The name Joe O'Loughlin has been mentioned on this web site on a number of occasions. He's the man from Belleek, Co. Fermanagh (famous for its parian ware), who is a well known and respected local historian. In recent years he has been responsible for a number of memorials being erected at the sites of World War II aircraft crashes in which young Canadians and Americans lost their lives. These accidents took place along what became known as the "Donegal Corridor", a designated stretch of airspace through which the neutral Twenty-Six Counties of Ireland allowed allied aircraft to fly when conducting missions in search of German submarines that were a danger to Atlantic shipping convoys.

Joe is a friend. He has published a number of local histories, valued for the research he undertook in order to prepare them. Now he has ventured into the realm of fiction with his latest offering, "The Phantom Airman" (Viking Publications ISBN 0-9546605-0-1), which is a blending of two rattling good tales. The first is of Saint Brendan the Navigator's second voyage in search of America, and the second is the unexplained disappearance of a young Canadian airman, and the strange sequence of events which follow.

The Brendan voyage, which culminates in one of crew deciding to remain in Canada rather than return home, is gripping. One of his descendants turns out to be the missing airman in the second part of the book.

With such good yarns as his material, it is sad to relate Joe has suffered from poor proofreading in advance of publication. Despite this, Joe's story telling is valuable in its own right.

There is one curious insight related in correspondence from Joe which sheds light on Ireland's official neutrality during World War II. That neutrality was tilted in favour of the Allies as evidenced in an official fly past by the RAF at the end of hostilities.

Former Flight Sergeant/Radio Operator/Air Gunner, D.L. Johnston, 29 Knockhavon Garden, St. Miniver, Waldbridge, Cornwall. PL27 6PJ., recalls the event in a letter to 'The Catalina Society', Crawley, West Sussex, England, 10th February 1998, as follows:

"Many people did not know throughout the war and to this day, may have no idea, that despite their neutrality the Eire Government, under Mr. deValera made a concession to the British whereby our aircraft based on Lough Erne could gain access to the Atlantic Ocean by over flying a corridor of their air space into the Bay of Donegal.

Shortly after the German surrender in 1945 orders were given to 202 Squadron to acknowledge Mr. deValera's favour's to us by staging a fly past at low level over Bundoran where the Irish leader would take the salute himself. Thus probably for the first and only time in their history, 6 Catalina's took off in quick succession, got into formation and waggled their wings at 500 feet as a tribute to the great man.

This was very much 'a one off' performance and was totally un-rehearsed. Fortunately there were no mishaps and we all returned to base none the worse for such an unusual flight."

The unkind might well say Ireland's neutrality itself was a phantom.

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