Part 15 - Fr. Senan Moynihan with a de Havilland Gipsy Moth aircraft

Kildonan was Ireland’s first civil aerodrome. It was established by Hugh Cahill (1883-1966), a Dublin-born aviation pioneer, in June 1931. In tandem, Cahill also founded Iona National Airways, the country’s first commercial airline. Covering about seventy-five acres of land, Kildonan Aerodrome had three runways with a hangar capable of holding several light aircraft. A clubhouse for staff and clients was also constructed. Iona initially offered an air taxi service, mail flights, short joy ride-type excursions, flying lessons as well as aerial photography for national newspapers. Crowds also flocked to Kildonan at weekends for occasional air pageants and displays. The aircraft in the image is a de Havilland Gipsy Moth. Iona Airways operated several of these open cockpit, two-seat biplanes. Iona operated out of Kildonan until November 1933, when Cahill, frustrated by the lack of state support, closed the business down. Kildonan remained a functioning airfield until 1938. By that point, competition from Aer Lingus (founded by the government in 1936) at nearby Collinstown Aerodrome (now Dublin Airport) had made the continued operation of air services at Kildonan increasingly unprofitable.