The Shannon Aero Club and Coonagh Airfield
1939-1963
by
On 27th August 1939 flying enthusiast Maurice Quillinan then, Secretary, Limerick Branch, of the Irish Junior Aviation Club invited some friends to a meeting at the National Hotel, Limerick. Amongst those in attendance were the late Arthur Toppin, Shannon Laundry and P.F Quinlan MD. Limerick Motor Works and from this meeting stemmed what came to be known as the Shannon Aero Club.
Maurice Quillinan former assistant Harbor Master was the founder member of the Club. Retired, now Maurice lives with his wife Frances at their home in the Mill Road, Corbally Limerick.
The war unfortunately prevented the Aero Club from actively engaging in flying until 1946 when they commenced their flying operation at Shannon Airport, which at that time was the designated North Atlantic stop for all in and out bound North Atlantic traffic.
Captain William [Bill] St.John Kearney, and Captain Neville Stack, both Royal Flying Corps, were the first two pilots to land an aircraft at Coonagh Airfield. Captain Kearney went on to become the Club's first instructor, and Captain Stack who incidentally was a relative of Maurice Quillinan's.] went on to become General Manager , Orient Airways. Pakistan
After Second World War the Royal Flying Corps became known as the Royal Air Force.
Membership comprised of all professions, three of whom were Sam Pratt, George Brown and Tommy Compobosso, who were associated with American Overseas Airlines operating into Shannon at that time. These went on to purchase three Piper Cubs that were shipped by sea in large containers. The containers ended up being used as the Clubhouse in Shannon.
The Club were deeply indebted to the late Captain P.J. Saul of Shannon ATC whose invaluable assistance allowed these Club non radio equipped aircraft operate amongst the commercial traffic that transited that Airport.
Shannon's status as a Duty Free Airport presented insurmountable problems one of which required that a Customs officer inspect the aircraft on each landing due to regulations as brought on by Shannon’s changed status to a "Duty Free Airport". This prompted Arthur Toppin to purchase the lands at Coonagh which he allowed the Club to operate from.
Club members built the hangar there in 1946 and the place was officially opened in 1947 with an Air Display.
Two Rapide aircraft from Weston one flown by Captain Darby Kennedy arrived on opening day to give pleasure flights. The commercial aspect of the operation had however to be abandoned since, loaded, these aircraft were unable to safely operate from the field without the assistance of a head wind.
Coonagh continually suffered from a drainage problem. The late P.G Collier and Jim Lawlor used their engineering skills to the utmost battling this problem. The late John Cronin, caretaker for many years, spent fifty per cent of his time digging silt from the drains in an effort to keep the place a land rather than a sea base. This now fortunately has been cleared up.
As the Club progressed, Dan Fincher became the second instructor followed by Bob Cusack, Maurice Quillinan [who was also founder member and instructor for the Glider Club which was located at Shannon Airport for a short period] Bert Svensen, Hayden Lawford and Joe Creagh. The Shannon Aero Club’s Auster aircraft was used primarily for instruction purposes.
The Club also owned a four seater Miles Messenger aircraft which became part of the flying Circus going around the Country giving joy flights. Prior to such an operation it was necessary to have approval from the Department of Transport and Power who licensed the proposed field. Maurice Quinillan handled all such requests on behalf of the Club. Several fields around the Country which included Farmers Cross in Cork, Oranmore in Galway, Ballybunion in Co. Kerry were licensed allowing aircraft to operate from them.
On occasional Sundays, depending on the weather naturally, the Messenger under the command of Bob Cusack would leave Coonagh early in the morning heading for one of the many Government licensed fields around the Country to give pleasure flights. The ground support transport was supplied by " Colonel " Toppin. Several Club members would travel with him to act as ticket sellers and help with, crowd control, with every one ensuring that they had sufficient sandwiches for a full day which lasted on occasions from 9.a.m to 10.p.m that same night.
As the Shannon Aero Club was the only Flying Club in the South, they, on specific days and weather permitting would send an Auster to Cork or Galway to give members living in those areas instruction.
There was usually a big gathering at the Club on Sunday and the aroma of sizzling bacon, sausages puddings drew one to the large table in the Club House, where members and their friends could come sit and enjoy a hearty evening meal.
On crubeen party nights (now this was ever before women had the freedom that would entitle them to attend such an affair, not like today, in other words the time when the man thought he was the boss.) The men would take delivery of six or seven dozen cooked pigs toes, transported raw that same morning to the flight kitchen in Shannon and which one member carried steaming in his car back to the Club premises at Coonagh that same night. These in turn were consumed at the party, {invitation only}, by Club members who just went and turned the tap on the barrel whose creamy liquid helped wash down the grizzly salty toes or the table where large cakes of brown bread were cut and ready to be covered with the Kerry Gold of the time. Such occasions caused non-members crave inclusion on the guest list.
