Today marks the 70th anniversary of the first aircraft to land at what is now Shannon Airport. In the months leading up to the Second World War the Irish government tasked the Air Corps to find a suitable site in the western half of the country which would be suitable for monitoring naval movements off the Irish coast. On May 18, 1939 an Avro Anson Mark I of the Air Corps was dispatched from Baldonnel on a reconnaissance mission and landed on the 1,400 yd long x 400 yd wide grass strip which was still under construction at the airport where work had started in October 1936.To commemorate the event, Air Corps Casa CN235 serial 253 landed on Shannon's R24 this afternoon at the precise time of the original landing, 13.20 utc.
There is some confusion surrounding the exact time of the 1939 landing. Valerie Sweeney in her book 'Shannon Airport' quotes the 'Clare Champion' of the day reporting the arrival as taking place at 1.27 pm.
Pictured above C253 is seen on finals to R24 in light rain.
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