An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir Dec 2019/Jan 2020 www.dfmagazine.ie 38 | BY PAT POLAND O n Friday 9 January 1942 at the height of the Emergency, a debriefing conference took place in the Officers' Mess at Rineanna Aerodrome (now Shannon Airport), where the Reconnaissance and Medium Bombing Squadron of the Irish Air Corps was based. In the chair was OC 1 Southern Divi- sion, the formidable, but widely-respected, Major General MJ (Michael Joseph) Costello, and the debriefing concerned recent night attack exercises. As speaker after speaker droned on in the warm, smoke-filled mess, several officers struggled to keep their eyes open. Then, precisely at noon, the din of a Bristol Pegasus engine filled the room as a Walrus seaplane roared overhead. The Air Corps officers present knew immediately that this was an unscheduled flight and indicated to the 'top brass' that something was amiss. All ran from the mess in time to see the aircraft heading downwind in a south-easterly direction. A quick roll-call confirmed that three airmen and an officer, Lt AJ Thorn- ton, were missing. At the time, Thornton was under open arrest for being AWOL, having overstayed his leave while on a date with a young woman. On return to the base, he was 'carpeted' before the CO; his actions considered 'prejudicial to good order and discipline'. Baldonnel was quickly notified and a single Westland Ly- sander took off in pursuit of the stolen aircraft. The Walrus's head start, however, was too great, and the Lysander gave up the chase. At the time the Second World War was entering its third bloody year and the United States had entered the war the pre- vious month, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in Hawaiian. In neutral Éire, the Defence Forces had been consider- ably enlarged to counter any perceived threat from the bel- ligerents, and now contained many young people who craved action, but the only action they saw was the occasional exercise, incessant routine patrols, and, worst of all, mind-numbing bar- rack duties. By January 1942 one officer in particular, the above-men- tioned Lt Thornton, was becoming increasingly frustrated with his lot and decided to join the fray by taking an aircraft and flying it to Jersey in the Channel Islands, occupied by German Forces since the summer of 1940. The aircraft he 'borrowed' for his unauthorized flight was a Supermarine Walrus amphibian, with the Air Corps designation N18. Three airmen also colluded in the escapade. Walrus N18 had entered service with the Air Corps rather ig- nominiously. On 3 March 1939 – six months before the outbreak of war – a group travelled to England to take delivery of three aircraft (N18, N19 and N20) with the object of flying them from South- ampton to Baldonnel. However, as they crossed the Irish Sea weather conditions deterio- rated rapidly, forcing the formation into unsched- uled landings. One turned back and headed for the safety of Milford Ha- ven in Wales, another put down in Dún Laoghaire harbour, while the third, N18, came down in rough seas off Carn- sore Point in County Wexford, suffering some damage. This was only the beginning of N18's uninspired track record with the Air Corps. With the hue-and-cry in full swing, the Walrus continued on its lumbering way down the east coast of Ireland. At 1230hrs the military look-out post at Helvick Head, Co Wa- terford, logged: 'A biplane, altitude 6,000ft, moving south in good visibility.' Thornton now crossed the Irish Sea, intending to fly down, past Cornwall, to begin his ascent to Jersey, about 30 min- utes flying time away. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a flight of Spitfire fighter aircraft from RAF St Eval in Cornwall appeared on his port side, indicating 'down', and that he should follow them. Thornton had been unable to respond to the British air- crafts' radar-based IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) inter- rogation signals as Irish aircraft were not fitted with the appropriate transponders. A computer-generated Air Corps Supermarine Walrus amphibian. A Walrus taking off in Killiney Bay. Military Archives Collection

• Cover