Portmarnock Beach Ireland 1930s Aviation Epicentre | Season 3 - Episode 92

👋 Hey followers! In this video, we are featuring Portmarnock Beach in the east of Ireland which was for a short period in the 1930s the world epicentre of aviation.
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⬇️ Have you ever visited Portmarnock Beach? Comment below ⬇️
For three short years in the early 1930s Portmarnock Beach in north County Dublin, Ireland was the epicentre of world aviation as the starting point for several trans-Atlantic and circumnavigation endurance-flights.
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Known locally as the ‘Velvet Strand’, Portmarnock beach runs north to south and was considered as a perfect landing strip in the days when there was no commercial landing site as Dublin Airport didn’t open until January 1940 and Baldonnel Aerodrome, opened in 1917, was for military use.
The three aviators most closely associated with Portmarnock beach are, Australian flyer, Charles Kingsford-Smith, “Charles Kingsford Smith, flying 'Southern Cross' trans-Atlantic from Portmarnock 1930”, Scotsman, Jim Mollinson and Australian, Charles Ulm.
The ‘Southern Cross’
The first aviator to pin Portmarnock beach on the world aviation map was Australian flyer, Charles Kingsford-Smith (1897 - 1935).
At 4:25 am on June 24 1930, watched by 700 spectators and taking 900 metres (3,000 feet) to become airborne, his heavily laden “old bus” Fokker F.VII took off on the last leg of his global circumnavigation flight.
The crew faced challenges, including fog and compass failure, during the East-West transatlantic flight, ultimately landing triumphantly in Newfoundland after 32 hours.
The ‘Heart’s Content’
In 1932, young Scotsman, Jim Mollinson (1905 - 1959), arrived in Ireland with his de Havilland aircraft, ‘Heart’s Content’, intent on making his own piece of endurance aviation history.
His plane was named “Heart’s Content”, a single-engine Puss-Moth monoplane built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company with a range of 300 mi (480 km, 260 nmi).
Piloting Heart’s Content (G-ABXY), Mollinson took off from Portmarnock at 11:00 am on August 18th, 1932.
Mollinson touched down at Pennfield Ridge, New Brunswick, Canada, thirty hours later. At the youthful age of twenty-five, he achieved the historic feat of being the first person to solo, non-stop, east-west across the north Atlantic.
‘Faith in Australia’
Our third 1930s aviator to avail of the uniquely long runway at the Velvet Strand, Portmarnock was another Australian, Charles Thomas Philippe Ulm (1898 - 1934).
Ulm enlisted in the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in September 1914 and became a long-time flying associate of Charles Kingsford Smith, they had previously flown together as part of a four-man crew on the first successful trans-Pacific flight between Australia and New Zealand in May 1928.
On the morning of 27th July Ulm had flown his ‘Faith in Australia’ (VH-UXX) three-engine monoplane over from the Aer Corps base at Baldonnel (Casement) Aerodrome and landed on Portmarnock beach.
The Avro X had been wheeled onto a wooden ramp for the loading of fuel and afterwards was being manoeuvred into the take-off position, however, the increased weight of the fuel load caused the overloaded plane to sink into the sand and three onlookers were injured.
However, attempts to re-position the plane by the Garda Síochána (police) and Aer Corps led to it sinking even further and, with the incoming tide approaching, the operation had to be abandoned.
In 1999, in honour of Portmarnock beach's significance in early aviation history, a sculpture titled "Eccentric Orbit" was installed on the promenade.
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If you have an idea for a story, email Kevin Reid [e-mail]
Information sources:
British Pathé
Cite Monash
Critical Past
DrBear Aviation
Irish Examiner
Irish Times
Leob.nl
Monumentaustralia
Polot.net
Southern Cross Festival
National Library of Australia
Duchas.ie
Trove.nla.gov
Visit Portmarnock
#irelandmade #ad #portmarnock #velvetstrand #enduranceaviation #charleskingsfordsmith, #jimmollison #charlesulm
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[@jetsons101]

Hmmm...... Just thinking. I wonder if the flights went a little quicker flying east to west because of the rotation of the earth. Another enjoyable watch from Ireland Made. Well, it's midnight here and I have work tomorrow so time to hit the hay......

[@IrelandMade]

They had to fly against the prevailing winds so it was tougher flying east to west and many at that time thought these flights couldn’t be completed. Keep watching Ireland Made!