While Aran islanders had experienced aircraft flying overhead, it wasn’t until March 1935 that one of these incredible machines touched down on the Islands. Many had seen the BREMEN defy gravity as it passed overhead on its historic transatlantic crossing in 1928.
Many in Connemara and the islands had also spotted the ill fated Saint Raphael in 1927 as it attempted an east west crossing to Canada. All three on board, including it’s Princess owner, were lost.
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| The stranded plane on an Trá Mhór. 1935. |
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| Promotional photo of a Klemm Swallow with a city gent as passenger. |
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| A view showing the cliffs of Inis Meáin with the Cliffs of Moher in the far distance. The present airport is at the bottom left. The body of water in the middle of three is An Trá Mhór with the tide in. It was out when the aviators landed in 1935. |
While engaged in a cross country flying adventure, which involved a trip from Kildonan Aerodrome in Finglas to Killarney, the WW1 pilot Ernest Joseph Dease (1899-1982) from Celbridge and his copilot the famous adventurer Lillie/Lily Dillon (1880- 1963) from Listowel, decided to view on their way back, the spectacular cliffs of Moher.
The two seater plane they were flying was the famous Klemm Swallow which Lillie had purchased in England for £695 earlier that year. She was 54 years old at the time and had secured her pilots licence just the year before.
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| Ernest Dease is third from right at the opening in 1934 of the Aerodrome in Fermoy. Photo is from Fermoy FB page and the photographer was Frank O’Brien. |
Both being of an adventurous nature, the honour of being the first plane ever to land on the Aran islands, proved too much a temptation. After landing at Oranmore they refuelled and headed as far as Casla before turning south for the islands.
In 1935 the islands were still in a worldwide spotlight after the release of Robert Flaherty’s film MAN of ARAN, the year previously.
Ernest was a flying instructor at the old Kildonan Aerodrome in Finglas and was also the chief instructor at the Cork Aero Club at Fermoy, where he had taught Lily to fly.
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| The old Kildonan Aerodrome in Finglas which was a hive of activity in the 1930s. It closed in 1938 when a new airport was opened at Collinstown. (Dublin Airport) |
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| Ernest was born in 1899 at Celbridge Abbey and like most of the early flying fraternity, came from a wealthy background. The opening of various flying clubs and Aerodromes made flying more accessible to the general public. |
Ernest’s love for engines had seen him with a serious head injury after being involved in a road accident in 1934.
Arriving over the islands, Ernest and Lily searched out a suitable place to land their little plane. At the time, the Klemm Swallow was being heralded as the safest plane in the world. It could land and take off at the incredibly slow speeds of 30 - 40 mph.
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| A map from 1935 showing An Trá Mhör where the Klemm Swallow landed. |
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| An Trá Mhór at different stages of the tide. |
They spotted the vast expanse of sand of An Trá Mhór at Iaráirne, near the eastern end of the island. The tide was out and it must have looked very inviting from the air.
Although the plane belonged to Lillie, its likely it was being piloted by the vastly experienced Ernest who would have been sitting in the rear seat.
Touching down gently, all went well until the wheels began to dig in to the soft sand. The front tipped over a bit as the tail rose up, but luckily, settled back again with no damage done.
There was huge excitement as a crowd arrived to get a look at the plane and those crazy enough to fly it. Some time later they managed to do the first ever take off from the islands and headed back to Galway.
The old saying of “leaving well enough alone” comes to mind when Ernest decided to return again to the island. This time he brought a friend who had a camera ready to record the adventure. He recalled later having an uneasy feeling in his bones about attempting a second landing. His bones were ignored.
Two things now contrived to turn this second ever airplane landing on the islands into the islands first ever airplane accident.
Firstly, An Trá Mhór being tidal, the sand was now a little softer in the touchdown area they chose.
Secondly and possibly more importantly, the slim figure of Lillie Dillon was replaced up front by the famous artist and adventurer, George Pennefather (1905-1967) from Kilworth Co Cork.
We are reminded that the correct loading of a plane and of a pony and trap, have certain things in common. Many years ago in Cill Rónáin, some visiting tourists thoroughly enjoyed the instruction from their jarvey of “let the fat ones go in front”.
