An Cosantóir

16 during the Civil War (1922-23) as a result of the slow supply of aircraft, experience, operational requirements and equipment. The 1923 and 1924 Defence Acts saw the Irish military evolve while compounded by the post conflict demobilisation and the Army Emergency. In the initial years after the Civil War the Irish Air Service transformed slowly into the Irish Air Corps as the supply of personnel, aircraft and facilities improved somewhat. In those early decades the Air Corps flew a small array of biplane aircraft including the Bristol Fighter, Avro 5O4, SE5A, HD60 Moth, Vickers Vespa, Martinsyde Bussard, DH9, Faery IIIF, Avro 626 and 636 and DH Dragon types. Irish military aviation though, would never fill the footprint of the RAF in Ireland, it was a different time and as the saying goes 'the past is a foreign country.' The Century of Irish military aviation operations seemed then to navigate in response to lim- ited resources, investment and in urgent times the need for urgency. The first years of the National Army saw large numbers of Great War, IRA, War of Independence and Civil War veterans serving and the Air Service was no different, as it had people who were a mixture of all of these, sometimes adding to periods of animosity. The Air Corps Today, on the Centenary of the Irish Air Corps, the air component of the Defence Forces, is provided by Para 18 of the Defence Acts 1954 with command currently vested in a Brigadier General, who also holds the ap- pointment of Director of Military Aviation. The Current General Officer Commanding the Air Corps, Brigadier General Rory O' Connor is also a military pilot whose flying training commenced in the same Cadet Scheme dating back to 1926 to select and produce future pilots, and which is still in use today. In 1943, during the Irish Emergency period of WWII, a shortage of pilots result- ed in the first and only time NCOs qualified as military pilots in the Air Corps. A total of 462 personnel have successfully earned their military pilot's wing through the Air Corps Flying Training School, the most recent of them on the day of the Centenary. In the 1920s and 30s Baldonnell was the only active aerodrome in Ireland and during this period the in- frastructure and the Air Corps itself were put on the romantic mantle of aviation by being instrumental in the first conquering of the Atlantic by air from east to west, when Major James Fitzmaurice helped crew a Junkers W33 aeroplane known as the 'Bremen.' The now famous aircraft departed the base on its epic 36 & ½ hour flight to the American continent on the morn- ing of the 12th April 1928. The 1930s also saw the intermittent arrival of various training aircraft types as well as four Gloster Gladiator biplane fighters, which necessitated the introduction of a properly developed system of technical ability in aircraft maintenance. By 1936 the Boy Apprentice Scheme had been established, ensuring a steady supply of technicians in response to requirements of the period. This decade too witnessed the commencement of operations at Baldonnell of the two initial civil airlines in Ireland – Iona Airways in 1930 and Aer Lingus in 1936. One other major development during this time was the commencement of training of officers in the Air Traffic Control services evolving into both military and civil experience and operations which still benefits Ireland and the Air Corps to this day. Minutes of meeting in GHQ on 23 March 1922 to establish Irish Air Service (Military Archives) Minutes of meeting in GHQ on 23 March 1922 recording appointment of McSweeney and Russell as Directors of Military and Civil Aviation in Irish Air Service (Military Archives) A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE IRISH AIR CORPS 1922-2022

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