The Aero Club always had a licensed engineer employed. The first of these was Lynn Colhoun. Then came Billy Fagan who was formerly with the Ards Aero Club Newtownards N.I. and after him came John Rennison. . Sam Pratt who was a licensed FAA A&P engineer was always readily available to offer assistance. Complete maintenance was carried out on Club aircraft in the Nissan hut, which now houses the fire engine. Aircraft were recovered in there. This involved first of all stripping it down and then covering it with Irish linen. After this the covering would be sprayed with dope Each coat would be allowed to dry before another coat was applied to bring the covering up to the required specifications. While this was in operation the hut had to be kept at a specific temperature while eight or nine coats of this paint or dope as it was called was applied. Now one hears of glue sniffing but ever before that was heard of, anyone that was involved in this doping operation at Coonagh unknowingly did this. Within the confines of the hut one was masked during this operation and one felt fine but on coming into the fresh air, you stepped as it were from cloud to cloud, high as a kite and that was forty years ago. And the little boys around today think it was they who discovered the effect glue sniffing has on people
The Shannon Aero Club had what they now call a number of incidents in its time.
One Austere was lost on Mutton Island. just off Miltown Malbay. The pilot who was on vacation in Ireland from Kuala Lumpur, was a member of the from Kuala Lumpur Aero Club, and was not injured .It was necessary to retrieve the aircraft from the island. With the assistance of late Dan O’Leary and the ESB who loaned the Aero club a large pontoon on which the remains of the Auster was moved from Mutton Island over the Atlantic to Miltown Malbay and trucked back to Coonagh Airfield.
On another occasion the late Sam Pratt and Red McDonnell went visiting to the Regional Hospital. They waved as they flew by the window, and Red told me on returning before the police arrived at Coonagh that they saw Doctor Nash who was the resident surgeon there at the time " take out a fellow's appendix" as they flew by. This regrettably ended in a court case and the Justice did not appreciate the difficulty Sam had trying to keep the plane in the air and avoid the hospital due " down drafts."
CIE objected when one of their schedules from Shannon to Limerick was disrupted due to its driver having to pull his vehicle off the road into the ditch in order to avoid an on coming Piper Cub. This again ended in a court case and the Justice on this occasion listened as Sam told him he was practicing emergency landings and not that there was someone on the bus which he wanted to impress.
At one time there were three Chipmunks at Coonagh, which had been purchased for £720.00 each from the Irish Air Corps who were graduating to jets and needed the money as a down payment. Sam Pratt, Jimmy Chadwick, jointly owned these and Nick Cotter. People on seeing these parked there wondered if the Air Corps had moved from Casement to Coonagh. (It is reported that one of these Chipmunks was recently sold for £30,000)
In August 1957 the Shannon Aero Club held what could be called the first Air Display in the Country at Shannon Airport. This was done with the intention of raising funds. The late Paddy Duggan was responsible for organizing this whole affair. The American Air Force accepted the Club’s invitation to send along their aerial aerobatics team "The Blue Angels " to participate in the Display but the Government of the time objected to the presence of "Foreign fighter type aircraft infringing a neutral country’s Air Space" and so they were unfortunately not allowed to participate. This Air Display drew so such crowds from all over the Country, that the police forced those selling tickets at the gate which was at the boundary of the Airport to stop doing so in an effort to unravel the many traffic jams on the road into Shannon Maurice Quillinan who was on aerial survey duty reported traffic bumper to bumper from the boundary of Shannon Airport to Lansdowne Bridge. If all who attended had paid there would never again have been financial problems but alas.
However the Club did have a steady source of income from the couple of yearly dances which they ran at the Stella Ballroom in Limerick.
The Clipper Carlton Band, always playing to capacity houses and famed, I don't know whether it was for the noise or the music but boy could they make people hop. They would be rebooked on the night they played to return as soon as possible and it was usually ten to twelve months before they would have an available date.
Months later The Royal Show Band under Brendan Bowyer would come along and do their utmost to outdo the Carltons in both noise and music again at the Stella ballroom.
This band peaked when Bowyer burst into the lyrics of the " Hucklebuck ". Screaming females, finding it difficult to contain themselves were unable to quickly remove their knee length double gusset elasticized pink drawers (now reduced to panties) instead toyed, with the idea of throwing bras at their heartthrob. But the problem of having to explain where it had gone on arriving home dictated they contain themselves and helped dampen their lustful cravings.
Brendan Bowyer is still on the bandwagon in Las Vegas, now probably making in a month what it took him a year to make here
The late renowned Mick Delahunty and his orchestra had all and sundry tip toeing around the Stella much to their enjoyment enabling the Club's treasurer the late Timmy Moran smirk at the bank manager on depositing the proceeds while no doubt thinking " So what about the overdraft? Aren’t we putting money in."
These dances together, with the flying were one of the sources of income. Which went on year after year.
Rena Ryan Secretary of the Ladies Committee was responsible for the very successful running of one of the Clubs raffles, the first prize of which was a round trip ticket to the United States (this was in the DC4 days) .The Club through Rena's efforts made a very handsome profit on this and one of the few tickets sold in United Kingdom proved to be the lucky one.
And this was all done to keep the Coonagh ground and the planes in the air.
Over the years like all over clubs it had its up and down, but always managed to survive. After Arthur Toppin's death the property was sold but still kept its status as an airfield In 1963, the premises were occupied by the Limerick Flying Club, who are the present operators there. This Club presently has available two Rallye aircraft for instruction, a Beech for Instrument Rating Instruction and a twin can be made readily available for multi-ratings and renewals. Qualified Government approved Instructors are on hand to furnish instruction and help in any way they can.