Fatal air crash in Fermoy 100 years ago
On June 25th, 1923 Free State Army airman Second Lieutenant John McDonagh was acting as an observer in a plane piloted by Lieutenant William Andrew McCulloch. They were flying over north Cork inspecting the area for possible IRA hideouts and arms dumps. McCulloch was an experienced airman, he had
served with the RAF during World War I.
As the airmen were flying some 400 feet above fields in the Richmond Hill area of Fermoy, the plane suffered engine trouble. The De Havilland 9 twin cockpit bi-plane was previously a British bomber during World War I and was purchased by the Irish Free State in January 1923.
On that Summer evening in 1923 the plane went into a tail spin and hit a tree before crashing violently into a field. Lieut McCulloch was thrown from the plane when it struck the tree and somehow survived. Second Lieut McDonagh was found inside the mangled wreckage. He suffered multiple injuries and died the following day at Fermoy Union Hospital.
The Cork
Examiner described how the wreckage was "reduced to match wood." The first person on the scene of the accident was Mrs Marriot of the Manor School. She gave first aid to the stricken airmen before other locals soon arrived, along with Father Sheedy who rendered spiritual assistance.
Members of the Free State Air Service based at the Fermoy Aerodrome arrived soon after and took control of the situation.
‘I HEARD A CRASH’
Local man John Barry of the Manor School lodge, was a witness to the event and testified to the military inquiry, which was set up after the accident:
"At about 5pm I was in the garden of the Manor School when I heard a crash. I got over a wall and saw a broken aeroplane lying on the ground. About 15 yards away I noticed an officer of the national army lying on the ground with his head resting on the wing of the plane. I also saw another officer lying inside the wreckage."
21 year old Second Lieutenant McDonagh was from Dublin. He fought with the Dublin Brigade of the IRA during the War of Independence and later joined the Free State Army.
McDonagh transferred to the Irish Free State Air Service when it was established in June 1922. He was based at Fermoy Aerodrome which had been built by the Royal Air Force in 1918 and handed over to the Irish Free State in 1922. McDonagh was based in Fermoy only two months and was commissioned just two days prior to his death.
The remains of the fallen airman were taken on a gun carriage from Fermoy hospital. The procession went through the town followed by pipers of the 10th Battalion who played laments. From Cork, the funeral went onwards to Baldonnel Aerodrome and the airman was then buried in Esker Cemetery, Lucan.
McCulloch spent a month in Fermoy hospital before he was transferred to a Dublin hospital where he spent the rest of the war recovering. McCulloch was demobilised in 1924, his injuries prevented him from continuing his career as an airman.
He died in his Dublin home in 1973, the injuries and trauma from that summer evening accident in Fermoy having stayed with him for the rest of his life.