Queenstown

51°50'37"N 008°12'56"W

Runway: n/a - water

Queenstown airfield (NAS Queenstown) was an airfield in Aghada, Cork County.
The airfield was completed in September 1918, although it's command had been established earliere, in March 1918.
It was one of 4 U.S. Navy installations in Ireland, colloquially known to the Americans as NAS Ireland.
Queenstown was the largest base and headquarters for the 'Ireland Station'.
It was located on a site chosen by the British Admiralty on the eastern side of Cork Harbour, commandeered under the 'Defence of the Realm' act.
Queenstown was not only an operational flying boat base, but also the assembly location for planes and training station for pilots on 'Ireland Station'.
The aircraft used in Ireland were a single type, the Curtiss 'Large America' H16 flying boat.
The first aircraft arrived in Queenstown in June 1918 and operational patrols began in August 1918..
By the end of the War in November 1918, the base had 28 planes and nearly 1500 personnel.
Keep in mind that these were still the early years of naval aviation.
The fact the U.S.Naval Air Service managed to have combat patrols in operation was very creditable.
Their lack of success in destroying German Submarines is accredittable to the fact that the German High Command was well aware of these patrols.
They tried to route their flotillas around them, hampering operations.


First Flight of H16, July 1918 (reocities.com).


Curtiss flying boats lined up for 'Sunday Inspection' 1918 (Coll. Ronny Vogt, via reocities.com).

After the Armistice there was no need for the Irish bases and Queenstown closed on the 10th of April 1919.
All the buildings on the base and the base itself were sold and auctioned off to the residents of Cork.
The jetty for instance was sold on 22 July 1919.
Parts of the 1918 base can still be seen onthe shores of Cork Harbour.
A portion of the concrete apron and the slipway to the waters of Cork harbour can be seen, as well as a few red-bricked administrative buildings.
It is now the site of the local tennis club.
To the locals however, it is still known as the 'air base'.
In the 1970's the site was used for an unsuccesful hovercraft construction enterprise, which only lasted a few years.
Two pillars, marking the entrance to the airfield are still at the east side of the former air station.


The two pillars spelling U.S. NAVAL AIR BASE at Aghada (photos by Dermot Sheehan).


The former Naval Air Station, now a tennis club, in 2006 (Google Earth).