This list identifies the

military aircraft A military aircraft is any Fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing or rotorcraft, rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary armed service of any type. Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat: * Combat aircraft are ...

which are currently being operated or have formerly been operated by the

Irish Air Corps "Watchful and Loyal" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = ''see list of wars'' , decorations = , battle_honours = , battle_honours_label = , fl ...

Active Irish military aircraft

Military aircraft currently in active service with the Irish Air Corps are as follows: Pilatus Pc-9M Irish Air Corps, Baldonnell (3237218382)

Retired Irish military aircraft

A few examples of former Air Corps aircraft are retained in the Air Corps Museum in Baldonnel. These include an Avro Anson, An Alouette III and a Fouga Magister. A De Havilland Vampire and a Miles Magister are on display in the National Museum in

Collins Barracks (Dublin) Collins Barracks ( ga, Dún Uí Choileáin) is a former military barracks in the Arbour Hill area of Dublin, Ireland. The buildings now house the National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History. Previously housing both British Armed ...

. Military aircraft which have been withdrawn from service with the Irish Air Corps include the following:

Fighter and attack aircraft

* Bristol F.2B Fighter - 8× 1922-1935 * Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard - 4× 1922-1929 * RAE S.E.5a - 1× 1922 (destroyed by the IRA during Civil War) * Bristol F.2B Fighter Mk II - 8× 1925-1935 * Gloster Gladiator I - 4× 1938-1944 (1× crashed 1938, 1× crashed 1944, 2× retired 1943, 12 more ordered but not delivered during The Emergency) * Hawker Hurricane I - 12× 1940-1946 (1× RAF crash-landed in Ireland 1940 and repaired by Air Corps, 11× delivered 1943) * Hawker Hurricane IIa - 1× 1941-1943 (RAF force-landed in Ireland) * Hawker Hurricane IIb - 1× 1941-1943 (RAF crash-landed in Ireland) * Hawker Hurricane IIc - 6× 1945-1947 * Supermarine V.S. 506 Seafire LF.III - 12× 1947-1955

Bombers

* De Havilland DH.9 - 6x * Fairey Battle TT.I - 1x * Hawker Hind and Hind Trainer * Lockheed Hudson I (also used for maritime patrol duties)

Reconnaissance and patrol aircraft

* CASA CN-235M-100 * Cessna FR172H - 8× FR172H, 1× FR172K. Five FR172H remained in service until 2019. * Fairey IIIF Mk II * Supermarine V.S. 236 Walrus I - 3x from 1939

Transport and liaison aircraft

* Avro 652A Anson I and C19 * Avro 626 Prefect (also served as a navigation trainer) * Hawker Siddeley HS.125-600B and -700B *

Beechcraft Super King Air The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin- turboprop aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The Model 200 and Model 300 series were originally marketed as the "Super King Air" family; the "Super" designation was dropped in 1996 ...

200T * De Havilland DH.84 Dragon 2 * De Havilland DH.104 Dove Mk 4, Mk 5, Mk 7, and Mk 8A * Grumman G1159A Gulfstream III (leased) *

Gulfstream IV The Gulfstream IV (or G-IV or GIV) and derivatives are a family of twinjet aircraft, mainly for private or business use. They were designed and built by Gulfstream Aerospace, a General Dynamics company based in Savannah, Georgia, United Stat ...

Hawker Hector The Hawker Hector was a British biplane army co-operation and liaison aircraft of the late 1930s; it served with the Royal Air Force and saw brief combat in the Battle of France in May 1940. Some Hectors were later sold to Ireland. It was name ...

* Martinsyde Type A Mk II * Vickers Type 193 Vespa IV and Type 208 Vespa V * Westland Lysander II - x6

Trainer aircraft

Avro 504K The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind tha ...

- 6× 1922-1932 * Avro 621 Tutor * Avro 631 Cadet (also used for coastal patrol duties) * Avro 636 * De Havilland DH.60 Cirrus I Moth * De Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.20 and T.22A * De Havilland DH.115 Vampire T.55 - 6× 1956-1976 * Fouga CM-170-2 Super Magister - 6× 1975-1999 * Hunting Percival Provost T.51 and T.53 * Miles M.14A Magister * Miles M.25 Martinet TT.I * Miles M.9A Master I and M.19 Master II * SIAI-Marchetti SF-260D and SF-260WE Warrior * Supermarine V.S. 509 Spitfire T.9 - 6× 1951-1961

Helicopters

Aérospatiale Alouette III The Aérospatiale Alouette III (, ''Lark''; company designations SA 316 and SA 319) is a single-engine, light utility helicopter developed by French aircraft company Sud Aviation. During its production life, it proved to be a relatively popular r ...

- replaced by AW139s and retired in September 2007 * Aérospatiale SA330J Puma - leased from Aerospatiale for 2 years during the early 1980s * Aérospatiale SA342L Gazelle - retired December 2005. Later sold * Aérospatiale SA365Fi Dauphin II - retired and sold *

Sikorsky S-61N The Sikorsky S-61L and S-61N are civil variants of the SH-3 Sea King military helicopter. It was developed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft. The commercial version of the Sea King was developed during the ...

- Previously leased and operated by IAC for Search & Rescue/Coast Guard. Subsequently, returned to CHC Ireland who operated it in a similar capacity for the IRCG. * Eurocopter Twin Squirrel AS355N - Operated by IAC for

Garda Air Support Unit The Garda Air Support Unit (or ''GASU'') is a unit of the Garda Síochána which was formed in 1997. The GASU is part of the Operational Support Unit which provides specialist support to Gardaí nationwide. The Operational Support Unit also incl ...

until replaced by second EC135T in January 2008.

References

Notes

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aircraft Of The Irish Air Corps Irish Air Corps Irish Air Corps Aircraft Republic of Ireland-related lists Military equipment of the Republic of Ireland