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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
Link button

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 a 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.

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. A list of the Allied airmen interned during the war, and their dates of escape and release are presented below.


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

No. 3200

Michael Rynne (Dublin) to ()

Memorandum by Rynne

24-Jun-40

Suggested Action in Intensified Emergency

Volume 7

No. 3611

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

No. 3633

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

No. 3673

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

No. 3677

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

No. 3691

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

No. 3705

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

No. 3750

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

No. 3756

Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) to ()

Memorandum by Walshe

14-Oct-43

Release of interned British airmen

Volume 7

No. 3772

Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) to ()

Memorandum by Walshe

29-Nov-43

Internment of belligerent aircraft and airmen

Volume 7

No. 3779

Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) to Éamon de Valera (Dublin)

Memorandum, Walshe to de Valera

15-Dec-43

Release of German Planes

Volume 7

No. 3787

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 the summer of 1943.

Allied Internees

Prepared by Dennis Burke,  June 2022.