[FensterDJ]

I was talking to a Swiss guy last night and he said the German bombers were allowed to refuel in Ireland during WW2, he was saying that it would have been impossible for planes to do bombing raids on liverpool without needing to refuel somewhere

I found this very difficult to believe, I had a look around the internet, but can't find anything about it,

has anyone heard this before?

[Reekwind]

That seems... silly. This is the first I've heard of anything like this and it would have been entirely out of character for the Irish government at the time

More to the point: IIRC, and a quick Wikipedia visit supports this, the He 111 had an operational range of 1000-2000+ km, load dependent. So even a bomber with a full load could probably have made the return journey from northern France to Liverpool. So it was unquestionably possible to bomb northern England from mainland Europe without needing to refuel

[shanew]

We were neutral during WW2 - any military from either side landing in Southern Ireland would have been sent to one of the POW camps like the one in the Curragh.

The Luftwaffe bombers were able to reach as far as at least Belfast without refuelling


Shane

[FensterDJ]

I know, it seems a pretty far fetched idea, there would have had to a be a lot of organisation and coordination to accommodate the planes, and more or less a permanent ground crew in place, essentially impossible to do with consent from the government

i knew he was talking ****e

[Manach]

In Robert Fisk's book, 'In time of War' AFAIR he mentioned that there were all types of baseless rumours such as this, ie U-Bases in Kerry etc. This is likely due to the fog of war and delibrate mis-information at that time.

[Drake66]

Originally Posted by FensterDJ

I was talking to a Swiss guy last night and he said the German bombers were allowed to refuel in Ireland during WW2, he was saying that it would have been impossible for planes to do bombing raids on liverpool without needing to refuel somewhere

I found this very difficult to believe, I had a look around the internet, but can't find anything about it,

has anyone heard this before?

You were speaking to a very silly man. You won't find anything on the internet because it didn't happen.

[Glassheart]

It's Loyalist propaganda.

There is no coherent account of these stories.Some will say it was simply "the Irish" and others will say it was the "IRA" that refuelled German bombers.The point being that the type of person who peddles this nonsense rarely makes a distinction between the two.

The most common variant of this myth is that we were secretly refuelling German U-boats.Why would the Irish State at a time of fuel rationing have had the inclination to do such a thing?

The Viscount Cranborne report makes no references to it either.Sadly this doesn't stop Loyalists pursuing their anti Irish agenda from this particular angle.

[Delancey]

Utter nonsense , even if the state was inclined to refuel German boimbers the fact is that this country simply did not have the fuel reserves needed for this.

There were rumours of U-Boats being refuelled but it seems the closest they got to getting help from Ireland was Irish fishermen selling them fish for which they were paid with £ STG !

A US Navy Patrol bomber while investigating alleged U-boat activity around a lighthouse on the west coast somewhere flew too close to the lighthouse and clipped its wing and crashed killing all on board.

[HellsAngel]

Originally Posted by Glassheart

It's Loyalist propaganda.

There is no coherent account of these stories.Some will say it was simply "the Irish" and others will say it was the "IRA" that refuelled German bombers.The point being that the type of person who peddles this nonsense rarely makes a distinction between the two.

The most common variant of this myth is that we were secretly refuelling German U-boats.Why would the Irish State at a time of fuel rationing have had the inclination to do such a thing?

The Viscount Cranborne report makes no references to it either.Sadly this doesn't stop Loyalists pursuing their anti Irish agenda from this particular angle.

Yes, like the one that southerner's light candles in the shape of an arrow to guide the Luftwaffe to bomb Belfast - I'm serious, I've seen the allegation on Politics.ie !!!!

[HellsAngel]

Originally Posted by FensterDJ

I was talking to a Swiss guy last night and he said the German bombers were allowed to refuel in Ireland during WW2, he was saying that it would have been impossible for planes to do bombing raids on liverpool without needing to refuel somewhere

I found this very difficult to believe, I had a look around the internet, but can't find anything about it,

has anyone heard this before?

Maybe you should have asked him did the Luftwaffe also refuel in Ireland after bombing the North Strand in Dublin to return home.

[owenc]

I do not think so somehow they refuelled in northern ireland there is wee huts everywhere here and i have yet to see any of these in donegal if they did refuel there you would see the wee huts.

[Opelfruit]

Originally Posted by owenc

I do not think so somehow they refuelled in northern ireland there is wee huts everywhere here and i have yet to see any of these in donegal if they did refuel there you would see the wee huts.

I'm sorry Owenc, are you suggesting that Nazi service vehicles were refueling in the UK during WWII? Do you realise how stupid that sounds?

[Judgement Day]

Originally Posted by Opelfruit

I'm sorry Owenc, are you suggesting that Nazi service vehicles were refueling in the UK during WWII? Do you realise how stupid that sounds?

Opelfruit - I don't know how you were able to make anything out of Owenc's post. Sometimes he makes sense other times......

[emmet the rover]

i did hear rumors that there was a landing strip built in donegal for allied plaines coming from the states but these were just rumors.

i heard a story about a RAF member that crashed in the free state and was promptly arrested and sent to the curragh.
he escaped the same day and made his way to the north (newery i think) where he presented himself to the nearist army base.
when he explained to the CO what happend he was arrested by a MP and sent back to the curragh camp.

the fact ireland was a neutral party the uk did not want to upset them by encouraging there troops to escape from pow camps there.

the unfortunate RAF member had more bad luck as when he got back he found the other internees were cross with him for escaping as they has lost privilages while he was away.

[Judgement Day]

Originally Posted by emmet the rover

i did hear rumors that there was a landing strip built in donegal for allied plaines coming from the states but these were just rumors.

i heard a story about a RAF member that crashed in the free state and was promptly arrested and sent to the curragh.
he escaped the same day and made his way to the north (newery i think) where he presented himself to the nearist army base.
when he explained to the CO what happend he was arrested by a MP and sent back to the curragh camp.

the fact ireland was a neutral party the uk did not want to upset them by encouraging there troops to escape from pow camps there.

the unfortunate RAF member had more bad luck as when he got back he found the other internees were cross with him for escaping as they has lost privilages while he was away.

More total tosh I'm afraid. I don't know where all this guff is coming from, it's not as if it has not all been in the public domain for years. There were no Allied or Axis air bases/U Boat pens in the Irish Free State during the war and all evidence points to Ireland being neutral on the side of the Allies. The story about an RAF man being returned to the Republic from NI is bar stool talk.