WWII structures in Donegal

dinkiedo · 29-03-2011 1:08am

have you a shovel and a paint handy james

Carrickman · 29-03-2011 10:38pm

dinkiedo wrote: »

have you a shovel and a paint handy james

I do and if you need a hand let me know!!

Durnish · 28-04-2011 12:54pm

What is the latest on this? Is there a list somewhere, uncovered from some RAF archive, containing all the headlands and their code numbers?

muckish · 23-06-2011 3:07pm

I have mapped a lot on Google Earth. Just have to figure out how to post the file here! What I have noticed is that a lot of the EIRE signs have disappeared recently since 2005. eg the Shroove 82 sign was the clearest sign on the coast on the 2005 aerial photography but has now gone. Might have been washed away.

theboss80 · 29-06-2011 12:16am

Not a structure but the remains of an American Spitfire are being dug up in Inishowen at the moment. It crashed in 1941

Story here

Jim S · 15-08-2011 1:14pm

A decent book on the subject "Guarding Neutral Ireland." By Dr. Michael Kennedy, he was interviewed in the BBC "Coast" programme as mentioned earlier.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guarding-Neutral-Ireland-Intelligence-1939-1945/dp/1846820979/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313409828&sr=1-1

An excellent and very informative read which deals with this specific subject.
(The first review is mine).

Attached a slightly better view from Larry Skey's 422 RCAF Sunderland as he takes her past St.John's Point en route for Castle Archdale.

Crews coming and going found St Johns on their ASV sets long before making visual contact, the 201 Squadron crew which crashed above Killybegs in March 45 were (I think) well off course.
The pilot was experienced and would have been well aware of the high ground, in December 44 this same crew sank U-297 off the North Coast of Scotland their sinking of the submarine was not confirmed until the discovery of the wreck a few years ago. (It was previously credited to surface craft).

NIMAN · 15-08-2011 2:23pm

Heard that book mentioned on the radio yesterday and its sounds interesting, but £35 !!

Jim S · 15-08-2011 2:57pm

£35 is expensive but on the other hand what you get is a first class piece of history on a subject which has been largely ignored both locally and within the greater context of WW2.
This is a very good history and chances are when it sells out it will probably not be republished, as a student I could not afford Fisk's book in Hardback - now I can't fine one for love nor money - I have a feeling that Dr. Kennedy's book will go the same way.

FiSe · 19-08-2011 4:18pm

You can get it in Ireland too... BTW if you are interested in the subject, worth every penny and would pay more without wink. Excellent book

retalivity · 19-08-2011 6:05pm

did nobody look at tht '9 used' on the amazon link above? You can get it for 16quid plus 2.60 postage

Jim S · 19-08-2011 6:47pm

A good point, and always do a "Google" on the title - some Amazon prices are good some are not so good, I "saved" £37 on a second hand title offered via Amazon - I paid £3.70 for a book I was looking for - a huge difference between that and £42.00 odd.
£16 for "Guarding Neutral Ireland" is money very well spent and having read it I must at some time make a point of making the trip down to look closer at the Donegal Bay LOP records.

Durnish · 30-08-2011 10:06am

Brilliant thread.
Was delighted to find and trace the St John's Eire stones last week. The trick is to find the low boundary wall which appears as a rectangle. Once you have that you are home and dry.
Thanks all.

yuloni · 02-09-2011 6:35pm

This post has been deleted.

Durnish · 02-09-2011 7:47pm

I tried all that as well. I was wondering if they faked the video.

yuloni · 02-09-2011 7:50pm

This post has been deleted.

muckish · 02-09-2011 7:53pm

http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,556260,875317,7,0

Durnish · 03-09-2011 7:23am

Brilliant. Thanks. I was looking at the wrong bend in the road. So, did they move it to the more prominent position on Bunglas or did they just do two for good luck?

Durnish · 03-09-2011 7:26am

Also, asking around in Portnoo (Dunmore Head has a lookout) I was told that there was an Eire Sign in a field below the old hotel but the latest owner dismantled it some time ago. I expect it would be visible from the air when there's a drought.

patspost · 03-09-2011 7:40am

there is a structre on the hill just Glencolmcille. It may have Eire sign too.

muckish · 03-09-2011 8:51am

Durnish wrote: »

Also, asking around in Portnoo (Dunmore Head has a lookout) I was told that there was an Eire Sign in a field below the old hotel but the latest owner dismantled it some time ago. I expect it would be visible from the air when there's a drought.

