The Museum at Dublin Aiport

DublinWriter

It used to be located in the far left corner of the arrivals hall.

I remember as a kid, it was pretty mindblowing! They had the full cockpit and front section of a BAC-111 and you could sit in the pilot's seat and play with the controls.

They had a full-scale reconstruction of the Iolar.

And last but not least, they had a specimen of the most valuable and expensive mineral on earth - moon rock! It was a little tiny spec inside a big convex bubble that made it look huge.

I often wondered what happened to the moon rock after the museum closed in the 1980's. A friend of a friend is a retired member of the Airport Police, and he told me that they never found out what happened to it.

I think it was something like 20p in. It's sad that these days every square inch of the Terminal has to be utilised to it's fullest commercial potential and that quirky like places like the Aiport Museum can't be sustained in a totally-market driven environment.

Dingatron

Now that's a blast from the past. My dad helped set it up and I spent a good bit of time in it. The cockpit was cool. Must ask him about the moon rock. Maybe its in his shed!

gonker

Do you remember the "flying flea" that was my best friends plane...we used to play in it in his shed till he donated it to the museum....Do you know I have told so many people about that museum and nobody remembers it so I am happy you do...thanks

Edit....by play I mean in the innocent children sense:D

GospelGroupie

Ah yes, I remember it too. That was back when the terminal used to have big orange plastic panels on the inside walls, very tasteful!. The museum used to be were Hughes&Hughes bookshop is now, as I recall. The airport was a lot smaller then.

Well, when they disassembled the museum they placed all the stuff in a shed to the rear of the house across the road from the Coachmans Inn. You know the one with the big gates on your left as you are heading to Swords before the roundabout to Forest Little & St. Margarets. Anyway, all the stuff was put in there and was there awaiting a new home for years. It was there still 14 years ago, the last I heard of it.

I recall some mention of a new airport museum being built in the vacinity of the old swimming-pool near AerLingus HOB, but again that was years ago and if it's not built yet it may never well be. Pity. Ireland certainly played it's part in aviation history and this should be remembered. On the other hand, there is always the Flying Boat Museum in Foynes...http://www.heritageisland.com/Foynes Flying Boat Museum.asp

I found this article in the Sunday Business Post...

Accountant plans aviation museum
Sunday, February 19, 2006 - By Ian Kehoe
Ossie Kilkenny, the multi-millionaire businessman and one-time U2 accountant, plans to build a national aviation museum near Jim Mansfield’s Weston Aerodrome in west Dublin. Kilkenny has teamed up with a number of other individuals and they already have three vintage aircraft, including Kilkenny’s own World War II Sunderland flying boat.

Kilkenny said he had already been refused planning permission for the museum, but he intended to re-apply. ‘‘I am in the middle of the project at the moment because it has to be done,” he said.

In an interview with The Sunday Business Post, Kilkenny said that Ireland had played a pivotal role in aviation history and that it was crucial that this role be recognised.

‘‘The country does not have an aviation museum. Our history in aviation is pivotal, although people don’t recognise this just because we don’t manufacture aircraft. This does not mean we don’t have a pivotal role,” he said.

‘‘In the first 30 years of exploration and ground-breaking stuff, Ireland was pivotal geographically. For the next 25 years, there was not an aircraft that crossed the Atlantic that did not land in Ireland. They had to land here, be it during the World War Two or after. I have a passion for aviation.”

Kilkenny, who co-founded TV3 and has a stake in Ardmore Studios, recently took over as chairman of the Irish Sports Council (ISC), the statutory body that funds Irish sport.

Kilkenny said he planned to lobby the government to increase the ISC’s annual budget, which currently stands at €40.9 million.

‘‘If it is not at €100 million when I leave, I will be very disappointed,” he said, referring to his five-year term.

Why on earth Weston? By rights if anywhere hosts a national aviation museum it should be Foynes, Shannon or Cliften, why must everything be sucked into Dublin? Dublins roll in aviation was not really that impressive.... the one exception I can think of is when the Southern Cross, piloted by Charles Kingsfort Smith, took off from Portmarnock beach in 1930 on one of its many stages to become the first aircraft to circumnavigate the globe. It did take them over two years to do this.

Anyway... anything to add, you know what to do.

Brian

DublinWriter

GospelGroupie wrote:

Why on earth Weston? By rights if anywhere hosts a national aviation museum it should be Foynes, Shannon or Cliften, why must everything be sucked into Dublin?

I guess a non-Government funded museum must be near a big population base. Remember what happened to the Museum of Science in Galway?

People ooo and aahh about the natural science museum being a perfect example of a Victorian museum, but that's because it was almost starved of funds for the last 80 years. It still beats the Natural Science Museum in London hands down for pure entertainment value.

I reckon we need a combined 'Civic' type museum, something that would incorporate broadcasting (Paddy Clarke's excellent collection and the Cork City Gaol collection), aviation and policing maybe.

I hope Ossie Kilkenny can get his hands on the old Airport Museum collection.

B.T.W., if you're ever in Brussels, go visit the Aviation Musuem in the Cuiquinterre, mindblowing!

Dingatron

then.

Well, when they disassembled the museum they placed all the stuff in a shed to the rear of the house across the road from the Coachmans Inn. You know the one with the big gates on your left as you are heading to Swords before the roundabout to Forest Little & St. Margarets. Anyway, all the stuff was put in there and was there awaiting a new home for years. It was there still 14 years ago, the last I heard of it.

That's right I remember some of the collection was stored in a shed at the back of Castlemoate House. I would be no suprise if the collection is still there as I've a feeling that someone mentioned that to me a few years back.

sturgo

The whole of Dublin Airport is like a museum.

NISPOT

Does anyone know the current whereabouts of G-ANPC Tiger Moth & G-AOGA Miles Aries that had been at Castlemoate House, Dublin Airport? They are now said to in a shed in N. Dublin - possibly Skerries?