L.O. 4-1 ^4- NUI MAYNOOTH QllftMll II hiJfiifin Ui Mu*« MILITARY AVIATION IN IRELAND 1921- 1945 By MICHAEL O’MALLEY THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF PHD DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND MAYNOOTH Supervisor of Research: Dr. Ian Speller JANUARY 2007 IRISH MILITARY AVIATION 1921 - 1945 This thesis initially sets out to examine the context of the purchase of two aircraft, on the authority of Michael Collins and funded by the second Dail, during the Treaty negotiations of 1921. The subsequent development of civil aviation policy including the regulation of civil aviation, the management of a civil aerodrome and the possible start of a state sponsored civil air service to Britain or elsewhere is also explained. Michael Collins’ leading role in the establishment of a small Military Air Service in 1922 and the role of that service in the early weeks of the Civil War are examined in detail. The modest expansion in the resources and role of the Air Service following Collins’ death is examined in the context of antipathy toward the ex-RAF pilots and the general indifference of the new Army leadership to military aviation. The survival of military aviation - the Army Air Corps - will be examined in the context of the parsimony of Finance, and the administrative traumas of demobilisation, the Anny mutiny and reorganisation processes of 1923/24. The manner in which the Army leadership exercised command over, and directed aviation policy and professional standards affecting career pilots is examined in the contexts of the contrasting preparations for war of the Army and the Government. The Air Corps’ active roles during the Emergency are assessed against the background of inadequate preparation, insufficient and inappropriate aircraft and improbable tasking by GHQ. Secondary roles in support of the RAF war effort are also elucidated. The Army’s investigation, into the inadequacies of the Air Corps, is examined against the background of the command exercised by an inexpert and disciplinarian officer. The investigation itself is assessed in order to highlight any the bias or prejudice that may have pertained. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ii Abbreviations and acronyms iv List of figures vii List of tables viii Location map - Civil War ix Location map - Emergency x CHAPTER 1 Introduction page 1 CHAPTER 2 Civil aviation - developments in Saorstat Eireann 16 CHAPTER 3 Michael Collins, the Military Air Service and the Civil War 50 CHAPTER 4 From Civil War to Army mutiny 82 CHAPTER 5 Policy, organisation and command, 1924 - 1936 116 CHAPTER 6 Pupil pilot intake, 1922 - 1945 153 CHAPTER 7 Aviation policy and planning, 1935-1940 191 CHAPTER 8 Government defence strategy and Anglo - Irish cooperation 222 CHAPTER 9 Support services 259 CHAPTER 10 The Air Corps’ Emergency 305 CHAPTER 11 The 1941 Air Corps investigation of 1941 and the 1943 reorganisation 354 CHAPTER 12 Conclusion 399 BIBLIOGRAPHY 412 APPENDIXES 422 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While I have been actively engaged in the research peculiar to this work only over the past four and a half years I must acknowledge relevant assistance received over a much longer period. My introduction to military archives was in the Red House in the early 1980s when the late Peter Young showed me the growing amount of material that would later become Military Archive. Though Peter and I were separated by corps loyalties he assisted me greatly in my early efforts to research military aviation in Ireland. In particular he introduced me to some of the most historically valuable documents relating to the history of the Air Corps and helped me acquire a small number of original copies. I am particularly grateful for the access he granted me to the personal files of a number of the early officers. It is only now that I realise the importance of the minutiae of the careers of individual officers in the context of documenting the history of the early years. Such unique access to personal files has, of course, long since ceased. My thanks go to the late Madeline O’Rourke and to her husband Colm. Their interest in, and willingness to collect, research and share the history of the Air Corps was unique. I appreciate also the personal comments of the late Agnes Russell, in June 2004, regarding her late father Col. Charlie Russell. Regrettably she had to tell me that her father’s private papers had been lost in a domestic fire many years previously. Similarly I owe a debt of gratitude to Ms Aine Broy for an understanding of aspects of the brief Air Service career of Col. Ned Broy. Thanksto the kindness of Capt. Eoin Hassett I had extended access to the small but very important collection of private papers of his late father, Lt. Col. P. J. (Laddie) Hassett who served in the Air Corps from 1926 to 1935. