An Cosantóir

69 near Navan. They operated from there in support of the second brigade (Col. Touhy) during manoeu- vres. They flew intensively during the two-month deployment which ended 2nd July. It demonstrated the detachment's ability to operate effectively and independently of the main unit, due no doubt to the ability of the ground crews to keep them flying. Rev- eille was at 02.00 hrs and flying often commenced at 03.30 hrs ending at around 18.00hrs. An Avro Cadet operated communication flights in support of the flight. On the return of A flight to Baldonnel Capt. Jimmy O'Brien took B flight's Lysanders to Fermoy for a period of four months. 1942 manoeuvres In September 1942 large scale manoeuvres were held in the South with the Air Corps heavily committed. Units of the Fighter Squadron, for the duration of the exercises, were formed into the Second Air Com - ponent, and were based at the so called "secret" landing ground at Rathduff. The aircraft used were Lysanders Hinds and Hectors and many suffered damage as a result of the rough landings on the largely unprepared surfaces. Units from Rineanna were also involved and as part of the first Air Com- ponent, Magisters operated out of Glenville near Fermoy. During the exercises, Walrus 20 crashed and was written off; fortunately without fatalities. A Flight's Gladiator remained at Baldonnel for fighter defence. Following reorganisation of the squadron, Hawker Hurricanes at last arrived with deliveries com- mencing in July 1943. Comdt KT Curran took over command with Capt. D K Johnson as A flight com- mander and Capt. O'Brien in command of B flight. Other flying personnel with the squadron at that time included Lts. Quigley, Cusack, Cregg, Winter- son, Howard, Carr, Maloney, Kelleher, Crehan and Flanagan. Just prior to the arrival of the Hurricanes the squadron had moved to Rineanna. Three Miles Masters newly arrived were sent to reinforce the unit there, pending the awaited Hurricanes. The squad- rons stay at Rineanna was not a happy period. Due to the lack of spares for the Hurricanes (which were old with many hours up), flying was curtailed and this is borne out by the low number of flying hours accumulated. Better news was ahead, however; a decision was made in 1944 that Rineanna should be evacuated to make way for the preparations for its future role as the trans-Atlantic terminal known as Shannon Airport. Instructions were received to evacuate as and from 1 May 1945. The squadron flew up to its new base at Gormanston and happier times ensued. Baldonnel hosted the inter-unit competition at Gormanston on two occasions. The winners were Comdt. Curran and Capt. Ryan from the Headquar - ters flight on both occasions in 1943 and 1944, in what was described as first class shooting in the Hurricanes. Comdt. Curran left the squadron in 1946 to become Camp Commandant at Baldonnel. The new appoint- ment was Comdt. Paddy Swan who stayed for 10 years. His appointment coincided with the immi- nent introduction of the 12 Seafires, the first four of which were delivered to Baldonnel on the 17 Febru- ary 1947 by Comdt. Swan, Capt. Ryan, O'Connor and Johnson. The delivery operation was not without problems. 1947 was the year of the very bad winter. On 13 January Capt. Woods took off from Baldon- nel in Avro 19 no 142 with the inspection party, consisting of Comdt. Horgan, Capt. Teague and C/ Sgt. Browne. With the inspection completed the Avro 19 left South Marston on Wednesday 15th and set course for Speke where it arrived to clear cus- toms. Due to deteriorating weather conditions they were held up until the following Friday. On Monday the 20th, Capt. Woods, this time flying Avro 19 no 141, left Baldonnel and picked up the four pilots at Gormanston and flew to South Marston. With the acceptance test flights completed the four Seafires, no's 146, 147, 148, and 149 and the Avro 19 took off at 12 noon on the 24th and set course for Spike. Bad weather forced the four Seafires to land at RAF High Ercall near Shrewsbury, the Avro 19 was able to land at Speke under radio control and continue on to Bal - donnel, just getting out before the weather further deteriorated. The Seafires could not work Speke as they had not got VHF at the time. This resulted in the four remaining at High Ercall until the weather improved and they succeeded in getting away on the 17th February. During this time the personnel had been increased with the appointment of some of the Sergeant pilots. The squadron with its new aircraft undertook BEAGACH FIACHMAR – NO 1 FIGHTER SQUADRON Fighter Squadron Unit Pennant

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