Things “neutral” Ireland did to help the war effort –
– Allowed the establishment of secret airfields for possible use by RAF aircraft (As stated above. I will post extracts from publications later to confirm this)
– Allowed the UASF an air corridor over Donegal in order that they have a shorter flight path to Northern Ireland.
– RAF and USAF aircraft which crash landed in Ireland were recovered by Irish Air Corps crews (often from mountainsides or in bogland) loaded on to low-loaders, brought to the border, and handed over to RAF/USAF recovery crews.
Many allied aircraft were repaired and allowed to continue their flights to the North or Britain. (In some cases aircraft were purchased from the UK govt for use by the Irish Air Corps).
– Irish Air Corps aircraft did daily ‘weather runs’ and deliberately broadcast their data over a frequency the RAF used. This was most appreciated by the RAF !
– UK ships were allowed stop over in Irish bays (as mentioned above). In one case both a UK ship and a German ship sheltered in Lough Swilly (Co. Donegal) with the knowledge of the Gardaí and the Irish Army. Both ships deliberately ignored each other and went their seperate ways when the storm passed.
This is just what comes to my mind just now, I’m sure there is lots more I could find.
The UK authorities deliberately portrayed Ireland as being unco-operative during the war (for their own propoganda reasons!) – This was far from the case in reality.
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