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Ian Speller of the Department of History, N.U.I. Maynooth, for his expert guidance, criticism, direction and advice over the past four years. I also acknowledge the foundation in history provided by the various academics at Maynooth, particularly Professor R. V. Comerford, during my diploma, degree and doctorate courses. My grateful thanks go to Dr. Sean Swords, formerly of the Air Support Company, Signal Corps at Baldonnell and of Trinity College, for his assistance and guidance in the matter of aeronautical communications. Finally I must give credit where credit is due. I refer to the part my wife Barbara has played in my historical researches and study. It was, after all, her idea that I take up history as a substitute for squash. I never quite understood the analogy but I greatly appreciate her endless patience and understanding and her support of my mild obsession. ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS A/ Acting AA Anti-aircraft artillery AAC Army Air Corps AAS Army Air Service AC Air Corps ACC Airport construction committee ACF/ Air Corps flying (file) AC HQ Air Corps Headquarters ACS Assistant Chief of Staff ADC Aircraft Disposal Company Adjt Adjutant AFO Army finance officer AG Adjutant General AM Air Ministry Arty Artillery AS Air Service AVRO A. V. Roe & Co. Ltd. BTNI British Troops Northern Ireland Capt. Captain Cav Cavalry CFI Chief flying instructor CID Committee of Imperial Defence (UK) COD Council of Defence COE Corps of Engineers. COGS Chief of General Staff COI Court of inquiry Col. Colonel Comdt. Commandant COS Chief of Staff Coy Company CP Sqn. Coastal Patrol Squadron CSO Chief Staff Office DCA Director of Civil Aviation DEA Department of External Affairs DF Department of Finance* DF Defence Forces* DF, D/F Direction Finding* DF HQ Defence Forces Headquarters DFR Defence Force Regulation DMA Director of Military Aviation DO Dominions Office DOD Department of Defence (Departmental Secretariat and General Staff) DS Director of Signals DT Department of An Taoiseach (Prime Minister) EC Executive Council E. Comd. Eastern Command FS Fighter Squadron GHQ General Headquarters GOC General Officer Commanding GOCF Genera] Officer Commanding the Forces HC High commissioner HQ Headquarters I&C Department of Industry and Commerce IFS Irish Free State IRA Irish Republican Army Lt., Lieut. Lieutenant MA Military Archives Maj. Major Maj. Gen. Major General. MAS Military Air Service V MFD Minister for Defence MFF Minister for Finance MP Mulcahy Papers MS Military secretary OC Officer commanding OPW Office of Public Works NA The National Archives, Kew. NAI National Archives of Ireland NI Northern Ireland NLI National Library of Ireland RAF Royal Air Force R & MB Sqn. Reconnaissance and Medium Bomber Squadron RFC Royal Flying Corps R/T Radio telephony SC School commandant SC Signal Corps S. Comd. Southern Command Sec Secretary SIS Special Intelligence Service (UK) Sigs Signal Corps Sqn Squadron QM Quartermaster QMG Quartermaster General UCDA University College Dublin Archives W. Comd. Western Command. W/T Wireless telegraphy * The sense should be clear from the context. LIST OF FIGURES Location map - Civil War Location map - Emergency LIST OF TABLES Table 10.1 Establishment and strength - R & MB Squadron detachment, Rineanna. Table 10.2 Establishment and strength-No. 1 Fighter Squadron, Baldonnell. 1 IX LOCATION MAP EMERGENCY I •DUBLIN CITY- [JALW AY BAY SHANNON1 RIVER \ X CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Until relatively recent times the study of the military and defence matters of the state has been very much a minority interest. With the establishment of Military Archives in 1986, and the release of increasing amounts of the more sensitive UK material, the years from 1990 have seen a significant upsurge in interest in the history of the early decades of the state. Inevitably greatest concentration has been on the period covering the War of Independence, the Civil War and the army mutiny, that is, 1919 to 1924 - in addition to the Emergency (1939 to 1945). Those major and minor works that do deal with aspects of military history very much concentrate on those aspects of the Defence Forces and defence policy that reflect the dominant army ideology and the precedence of the infantry ethos. In an infantry dominated Defence Forces the air element has traditionally constituted a very minor proportion of the personnel - about 10% at the maximum that pertained during the Emergency. Being perceived, in the two dimensional thinking of the Department of Defence and Defence Forces Headquarters, as being of much lesser military importance neither the state’s air nor naval forces are represented by appropriately qualified staffs at DOD or the DFHQ. To a certain extent, reflecting this cultural imbalance, the main historical works of recent times have largely ignored air aspects of defence policy and practice. To a major degree this imbalance in military historiography is a reflection of the cultural imbalance evident in successive Defence Forces handbooks and the manner in which the Air Corps has been presented.