MEGAPHONE DIPLOMACY IN THE SKIES OVER KILDARE

Megaphone diplomacy in the skies over Kildare

Liam Kenny

There was sensation in the skies over Co Kildare in the first week of September 1913 when for the first time aeroplanes were seen in the sky over the county. Since Harry Ferguson had made the first flight in Ireland on the last day of 1909 at Newcastle, Co Down, just a handful of pioneers in their wood and canvas machines had taken to the air. But their exploits were witnessed only by local audiences.

What was in the sky over Kildare in September 1913 was of a different league – a deployment of six planes from Britain’s Royal Flying Corps which were making the first crossing of the island of Ireland from north to south bringing a first glimpse of aviation to people living throughout the country. And to continue with “firsts” it was also the first detachment of military aircraft to fly over Ireland and thus the mission was of particular interest to Kildare with its large military contingent.

The six comprised of five BE2a’s and a pusher propeller Farman. According to the somewhat breathless prose of a Kildare Observer reporter: “The military men caused quite a sensation on Monday when passing over Co Kildare in a southerly direction. They were the first, as far as we know, to pass over the county and, of course, many of the residents had never seen an aeroplane before.”

The planes had taken off from their base in Montrose in Scotland and crossed the Irish Sea – itself a daunting prospect in an aeroplane with a top speed of little more than 50 mph.

Their ultimate mission was to participate in large military manoeuvres near Limerick. On their way south local observers saw them “just skirt the town of Naas, keeping to the north of it.” However one of the pilots, a Lieutenant Waldron, had gone a little off course on the route south-west, and found himself running low on fuel over north Kildare.  The Kildare Observer’s Kilcock correspondent had the scoop: “Great interest was caused at Donadea on Monday evening by the alighting of an aeroplane in the grounds attached to Miss Aylmer’s castle. The aeronaut was one of a party on their way to Limerick in connection with military manoeuvres.”

So how in the years before radio did the pilot communicate his need for directions to those on the ground? The Observer correspondent reported on what must be one of the most unusual conversations on record. He wrote that Lieut Waldron “from a considerable height communicated a request by megaphone to Mr Battersby who was on his way to Kilcock station and asked as to where he could be supplied petrol.”

This novel form of air-to-ground communication seems to have worked as acting on Mr Battersby’s information Lieut. Waldron brought his plane down to land at Donadea. There, Ms Aylmer’s manager supplied the “aerial visitor” with eight gallons of petrol.

Word spread throughout Donadea, Stapleston and Rathcoffey of the apparition from the sky and soon a crowd had collected on the Donadea castle grounds and “immensely enjoyed the rare spectacle” – it being the first time ever they had come close to an aircraft.

Lieut. Waldron shared the details of his exploit with the eager crowd telling them that when refuelled he hoped to take off and fly to the Curragh in ten minutes. He then mounted his aircraft, which had been refuelled Ms Aylmer’s manager Mr Corbally, and took off to the delight of the onlookers — for as the Observer put it in almost Biblical terms: “On arising again he was heartily applauded by the crowd.”

He landed at the Curragh for another pit stop and then resumed his flight to the manoeuvre camp just to the east of Limerick city causing consternation in the town and villages along the way who for the first time saw the almost unbelievable sight of a machine in the air.

Lieut. Waldron – or to give his full name “Major Francis Fitzgerald Waldron known to his friends as “Ferdy” was no stranger to Co Kildare. Newbridge historian Paul Cooke has established that the aviator was born in 1866 at Melitta Lodge on the Curragh, only son of Brigadier-General Francis Waldron.

So with many acquaintances in the Curragh it was the most natural thing in the world that he flew back to the Curragh from Limerick on the following day for lunch with his old cavalry comrades before he got stuck into the manoeuvres proper at the Limerick base.

The appearance of the planes continued to incite curiosity and excitement in an Irish populace who were seeing aircraft for the first time. An impromptu air show put on by the aviators at the camp at Rathbane drew a crowd of 8,000 from Limerick city who went out to witness the event.

The military manoeuvres were massive involving 20,000 troops in exercises spanning terrain over Limerick, Tipperary and Kilkenny. All eyes were on the six aviators to see how their new-fangled machines would fit in with the established military formations of infantry, cavalry and artillery.

The weather throughout the September was poor and the pilots had difficulty getting their flimsy machines into the air at all. But the intrepid aviators persisted and soon were providing a spotter service to the commanders of the “Brown” and “White” armies the formations involved in the exercise.

Indeed they were on the receiving end of the ultimate compliment when one military observer noted that four aeroplanes could do the work of a troop of cavalry who had been the traditional reconnaissance asset for commanders in the field.

That said, communication from air to ground was still an inexact science and the pilots had to drop messages from the planes so as to give the commander on their side the latest information on movement by the opposing forces over the battle zone.

The manoeuvres lasted through most of September 1913 but by the end of the month the aviators were preparing for the journey back up north and across the Irish sea to their home base in Scotland. As with their incoming trip there were many incidents and forced landings on the way back but in the course of a few days all returned safely to Scotland albeit with one aircraft which had made a forced landing near Ardglass, Co Down, having to be repatriated on a lorry.

Although of great interest in an Irish context being the first time that many people had seen an aeroplane the deployment exercise in September 1913 had greater implications and was later viewed as having been a dress rehearsal for the Royal Flying Corps deployment to France when war broke out on the European continent in the summer of 1914.

The logistics involved in getting crews of mechanics, riggers, as well as parts and supplies to support the flight from Scotland to Limerick had been considerable and proved a valuable experience for setting up air operations when mobilisation was needed for a real war.

That war, the first in which the potential of air warfare was realised, had consequences for at least one of the party of flyers who had fascinated the Irish population.

Lieutenant Waldron, a son of the Curragh and pioneer aviator was to become a casualty of the battle in the air. Promoted to squadron leader he was flying over the battlefield on 3^rd July 1916 when his plane was shot down and he died when it crashed to earth. He lies under a military headstone in a graveyard near Arras in the north-east of France. Poignantly his only daughter Patricia Ann Ursula had been born only two months before. Leinster Leader 27 August 2013, Looking Back, Series no. 346.

Acknowledgment: My thanks to Mr Paul Cooke, Newbridge historian, for the detail on Lieutenant Waldron’s Curragh connections.