An Cosantóir

56 By Comdt Stephen Byrne, Air Corps Press Officer THE STORIES THAT MADE THE VAMPIRE AN ICON. THE STORIES THAT MADE THE VAMPIRE AN ICON In 2006, as an Air Corps cadet, I was a member of the 82nd Cadet Class, who had the honour of leading the Defence Forces 90th Anniversary parade commemorating the 1916 Rising. Flying overhead, a formation of Pilatus PC9M's provided both the flypast for the parade and a significant amount of inspiration for this cadet aspiring to be an Air Corps pilot. The flypast reminded me of an old black and white image a classmate had showed me of an older 1916 commemoration parade, but with three distinctive shaped aircraft flying overhead. I subsequently learned these aircraft were called Vampires and the stories of these aircraft had become part of the fabric and history of the Irish Air Corps. In the mid 1950's, the Air Corps needed to replace the Seafire LF. IIIs that had been written-off or withdrawn from use over the previous years. The Department of Defence ordered three Vampire T.55s from the de Havilland Aircraft for delivery in 1956. These aircraft would be a turbojet – powered fighter type aircraft and would welcome the jet age to Baldonnel. Incidentally the new arrivals also triggered the construction of concrete runways and taxiways, and a new control tower to facilitate these modern aircraft. On July 21, 1956, three Vampire T:55s 185, 186 & 187 arrived to Baldonnel Aerodrome and entered service with No. 1 Fighter Squadron. In 1960, the Air Corps found itself needing to replace the Vickers Supermarine Spitfire Tr.9s which were about to be withdrawn from use throughout that year. The Vampires acquired in 1956 for the fighter role, were also at this stage, being used during the later stages of advanced flying training. But once the Spitfires were retired, these three aircraft would be unable to fulfil both the operational and training commitments. Therefore, three more Vampire T:55s, were purchased and in early 1961, tail no 191, 192 & 193 entered service with 'A' Flight, No. 1 Fighter Squadron. The six Vampire T:55s were used by the Air Corps to fulfil a variety of operational requirements. With a fixed armament of two 20mm Hispano cannon and capable of carrying four rocket projectiles on underwing attachments, the Vampires were used in the air to ground role. On one particular air firing exercise in 1963, Comdt Bill Glenn had the misfortune of flying too close to his rounds when a ricochet became lodged in his own wing! The aircraft was used in the ceremonial role and over a 15-year period, the Air Corps was usually represented by the Vampires in a fly-past of the 1916 Commemoration parade over O'Connell St. Dublin. However, arguably the greatest contribution the aircraft provided to the Air Corps, was in training over 200 pilots in the advanced phase of the students flying training. It was during a flying training sortie on 5th May 1961 that one of the most famous Vampire stories emerged. Flying tail num- ber 186, Comdt. Jerry O'Connor (Officer Commanding Fighter Squadron) as instructor and Cadet Ron McPartland, as student pilot, were on a training exercise over Co. Cavan. As the exercise included spin recovery, the aircraft was put into this manoeuvre at an altitude of 30,000 feet. According to McPartland in an inter- view years later for Air Corps DVD Production "On Golden Wings", the spin tightened up. O'Connor initiated recovery action but the aircraft did not respond. McPartland could see his instructor was becoming slightly agitated and he was working to recover the aircraft. O'Connor repeatedly asked his co-pilot what height are we at, but due to the rapid rotation around the vertical axis and extremely high rate of descent, McPartland was unable to read his three pointer altimeter. O'Connor then reversed the control in- puts moving the control column fully back and then fully forward, however the aircraft was not responding. With the aircraft still un- responsive to the spin recovery actions, Comdt O'Connor execut- ed the next step of his spin brief and pulled a lever situated in the centre of his console which immediately jettisoned the aircraft canopy. The rush of incoming air and noise was best described by Cadet McPartland many years later as "all hell breaking loose". The ongoing rapid rate of turn, up to 10,000ft descent rate and Four ship Vampire flypast of the GPO, O'Connell Street during a Defence Forces Easter Rising Commemoration Ceremony. Comdt Bill Glenn standing beside his Vampire after a richochet became lodged in the wing during an air firing exercise. A rare air to air photo of an Irish Air Corps De Havilland Vampire in flight.

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