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Originally Posted by Pathfinder  Hey all,
I have been doing more research, and I have come across Irish citizens who flew in the RCAF as flight engineers in Canadian Halifax squadrons. I always thought Ireland was neutral in WW2, so how did they get into the RCAF/RAF?
~ Pathfinder |
The Irish Free State as it was known up until 1949? was part of the British Commonwealth however it was the only one who chose neutrality.
Northern Ireland was a distinct region of the United Kingdom from the 1920's.
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Irish citizens were free to fill manpower shortages in Britain and join the British armed forces. "In January 1942 it was found that in the whole of the British Army 23,549 men were born in Éire and 28,287 in Northern Ireland ... [i]n 1944 the Éire figure had increased to 27,840 and that for Northern Ireland had reduced to 26,579." [6] Éire exported desperately needed food and labour[citation needed] to Britain and relaxed restrictions on the over-flying by British warplanes over County Donegal's airspace. The Catalina flying-boat that located the Bismarck was based inland at Lough Erne in County Fermanagh. Irish airspace would have been used en route to the Atlantic. "Hot-pursuit" into its territorial waters of German U-boats by Royal Naval warships also occurred.Both Allied and Axis personnel were interned by the government of Éire, although the Irish Government exercised its discretion when dealing with Allied belligerents often allowing them to 'escape' and eventually releasing them all back to British custody by 1943. Daily weather, shipping and aircraft reports were also afforded the Allied side as was the breaking of diplomatic protocol with the seizure of a transmitter in the German Legation.
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