New Irish Air Corps exhibit at Shannon Aviation Museum
The Shannon Aviation Museum collection has received a new exhibit from the Irish Air Corps in one of their recently retired Cessna FR.172’s. The aircraft served with the Irish Air Corps since the early 1970’s when nine Cessna FR.172’s were delivered. They remained in service until last year. The Cessna FR.172 operated many roles for the Air Corps including carrying out border surveillance, explosive escorts, cash escorts, in-shore maritime surveillance, target towing, bog surveys, wildlife surveys, general transportation flights and even one air ambulance mission. The Cessna was finally retired on 4th October 2019 after serving a total of 47 years, five aircraft were still active on the retirement date and they flew a total of 63,578 hours in Air Corps service.
The Shannon Aviation Museum Founder Eddie Ryan was awarded the Royal Aeronautical Society Distinguished Service Award for a lifetime of dedication to aviation and inspiring many young people. Eddie’s aviation career started over 50 years ago with the Irish Air Corps.
The Shannon Aviation Museum is located near to Shannon town centre and is open each week from Thursday to Saturday 10am – 4pm. There is a collection of around ten complete aircraft, have a dozen cockpits, numerous engines and aircraft components. There is also a fixed base Boeing 737NG flight simulator which can be booked for flight training or just for fun to test your flight skills. Bookings and vouchers can be purchased through the museum website here.
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