Surely a tale the good humoured Americans dined out on, for many years afterwards
George Pennefather was a member of the Cork Aero Club like Lilie but unlike Lilie, he was six feet four inches tall and considerably heavier.
Not surprisingly, the tail lifted as the wheels started to grip but this time the wooden propeller touched the sand, damaging the tip. There would be no second take off that day.
Things were looking grim but the islanders came to their rescue and gently manoeuvred the plane to a safe spot where the incoming tide wouldn’t reach it.
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| The village of Iaráirne overlooks an Trá Mhór and locals from this village and nearby Cill Éinne provided invaluable assistance to the stranded airmen. Just a few years previously two men from this village died from exposure after spending two foggy nights in a drifting currach. A third miraculously survived. We covered this remarkable tale of survival a few years ago. HERE |
Ernest was very impressed with how gently the delicate plane was handled by the islanders. This is really no surprise as these people and their ancestors knew how to take care of a flimsy currach on which their lives and their livelihoods depended.
The aviators were also very grateful to the local Gardaí and the local schoolmaster, Mayoman Séamus P Ó Domhnalláin, who helped organise the safe keeping of their little plane.
There was nothing left to do now but to walk about two miles to Cill Rónáin where a trawler ferried them to Connemara in what Ernest describes as rough seas.
Four days later on Sunday March 31st 1935, Ernest and four friends returned with a new propeller. Two of the group were fluent Irish speakers and all were famous in their own right.
The native speakers involved were the lawyer Seán Ó h-Uadhaigh (Woods) 1886-1959 and one of his sons, probably Robert. Seán was the man who defended the teenage Kevin Barry before his hanging in 1920. He had qualified as an electrical engineer before becoming a solicitor. His aunt Margaret Woods, was the wife of the GAA founder, Michael Cusack.
His late son Robert would become a district justice and a target for the late journalist, Nell McCafferty. Many older Leitrim people, where some of our ancestors lived, also remember Robert.
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| From the late Aer Arann pilot Hayden Lawford’s 2003 publication, IN GALWAY SKIES. |
Like all the others involved, Seán Ó h-Uadhaigh had been bitten by the flying bug and would go on to be the first chairman of Aer Lingus the following year. He is credited by some with influencing the Irish language branding of the new airline.
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| Seán Ó h-Uadgaigh walking next to Eamonn De Valera in 1920. From a Scoilnet publication on the renaming of Kingstown. Here |
Also among the group who returned was another famous adventurer from those days, John Joseph (Joe) Gilmore (1900-1945) from Ardglass, Co Down. A gifted mechanic and engineer, Joseph was probably tasked with checking the plane out and replacing the propeller. At the time he was the top mechanical engineer with Imperial Airways in England.
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| Joe Gilmore, who was part of the team which got the Klemm Swallow back into the skies. Seen here in Canada where he would die in a plane crash in 1945. |
Joe is credited with being the first person in 1933 to parachute from a plane in Ireland and was to die in Canada in an air crash in 1945. A brave man by all accounts who flew many rescue missions while stationed at Gander, Newfoundland.
As the plane belonged to Lillie Dillon we are assuming that she was part of the group of five who arrived four days later to do the propeller replacement and take off from Iaráirne. Lillie is believed to have taken some photographs and composed a poem inspired by her hero, the Man of Aran lead, Tiger King.
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| The grave of Coleman (Tiger) King with the vast expanse of sand in the background. Here is where the first ever aircraft landing on the islands took place in 1935. |
After replacing the propeller they discovered that the ground was too soft to manage a takeoff. A large group of islanders was on hand to watch the goings on and they waded in and gently moved the plane to more solid ground which Ernest and Lillie had used previously.
There was great praise for the way the islanders moved the plane over half a mile on sticky ground as they worked in relays of about thirty men. The locals had also tied the plane down in an expert fashion during its four day stay, using ropes and sandbags.
It’s likely that Lillie reclaimed her position in the Klemm Swallow, bearing in mind what happened the last time she allowed two men fly her plane.
After a successful take-off, the three remaining visitors returned to Cill Rónáin where the boat that brought them from Connemara was waiting to bring them back to the mainland.
