Jump to content

Irish Air Corps Casement 1983


Recommended Posts

It's not every day that you get to spot most of an air arm's current fleet. However when I was a guest of the Irish Air Corps one day in 1983, that's pretty much how it felt.

Told I could photograph anything except the Great War buildings(!), I snapped away all day. I had a high old time and was even invited to sign the guest book that on a previous page had Charles Lindburgh.

Anyway enough waffle, here are the pix. First off the SF.260's which appeared to be the most numerous type. All had Warner Brothers cartoon stickers on the starboard tailplane:

null_zps208cc104.jpg

null_zpsdcfb9c12.jpg

null_zps9af120f7.jpg

null_zps76e8e42b.jpg

Some Gazelles.......

fa8093ae-8bc8-4fdd-baaa-72a2b2635100_zps

61cc174d-74ad-4ad5-b8f6-b785965c28b6_zps

More in a tick

Trevor

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

.......and some older stuff, some not in the best of health:

Vampire

null_zps0c3724e3.jpg

null_zpsbb9f7543.jpg

null_zps0b84b16f.jpg

Magister

null_zpsebe609af.jpg

on the dump....

null_zps93a4289f.jpg

null_zpse82ffa65.jpg

null_zps2468cfa2.jpg

no photo but next to these derelicts was a Link type trainer. Also, in one of the hangars laying unregarded was a spinner and prop from either a Seafire III or Spitfire Tr.9.

Happy days!

I hope you like the pix.

Trevor

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great pictures of some very interesting subjects (to me at least). Thanks for sharing !

Most of these subjects are in my to-do list. If only I could find an Sf.260...

......or the zaps to go on the tail!

Glad you like them.

Trevor

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Inwonder why they were so prissy about pics of the Great War buildings? Maybe that's where the Mig 21s armed with nukes were kept on QRA...

No idea, but the officer escorting us on our trip was very polite about it. A Cavalryman (how did he end up in Casement?!) he confessed that he knew little of the aircraft, but even he regretted that the IAC has not sought fit to preserve a Seafire or Tr.9. As I mentioned above, all that was left was the spinner/prop. I pointed it out to our host. I wonder what happened to it?0

As an aside, a few Seafire hulks lasted into the 60's only to be finally scrapped when the space was needed for filming the Blue Max. There was one that made it to a Dublin technical college. Surviving bits of it I believe are now the basis of a restoration/recreation somewhere.

Trevor

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...