foynes, situated on a sheltered ria in south-western Ireland, was also chosen as a flying-boat base for this service. As a result, one of the first priorities of the newly-established Irish Meteorological Service under its founding Director, Austen H. Nagle (O'Connor 1987a), was to set up a forecasting and observing station at Foynes to provide the meteorological facilities required for these new developments in aviation history. Initially, in 1937, the meteorological office, manned by forecasters on secondment from the British Meteorological Office, was housed in the former Monteagle Arms Hotel. An observing site was set up in a nearby field and special weather reports, required for landing and take-off, were made aboard an air traffic control launch (Rohan and Gillman 1987). At Botwood, responsibility for setting up the forecasting office and observing station was undertaken by the Canadian Meteorological Service (CMS) and the scientist appointed to be in charge was probably P. MacTaggart-Cowan who later became Controller of the CMS. He had been a member of the "Atlantic Training and Investigation Course" that had assembled under Sidney P. Peters at Croydon Airport in 1936 (Meade 1986). Then, as now, a good system of communications was essential for a forecasting office. At Foynes this was provided by Shannon Aeradio, then located within the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, and weather reports received from mainland Europe, the North Atlantic and North America allowed synoptic charts to be plotted and analysed for the production of forecasts. By the time the trial crossings were made between Ireland and North America in July 1937, a fully operational meteorological organisation was up and running (Rohan and Gillman 1987). In these trials, the westbound flight was made by Imperial Airways with two modified Empire class flying boats, Caledonia and Cambria (Fig. 2) whilst the eastbound flight was made by Pan American Airways (Pan Am), with a Sikorsky Clipper III (Fig. 3). "Just a pleasant joy ride", remarked the Pan Am pilot, Captain Grey, to reporters after landing his flying boat at Foynes (Wheeler 1946). Further proving flights were carried out in 1937 and 1938 with flight times westward up to 17h 18m, and eastward as low as 10h 33m; the latter was a record set by the Cambria on the final return survey flight from Botwood to Foynes. As a result of the experience gained during these trial crossings, procedures for trans-Atlantic flights, laid down at an Air Conference, held at Dublin, in March 1938, were little changed in the immediate post-war period (Rohan and Gillman 1987). By the time the first scheduled westbound flight took place from Foynes in August 1939, commanded by J. C. "Jack" Kelly-Rogers (Fig.

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