Another Michael Collins story of a sort. Anyone who has ever been in the Officers Mess at Baldonnel will know of it. For there they have a part of a propeller of the plane which is at the heart of the tale. Donal Mac Carron's book Wings Over Ireland: The Story of the Irish Air Corps, tells how a red-haired young Irishman, a former RAF officer, showed a great interest in a five-seater plane that was in the hands of an organisation called the Air Disposal Company, a Martinsyde Type A Mk biplane. This was Charlie Russell, later to be known as the co-founder of the Air Corps. He had money from the Irish Self-Determination League (Pounds 2,600) and persisted in a series of test flights in December 1921 while the Treaty negotiations went on. The aim of the purchase, according to Mac Carron's book, was to ensure a safe escape for Collins should the negotiations fail.
They didn't break down and the negotiators went back to Dublin by rail and sea. The plane was later crated to Ireland and Russell named her The Big Fella. Later, it was renamed The City of Dublin. Mary O'Sullivan tells the story in the course of her book reviews in the July-August issue of Ireland of the Welcomes. Mac Carron further tells us that this historic plane was relegated to the corner of a hangar and used as an instructional air-frame. It languished, he says, until 1935, when space considerations directed that it should be reduced to matchwood.
"When the National Museum of Ireland came to look for this unique exhibit, nothing remained of The Big Fella but its log book and a few souvenirs, notably the propeller boss which, suitably inscribed, has an honoured place within the Officers' Mess at Baldonnel." Tout passe, tout casse.
This issue of the magazine has much good reading for the visitor and for home consumption. On the cover a striking picture of Galway hookers by Brian Lynch;
Ormond Castle and its remarkable plaster work; pictures of the work of six craft workers in Ennis, every item of which you'd like to have. Mary Leland on Fota, that wonderland. And then the Goodwillies of Lavistown and the cheese of that name, also of many other useful green activities.
Christopher Moriarty on Byways rather than Highways and much else.