Here's the LOP in Portnoo http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,568729,899837,6,0 Where is the old Hotel?

yuloni · 03-09-2011 8:30pm

This post has been deleted.

Durnish · 04-09-2011 7:59am

Muckish,
Here is the old hotel at Portnoo,

http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,569894,899235,7,0

I suggest you ask the local shop owner at Portnoo PO. I was not sure which field had the Eire stones and the shop was busy busy busy.

Connacht · 05-09-2011 6:00pm

Yeah folks, some LOPs had more than one EIRE stone sign associated with them. At Achill Island, neither of the two signs is anywhere near the actual LOP, with one about 8 km away.

Mike in CT · 12-12-2011 1:50am

This is a photo I took a few years ago of an engine of the Sunderland aircraft that crashed on Crownarad.

Was the concrete structure that is to the left of the signal tower on Carrigan Head used for spotting aircraft coming over from America.

I saw another structure like this in Malinmore.

The aircraft that landed on the beach on Fintra Beach was a B17 that had engine trouble after it took off from Newfoundland.

muckish · 03-04-2012 10:22pm

Whoever cleared this, well done. Another piece of our Heritage uncovered. Melmore Head.

slimboyfat · 04-04-2012 10:43am

muckish wrote: »

Whoever cleared this, well done. Another piece of our Heritage uncovered. Melmore Head.

I think it was some locals on a FAS scheme ( or something like that ).

Good to see it has being finished, haven't being down that way in a while.

Jim S · 04-04-2012 11:42am

Mike in CT , was that on the day that a group of about 30-30 people walked up to the crash site ?
If so I was there as well, have some photos of around somewhere, the crew which crashed there, they sank U276 in December 44 but never got credit for it, post war research disclosed that they sank her North of Scotland.

04-04-2012 1:27pm

Jim S wrote: »

A decent book on the subject "Guarding Neutral Ireland." By Dr. Michael Kennedy, he was interviewed in the BBC "Coast" programme as mentioned earlier.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guarding-Neutral-Ireland-Intelligence-1939-1945/dp/1846820979/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313409828&sr=1-1

An excellent and very informative read which deals with this specific subject.
(The first review is mine).

I've been reading this thead with interest, and saw on amazon that one of the sellers of this book was Books upstairs in Dublin, called in today and picked up a new copy of it for €6.99

Mike in CT · 08-04-2012 6:14pm

:P

Jim S wrote: »

Mike in CT , was that on the day that a group of about 30-30 people walked up to the crash site ?
If so I was there as well, have some photos of around somewhere, the crew which crashed there, they sank U276 in December 44 but never got credit for it, post war research disclosed that they sank her North of Scotland.

Hi Jim, that photo was taken in 2007 with the Ardara walking festival. I was on one other later Ardara walk that visited the site and the walk this year on Sunday visited the site. I took the Saturday Port to Maghera walk but was in class at Oideas Gael on Sunday and Monday missing the other two walks.

I did stop in Ballyshannon on the way to Glen last mmonth to take this photo.

Would anyone know if there are any crash sites of a PBY Catalina Flying Boat. I work for the company that made the engines for this aircraft, Pratt & Whitney, and would be very interested in visiting the site(s).

Jim S · 08-04-2012 7:56pm

There is a PBY crash site near Kinnlough just outside Bundoran , crashed there in March 41 , the first operational use of the PBY by the RAF flew over the night before from Stranraer to Castle Archdale .
The crew from the aircraft are all ( apart from one member) buried in Irvinestown County Fermanagh in the C of I graveyard.

There are three other PYB crashes which spring to mind one near Lough Alaban near the viewpoint at Lough Navar another near Whitehill Ballinamallard and another near Ely Lodge all in County Fermanagh.
No wreckage on site .

The crashes in Fermanagh all came from 131 OTU at Killadeas, another crashed at Duross Point ( near Castle Archdale) it undershot the landing area,also on the Lough itself three others which spring to mind one in May 1941 which as not recovered it crashed in May 41 , landing on a flat calm Lough a mirror surface the pilot misjudged his approach and the aircraft crashed, there is a memorial to the crew on the break water entrance to the moorings at CA.
The others, January 44 near Dreenan shore Boa island , practise bombing on a moored target South of Boa Island, it failed to recover from a dive and crashed, the other crashed on the flarepath at CA in May 43.

I can give you more details on these if you want.
js

WWII structures in Donegal

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