Welcome to the website, I hope to provide some background into the content of this site and my reasons for putting it together.
This period in Irish history is referred to, with some under statement as, "The Emergency". This name stems from the Emergency Powers Act 1939, which was in force during the war, in Ireland.
On the crash
listing, there are about 180 incidents involving crashes
and emergency landings of foreign military aircraft in Ireland
and the surrounding seas in the 1939 to 1945 period. These have
been the subject of many books and articles and some of these
formed the original basis for the site. The information on this
site concerns aircraft landings on or around the territory of
the 26 counties of Ireland, or Eire in the Irish language,
during the period 1939 to 1945 involving foreign aircraft. I
have listed my sources against each aircraft both to show these
and as a reading aid for others. Where possible, I have pointed
out errors in those sources where I have been able to determine
such errors. The work on this site is only a small part of the
excellent work that has been carried out from the 1980's onward
by a number of researchers in Ireland and abroad. I am but one
other and I like to think I have brought some new avenues to the
research.
It is worth noting that the Irish Military Archives in Cathal
Brugha Barracks in Dublin has files concerning about 165
aircraft. My list contains just over 200, what makes up the
balance you may ask? I have included in this list some entries
which I believe account for errors in other sources, for example
where a published author has incorrectly associated a date with
the loss of an aircraft. Another type of entry are those that
were not recorded by the Irish Military authorities because they
were too far off shore or have been recorded incorrectly as
being in Ireland. These I have indicated in the 'Notes/Sources'
field.
Where you see the following button on the main
page
Click on it as it will bring you to an illustrated feature
article about the crew and the incident they were involved
in.
Alternatively, browse the pinned map on the front page (and below) to check for incidents that may have occurred near by.
Typically I will have been able to contact relatives of the crew
member or in a small few cases, one of the actual
veterans. The vast majority of what I have content on here
is relates to Allied crews, British, American, Australian,
Canadian, New Zealand, Norwegian and French personnel.
Note also for a moment the column showing the numbers of those
killed in some of these incidents. I will update this
information as I get it. Spare a thought for the memories of
these young British, German, American, Polish, Canadian, Kiwi,
Norwegian and others, whose lives were lost on or around the
Island during this time. While the remains of most of the
British airmen who lost their lives in Ireland were returned to
their home authorities and are buried in the UK where they came
from or in Northern Ireland, the remains of German airmen were
interred locally near the crash sites. After the war's end,
their remains were moved and interred in Glencree War Cemetery
in Wicklow during . A small number of Allied air crew are buried
in the Republic of Ireland however and these will be mentioned
in the text. Those airmen from Canada, Australia, Poland and
elsewhere that died would not be returned to their home
countries due to the obvious difficulties of wartime transport
and they lie in cemeteries across Northern Ireland and in the
United Kingdom. As noted on the sheet itself, the totals I have
come to on the list are generated from a spreadsheet and due to
the reasons above do not accurately reflect the actual number of
airmen / passengers involved in what might be considered as
'Crashes and Emergency Landings of aircraft of the Belligerent
Nations in World War Two'. Further more, of those who survived
their visits to Ireland, almost 60 more of these men would loose
their lives subsequently in training or combat missions during
the war. The term 'Belligerent' is used due to its being the
term used during the Emergency by the Irish authorities to
denote personnel, aircraft and ships belonging to the nations
engaged in the war. Below are some rough figures which
reflect the quantities of personnel and machines involved.
- About 217 Allied personnel on 39 aircraft flew out under
their own steam, after repairs, rest or refuel. These were
largely from the established airfields at Collinstown, Rinneanna
and Baldonnel plus a number of beaches and the odd field.
- About 254 allied personnel were brought to the border and were not interned even temporarily after crashes or damage to their aircraft, from about 52 crashes or landings.
- And about 23 allied personnel evaded or landed in Northern Ireland, from about seven landings. Two were landings where the planes took off before any Garda, LDF or Army got to the location.
- 36 aircraft were destroyed in crashes that cost the lives of
206 Allied personnel. The remains of all those were not
recovered as some of the events took place in the seas off the
coast.
