In the years between the two World Wars, airport runways tended to be made of grass and could accommodate only aircraft of a very modest weight.
The flying boat, though, was by its nature free of such restrictions, and in the case of oceanic routes it had perfect landing areas, not just at its destination, but at any point en route it might need in emergency.
By the early 1930s, it was possible to contemplate a scheduled flying boat service across the North Atlantic, but the distance even between the opposing extremities of the two continents was close to the maximum range of the aircraft of the time and suitable landing sites close to these extremities had to be identified.
The pioneer aviator, Charles Lindbergh, was engaged by the airlines to advise on prospective landing places which would serve as stepping-stones between the old world and the new. On the European side of the Atlantic, after investigating possible sites in Galway and in Cork, Lindbergh finally settled on the calm, landlocked waters of the Shannon Estuary.
Thus it was that the little village of Foynes, Co Limerick, appeared for the first time on aviation maps. Sixty-four years ago tomorrow, the people of Foynes crowded on the local jetty to watch the first arrival. On the afternoon of February 25th, 1937, the harbour-master arranged for the landing area to be clear of boats.
Shortly after 5 p.m., the Imperial Airways flying boat Cambria, which had left Southampton three hours before, circled the estuary before settling gently down upon the Shannon and drifting shorewards to wards the waiting crowds.
A comprehensive weather service was essential to transatlantic flying operations. A team of weathermen from the newly established Irish Meteorological Service had arrived in Foynes in early February, and set up a forecasting office in a back room of what had been the Monteagle Arms Hotel.
An observing station was established in a nearby field, facilities for launching weather balloons were installed near the pier and arrangements were made for receiving worldwide weather reports by radio. Soon the forecasters were producing daily weather maps which showed the weather patterns right across the North Atlantic.
In the two years which followed, an exhaustive succession of transatlantic "proving flights" were undertaken.
The first scheduled passenger flight from Newfoundland landed at Foynes on June 28th, 1939. The little village occupied centre stage in transatlantic aviation until operations transferred across the river to Rineanna in 1945. By then, the era of the flying boat was almost over.