Sir, - As one who had a small part in recording the 50 years history of Shannon Airport in the RTE documentary, Marsh to the Sky, I must take issue with your correspondent, Joseph Hennessy (January 15th), who seems to have got his facts out of line on some points.
It was to Shannon Rowing Club, not Limerick Boat Club that I brought Danny Kaye and his friends when they were diverted to Shannon in an emergency in 1951. They were returning to New York after a notable appearance at the London Palladium. The air craft on which they were travelling was a Pan American Airways Stratocruiser, not a DC4 as stated.
The Skymaster (DC4) was capable of flying at 200 m.p.h. as proved by the first commercial flight on October 24th, 1945 which made the 1,800 mile crossing from Gander to Shannon in eight hours 28 minutes. The second aircraft an hour later flew from Boston to Shannon in 13 hours again exceeding 200 m.p.h. from take off to touch down. The Douglas company gave the DC4 a speed of 215 m.p.h. with 44 passengers and 73,000 lbs take off weight.
While accepting that Irish Airlines were not on the Atlantic at the beginning, the first of the Lockheed constellation aircraft with the green sham rocks on their tails for the proposed transatlantic service arrived at Shannon on September 30th, 1947. I travelled on to Dublin Airport on the St Patrick, piloted by Captain Stanley Williams. The St Brendan, piloted by Captain Tommy Hanley and the St Bridget flown by Captain Richard Westlake remained at Shannon for crew training. In February, 1948, the new interparty government under An Taoiseach, John A. Costello, gave orders for the suspension of the service on economic grounds. It took 10 years and a change of government before the Irish flag returned to the Atlantic in the form of a "wet lease" arrangement with Seaboard and Western Airlines.
While they were important, I do not agree that the non scheduled airlines were "the bread and butter" of Shannon. This was provided by BAA, AOA, TWA, BOAC, Sabena, KLM, Air France and TCA (Air Canada). Thirty five years ago Aer Lingus achieved 45 per cent of the total IrelandNorth America air traffic and since then the company has had a significant role in the continuance of Shannon Airport. - Yours, etc.,
President and Trustee.
Shannon Rowing Club,
Limerick.