This doesn't include men and planes that were killed and
destroyed in the incident . Also doesn't include German numbers.
In reading the 'Pilot/Crew/Pax' Column of the list the
following notes are to be taken into account:
Where an airman or passenger was killed in the incident in
Ireland, that person's name is marked with the symbol '+' to
indicate their death.
For German aircraft, it is taken that all crew members were
German though they may have been Austrian and their homes may
have ended up in areas given over to Germany's neighbors post
war.
For American aircraft, all members are taken to be American but
there are one or two occasions where British or Commonwealth
airmen were on board or there were passengers on the aircraft in
question. Where this occurs, a note such as 'RAF' or the persons
nationality will be noted.
For British aircraft, i.e. those listed as RAF (Royal Air
Force), FAA (Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm) and BOAC (British
Overseas Airways Corporation), it is to be assumed that all
persons are British unless they are members of a Commonwealth
armed forces. In this latter case, the abbreviation for that
force will appear after the persons name, i.e. RAAF for
Australians, RNZAF for New Zealand airmen and RCAF for
Canadians. In other case's, the airmen may have been a member of
the forces of the occupied nations, in which case this will be
noted as PolAF - Polish, RNAF, Royal Norwegian Air Force etc.
Finally, if the airman is a civilian, the nationality will be
stated where known and the letters 'Civ' included. There are a
number of cases where Canadians, as an example, were serving
members of the Royal Air Force, in this case the listing does
not identify them as being Canadian.
In addition to the above notes, the 'Pilot/Crew/Pax' column
contains the following information also where I have been able
to determine it.
-
DIS - Where an airman died in war time subsequent to the incident listed in Ireland. They may not have died 'in action' but did not survive the war. The letters DIS are to signify that they 'Died in Service' sometime after their incident in Ireland, from injuries unrelated to the incident in Ireland. The more normal means of identifying such casualties would be KIA, Killed in Action or KOAS, Killed on Active Service or the American term DNB, Died Non Battle.
-
POW - Where an airman became a Prisoner of War of one of the belligerent nations. As all German survivors were interned by the Irish authorities this refers to Allied airmen only.
-
(Int) - Indicates that the airman was Interned by the Irish authorities. (Esc) - A few examples of where interned airmen escaped from the Irish authorities.
-
(Civ) - Where the person was a civilian, mainly in the case of airmen on the RAF Ferry operations across the Atlantic or Air Transport Auxiliary.
The issue of those airmen who were interned formed much of the
basis for the early interest in the wartime incidents in
Ireland. Throughout the war, all German crews who landed in
Ireland were interned. At the start of the war, Allied crews,
mainly British and Commonwealth airmen were interned in most
cases, but not always. This was most prevalent during 1940 and
1941. As the war progressed and in particular with the entry of
America into the war, it became clear that if Ireland interned
any serving United States personnel it would cause great
embarrassment to the Irish government. From 1942 onward a
process was followed where by only those airmen flying
operational missions would be interned. And even this was not
very strictly followed as no members of the RAF's Coastal
Command patrol aircraft were interned during this later war
period.
Further reading on the subject can be found on the following
books, thesis and articles:
Altmanninger, Nicole
"Die Gefangenen der Grünen Insel" - Irlands Neutralität
während des zweiten Weltkrieges mit besonderem Fokus auf
deutsche und österreichische "Prisoners of War" im
Internierungslager Curragh Camp
Dwyer, T. Ryle : Guests of the State [Brandon Books,
Dingle 1994]
Fitzpatrick, Christopher : The Unknown Ally:
Irish Neutrality during World War II and a Consolidated Model
Analysis of its Effects on Anglo-Irish, This work is
posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries.
