Foynes and Flying Boats

Foynes, Co. Limerick (Irish: Faing) is a town and important port on the Shannon Estuary, half an hour's drive from Limerick City. As of 2022, Foynes has a population of 512. The first mention of the port dates back to the first third of the 19th century. Today, the port is managed by the Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC), which also owns the port of Limerick and four other major terminals in the west of Ireland. The company's annual turnover is more than 10 million tonnes of cargo!

The old railway line that once connected Limerick and north-west Co.Kerry passes through Foynes (but does not operate). Passenger traffic is served by the Bus Éireann bus company and the 314 route (which is packed  during summer with people wanting to get to the Ballybunion beach)

However, in addition to being a seaport of national importance, Foynes also played a decisive role in the history of aeronautics, which is why the town has an aviation and maritime museum. I am fond of all shapes and sizes of technical objects, so I could not miss this location.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the development of aviation gave humanity the first transatlantic flights, which ended - logically - in the west of the island of Ireland. The flat, wide banks of the Shannon Estuary became an ideal landing site.

As a result, in the 1930s, the construction of Shannon International Airport began. But in the meantime, Foynes became the centre of civil aviation in Western Europe from 1937 to 1945.

The landscape features contributed to the development of passenger flights using a new miracle of technology—flying boats. This type of aircraft did not require a runway, because both takeoff and landing were carried out from the water surface, and the Shannon Estuary was ideal for this type of aircraft.

Foynes Airport has received flights from a good dozen destinations, including the USA, Canada, Portugal, the Philippines, and Great Britain. Many celebrities have visited here, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, young John Kennedy, and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.

Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum opened on July 8, 1989. Oscar-winning Irish actress Maureen O'Hara cut the ribbon. Thanks to her third husband, pilot Charles Blair, her fate was closely connected with aviation.

The museum is dedicated to the city's role in the history of civil aviation, types of flying boats, famous personalities, and historical events that determined Foynes's fate.

The most amazing and breakthrough aircraft of that time landed in Foynes—the legendary Sikorsky S-32 B, and the "twin" Maia and Mercury. The first aerial refuelling in history was carried out here.

Unfortunately, with the outbreak of World War II, civil aviation almost ceased to exist for several years. Passenger traffic through Foynes nearly dried up, mainly consisting of important diplomatic figures. The last flying boat took off from Foynes in October 1945. After the war, the brand new Shannon airport was fully operational and took over the palm branch of the aviation centre of the west of Ireland.

However, the role of the small but mighty Foynes in the history of aeronautics has not been forgotten — in 2023, the museum was renovated, and reopened by the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar. The exhibition occupies three floors - the first is dedicated to Flying Boats, the second and fourth to navigation, and there is a small observation tower at the top.

The coolest thing is a real Boeing flying boat moored in the museum courtyard, which you can climb, touch, squeeze and smell everywhere:)

At the museum's exit is the equally legendary O'Regan restaurant, where the recipe for Irish coffee was invented!