Oranmore

53°16'59"N 008°55'08"W

runway: 09/27 - ...x..m - grass

Oranmore airfield (Oranmore Aerodrome, RAF Oranmore) was an airfield 170 kilometers west of Dublin.
The airfield opened in May 1918 as a Royal Flying Corps aerodrome.
Units assigned to the airfield were 2 Sqn, 100 Sqn and 105 Sqn.
It stopped being an RAF aerodrome after the independence of Ireland.
It continued as a civilian airfield however.

In 1970 Oranmore became home to a small airline operating Britten Normal Islanders.
Named 'Aer Arann', it was to serve the three Aran Islands (Inishmaan, Inishmore and Inisheer) off the coast of Ireland.
Capt. Hayden Lawford was operations manager of Aer Arann.
He and fellow pilot Bill Wallace lived in one of two caravans at Oranmore airfield, which doubled as a tool shed and a booking hall during the day.


Oranmore, photographed in 1974 by Antoin Daltun, via IrishAvSites.com

Oranmore remained open until 1976, when it was replaced by the newer modern Galway Airport.
The former airfield is now being used as a commerial/industrial area.


The location of the former airfield in 2008, about to be dug under a commercial area (Google Earth)