Girdlestone, Bruce : Prisoner of the Green Article in
The War Years, New Zealanders Remember 1939-1945, [Platform
Publishing, Wellington, New Zealand 1989]
Horgan, Justin and Cummins, Paddy Luftwaffe Eagles over
Ireland [Horgan Press, Ardfert, Co. Kerry 2016]
Keefer, Ralph Grounded in Éire – the Story of Two RAF
Fliers Interned in Ireland during World War II [McGill-Queen’s
University Press, Montreal 2001]
Kelly, Bernard, Military Internees, Prisoners of War and
the Irish State during the Second World War (Palgrave
Macmillan 2015)) - A preview of the first
chapter can be found on Google books.
McCarron, Donal Landfall Ireland, The Story of Allied
and German aircraft which came down in Éire in World War Two
[Colourprint Books, Newtownards C.
Down 2003]
The toys sold in Dublin
made by German World War II soldiers,
https://14henriettastreet.ie/
A list of the Allied airmen interned during the war, and their dates of escape and release are presented below.
How much was known by the public in Ireland and abroad during
the War?
using a simple sample method of irish and foreign newspapers
from newspapers.com website there were infrequent mentions in
international newspapers when escapes took place or when men,
particularly from Canada, escaped or were released.
Canadians featured highly in the ranks of the internees with
seven RCAF members, R F Tees, F W Tisdall, P O Webster, C S
Brady, R G Keefer, J P Calder and G D Fowler, as well as two
Canadians serving in the RAF itself, L J Ward and J G
Flemming. As each of the men were interned, the offical
casualty lists published in newspapers
Searching for the term "Curragh Camp" in Irish, UK, Canadian
and US newspapers reveals the following patterns.
1941
The new year started out with a small article published across
Canada with various headings such as, Neutrality or Contrast
On the same day it was announced that
two British airmen had been interned in Eire and that a
Toronto airman who bailed out of his plane, which then
crashed in New York State, was returned to this country.
January 22nd would see the papers mention the Curragh Camp
again, this time to report on the recapture of four internees
who had absconded from the camp.
The arrival in Ireland of RAF officer L G Ward, a
Vancouver man serving in the Royal Air Force, illicited a flurry
of activity at the end of January.
In early March 1941, the following short snippet was published in many Canadian Newspapers:
German airmen and Royal Air Force
fliers attend the same church at the Curragh
internment camp in Eire. Twelve R. A. F. men
and 11 Germans, crews of planes that crashed
on Eire soil or in territorial waters, were at a
service conducted by Rev. H. Vere Flint, camp
chaplain. "I am neutral and was troubled at
first how to place the internees," Mr. Flint
said. "I didn't want to put the R. A. F. in front of
the Germans so they now keep to separate
sides of the church."
A slightly longer
version of the article appeared in The Toronto Star on the
22nd of March 1941, which mentioned the process of parole
and went on to say:
The R.A.F. men wear uniform sometimes with flannel trousers
and civilian raincoats. They can use their English bank
accounts. One pilot officer is taking a correspondence
course at Dublin university.
They are allowed to visit cinemas at Kildare, Newbridge and
Kilcullen, and three times a week they have the use of the
Curragh swimming bath.
The Germans wear suits of Irish tweed supplied by the German
minister in Dublin. They are paid by the German legation.
They use the Curragh swimming bath on the three days of the
week the R.A.F. men do not use it.
A suggestion that the R.A.F. men and the Germans should play
a football match was vetoed.
The March arrival of two British airmen from an aircraft
down in Galway Bay also was the subject of small articles,
and this pattern of printing the Irish Government Information
Bureau messages continued through out the year.
Later that year, upon internment of Jack Calder and Bob Keefer, newspapers Canada wide carried the news of their being interned and specifically mentioned that the internment was in the "Curragh Camp". The political angle was not lost on some and the Windsor Star newspaper published the following opinion piece on October 28th:
PILOT OFFICER
JACK CALDER, Chatham boy who was noted as a sports writer
for the Canadian Press, has been interned in Eire along
with other members of a Royal Canadian Air Force bomber
crew who made a forced landing in night operations.
Interned in Eire! And yet Eire benefits as much as Britain
from the fact that these chaps are in the air, beating
back the Nazi luftwaffe, diving on enemy submarines and
surface raiders, helping to keep the seas open for
supplies that ultimately reach
the Emerald Isle as well as the considerably Tighter
Little Isle across the way.
