21 September 2023
The world’s largest flying boat museum at Foynes, Co Limerick, has been reopened by Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar following a €5m (£4.3m) redevelopment.
The Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum is said to be the largest of its kind in the world. It celebrates how Foynes became one of the world’s great aviation hubs of the world between 1937 and 1945 when Ireland’s first commercial transatlantic services were launched.
The Taoiseach said, “It’s great to be back in Foynes to officially open the redeveloped and expanded Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum. This is one of my favourite museums in Ireland, and which tells the remarkable story of how Foynes pioneered transatlantic flight, with those remarkable flying boats carrying passengers between Ireland and the US in the 1930s and 1940s.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar tries the flying boat simulator with museum chair Eamonn Brennan. Photo: Arthur Ellis
“The museum has been extensively redesigned with significant investment from the Government. There’s a 100-seater cinema, new exhibition rooms with state-of-the-art technology, flight simulators, a research centre, and a Tourism Information Office.
“I believe attractions like this wonderful museum will help to encourage more visits to the region by sea and by air, thus strengthening Shannon Airport and Shannon Foynes Port.”
The new library features aviation publications dating back to the 1930s whilst the archive features original hand-drawn weather maps from 1937 to 1946, hundreds of newspapers, aviation artefacts and the Foynes Port inventory of every aircraft that came in and out of Foynes.
The Taoiseach with Margaret O’Shaughnessy, CEO and Founding Director of Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum. Photo: Arthur Ellis
Margaret O’Shaughnessy, CEO and Founding Director of Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum said, “We are delighted to continue to expand our visitor attraction beyond the museum and to establish ourselves as a globally known location for aviation enthusiasts, scholars and researchers with our expansive library and archive collection, as well as being the only place in the world where one can step on board an exact replica of a Boeing 314 Clipper flying boat ‘The Yankee Clipper’.”
