Sir, - Brendan McWilliams' "Weather Eye" is one of the most interesting of your daily gems and is normally 100 per cent reliable. However in his piece on February 25th, he fell for the tale that Lindbergh identified Foynes as the ideal site for a transatlantic gateway. In fact, Foynes was always an interim site, landplane activities being planned from the beginning, and Lindbergh did not settle on the site.
H.W. O'Sullivan (who retired as chief aeronautical officer of the Department of Industry and Cornmerce) has written a detailed account of the selection of Shannon in his book An Irishman's Aviation Sketch book (Dublin, 1988). He describes how he, then assistant aeronautical engineer of the Air Corps, and F.G. Hancock, then a junior technical officer of the British Air Ministry, explored the alternatives and recommended Shannon (Rineanna) in late November 1935. "The Government approved the site and directed that work should begin immediately on the development of the airport".
Lindbergh did not come into the picture until much later. He flew over the selected site in December 1936.
O'Sullivan (who is still the active president of the Republic of Ireland Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society) goes on to say: "It is amusing to note that to mark the occasion of the 21 st anniversary of the opening of Shannon Airport, it was proposed that a plaque be mounted in the terminal building to the effect that the site had been `discovered' by Juan Trippe and Charles Lindbergh. However, when it was pointed out that the original and true discoverers were not two distinguished aviation celebrities but were only two junior civil servants, one Irish and one British, the idea of a commemorative plaque faded into oblivion!"
O'Sullivan goes on to refer to de Valera's first flight, with Lindbergh. He had said that he would never fly except with Lindbergh, and could scarcely turn down the offer when it was made. There is a well-known photograph of de Valera in flying kit, which presumably refers to this occasion. - Yours, etc.,
Belmont Gardens, Dublin 4.