As a souvenir of their historic landing and in appreciation of the help given by the local schoolteacher, the damaged propeller was presented by Seán Ó h-Uadhaidh to the now long closed Scoil Náisiúnta Chill Éinne.
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| The teachers residence and old school at Cill Éinne. |
We have enquired from some of its past pupils as to whether they ever saw the damaged propeller in their 1950s schooldays and so far, no luck.
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| A Klemm Swallow laminated propeller. Usually made out of birch or spruce. |
There would have been many cold winters since 1935 with 1947 being particularly bad. It’s possible the old wooden propeller made one final journey to the heavens in the form of smoke from the chimney of the old school.
By chance, the spot where the Pioneering aviators touched down is but a few hundred yards from where the island airstrip was located in 1970. Here is a recent Aer Arann plane taking off with its reflection passing over the area where Ernest and Lillie touched down in 1935. HERE
The tide at an Trá Mór has come and gone twice a day since 1935 and has changed but little since Lily and Ernest picked it out as a likely landing spot for their little plane.
The flight path for planes landing or taking off today goes within yards of where Ernest and Lily completed the first aircraft landing and take off on March 27th 1935.
A grass landing strip was constructed in 1970 when the island air service, Aer Arann, was inaugurated.
The early days of aviation in Ireland were recalled in September 2013 when the IOLAR, a restored version of Aer Lingus’ first ever plane paid a visit to the islands.
The de Haviland landed and took off just a mere few hundred yards from there the Klemm Swallow did, so many years earlier.
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This was not to be the last time that Lillie Dillon would land her little plane on a stretch of sand. In February 1937 while taking part in an air race in Egypt, Lillie and her copilot were forced to land in the Sahara desert when they had an oil problem.
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Ernest Dease 1899-1982
The two world wars introduced the public to the concept of the dashing young pilot and Ernest was certainly well qualified to this role.
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| Ernest Dease with founder member Ruth Hallinan at Fermoy Aeroclub in 1934. Ruth was another famous pilot and is featured in Michael Traynor’s well researched book Petticoat Pilots. |
As a teenager Ernest had served near the end of the Great War and signed up for the R.A.F. reserve in 1940 as WW 2 arrived. This Kildare native played a central role in introducing many to flying and was a flying instructor in different parts of the country.
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George Pennefather 1905-1967
Possibly one of the most multitalented Irishmen of his generation, George is best known as an outstanding water colour artist. He and his Australian wife Helen are credited with being the driving force which led to the opening of the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny.
A giant of a gentleman, just like an aviator who followed in his slipstream, the late Hayden Lawford, who was chief pilot along with Bill Wallace, when Aer Arann started in 1970.
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| While George Pennefather was the first giant flyer to land on the Aran Islands, he wasn’t the last. This photo from the 1970s shows the late Hayden Lawford beside the late Jimmy Coen, at Cill Éinne. |
Just a few months after landing at an Trá Mhor, George made international news when his plane was declared missing off the coast of Co Down.
After two lifeboats had failed to locate him and after Ernest Dease had called to comfort his mother at Kilworth, her phone rang with good news that George had landed safely.
When George died suddenly in 1967 at the age of 61, his good friend and fellow artist, Tom Nisbet (1909-2001), listed his many talents.
Apart from his flying and painting careers, George had founded an engineering works, operated a car dealership, started a dance band, designed and built a hydroelectric plant at his estate in Kilworth, built caravans, was a gifted photographer, a magician and had written about painting watercolours.
And so we are almost at the end of our story about the first plane to land on the islands in 1935, but not quiet.
In September 1966, after two men had landed in Cill Rónáin having rowed the Atlantic, some journalists decided to get a head start on the story and fly to the islands.
Incredibly, they picked out the exact same spot where Lillie and Ernest had landed and even more incredibly, with the exact same result.
Their propeller had to be replaced and we are hoping to gather some more information on that incident.
We left it too late to enquire about the 1935 landing but there are plenty of people still around who remember the incident exactly sixty years ago.
( Many thanks to the numerous people who helped us in the writing of this article)
Michael Muldoon Aug 2026
