An Cosantóir

35 They were preparing the foundations of the Irish Air Service and what would eventually become the Irish Air Corps. Ireland had witnessed almost ten years of conflict in the form of the Great War, the 1916 Rising and the War of Independence. The Civil War was just about on the horizon. There was a lot resting on their shoulders and those were dangerous times still. Collins knew the importance of aviation to the commercial survival of the new State and it is said that he relayed to the Irish negotiating team that 'Britannica had ruled the waves for 800 years and that aviation shouldn't brought up in the Irish context.' Hence there is only a short paragraph in the Treaty regarding the RAF defending coastal forts in times of trouble. On the 31st January 1922 No. 141 Squadron RAF – 11 Irish Wing disbanded at Baldonnel and 100 Squadron departed on the 4th February. Later, 'on a cold chilly morning that February' Commandant Vinney Byrne, former member of Collins' Active Service Unit travelled to RAF Baldonnel in a crossly tender from Beggars Bush Barracks. He was in Baldonnel to meet Group Captain Bonham-Carter, Commander of 11th Irish Wing, to discuss Irish Military Forces entering the aerodrome. On Thursday 23rd March 1922 an auspicious meeting was held in GHQ, attended by members of the Government, including Michael Collins Minister for Finance, and officers of the General Staff. The agenda included Schemes of Control for Aeronautical Matters and the establishment of The Irish Air Council and Air Service. The handing over of RAF Baldonnel – Training Depot Station No. 23 and Operational Headquarters of the Royal Air Force in Ireland to Irish military control was also discussed. The minutes of that meeting also record the appointments of 'Commandant General W. J. Mc Sweeney as Director of Military Aviation and Charles F. Russell as Director of Civil Aviation and Secretary to the Air Council.' Those appointments and the establishment of the Irish Air Service set in train the evolution of Irish Military Aviation as opposed to military aviation in Ireland with all of that term's related connotations and it is that date we mark as our birthday. Our history and our stories and all who served. 105 Sqn cira 1980 10th RACCC taken from Military Archives collection Members of the Air Corps, taken from the Hanley collection on Military Archives HISTORY OF THE AIR CORPS

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