EAMON DE VALERA, it is said, may drop his
"neutrality" policy when the United States does
likewise. In the meantime, he might
follow the example of the U.S. in dealing with
Canadian fliers who make forced landings on
American soil. They're put through the necessary
official questioning as to their status, then shipped
back to the Dominion-with a slap on the back
and a hearty, "Go
to it!"
At this time,
many editorials and opinion pieces wrote about the
apparent contradiction of Ireland interning airmen who had
been flying convoy protection missions for supplies bound
for Ireland.
And then, early
in November 1941, internee F W Tisdall's letters home
formed the basis of articles in which he described
internment "as not so bad" and that he was being treated
well.
the year finished
with a lot of activity related to the growing number of
Allied airmen arriving in the Curragh Camp,
1942
In the days after the June 14th escape of six Allied internees,
short newspaper articles are to be found across newspapers in
the UK, Canada and the United States.
The fascinating website, Documents of IRISH FOREIGN POLICY
contains many wartime government documents that discuss the
topic of interned belligerent personnel. Links are
provided to some of these below.
|
Volume |
File No. |
Source/Too |
Short Title |
Date |
Title |
|
Volume 6 |
Michael Rynne (Dublin) to () |
Memorandum by Rynne |
24-Jun-40 |
Suggested Action in Intensified Emergency |
|
|
Volume 7 |
Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) to Eamon de Valera (Dublin) |
Memorandum, Walshe to de Valera |
24-Feb-42 |
Position of British military internees held at the Curragh Camp |
|
|
Volume 7 |
Frederick H. Boland (Dublin) to G.P.S. Hogan (Dublin) |
Letter, Boland to Hogan |
02-Jul-42 |
financial position of the German Legation |
|
|
Volume 7 |
Michael Rynne (Dublin) to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) |
Memorandum, Rynne to Walshe |
30-Nov-42 |
Theory and Practice relative to Belligerent Aircraft and Crews' |
|
|
Volume 7 |
Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) to David Gray (Dublin) |
Letter, Walshe to Gray |
11-Dec-42 |
Question of internment of United States airmen in Ireland |
|
|
Volume 7 |
Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) to Eamon de Valera (Dublin) |
Memorandum, Walshe to de Valera |
18-Feb-43 |
Internment of belligernet aircraft and airmen |
|
|
Volume 7 |
Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) to Eamon de Valera (Dublin) |
Memorandum, Walshe to de Valera |
24-Apr-43 |
British internees held at the Curragh |
|
|
Volume 7 |
Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) to Éamon de Valera (Dublin) |
Memorandum, Walshe to de Valera |
04-Oct-43 |
Internment and release of belligerent aircrews by Ireland |
|
|
Volume 7 |
Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) to () |
Memorandum by Walshe |
14-Oct-43 |
Release of interned British airmen |
|
|
Volume 7 |
Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) to () |
Memorandum by Walshe |
29-Nov-43 |
Internment of belligerent aircraft and airmen |
|
|
Volume 7 |
Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) to Éamon de Valera (Dublin) |
Memorandum, Walshe to de Valera |
15-Dec-43 |
Release of German Planes |
|
|
Volume 7 |
Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) to () |
Memorandum by Walshe |
07-Jan-44 |
Rescue of the German Sailors |
I hope that the notes above explain what the content of this
site is. If you have read this far!
The photo below was taken on the occasion of the wedding of
Canadian Roswell Tees in September 1943.
The back row consists of internees: From Left to right:
Click on names to visit page about their time in Ireland.
Karniewski, Holloway, Harkell, Sutherland, Jefferson, Ross, Fowler,
Todd, Shaw, Ricketts, Reid, Thomas, Barnett, Slater, Wakelin, Diaper
At the front, left to right are:
Masterson, Wolfe,
Girdleston, Tisdall, Tees, Eileen
Lewis, Ward, Brady, Welply, Midgely, Covington
Prepared by Dennis Burke, June 2024.