Ireland from the Air Corps

Could it be that the men and women of the Air Corps have the best views in Ireland? An album they have posted to their Facebook page for the benefit of Irish emigrants shows both the beauty of the island and the talents of their photographers.

The better-known tasks of the Air Corps, which was founded in 1922 as part of the Irish Defence Forces, include supporting ground forces, protecting fisheries, transporting Ministers, providing air ambulances, and carrying out search-and-rescue operations.

The corps has also been recording the State’s development from the air, photographing events from the International Eucharistic Congress of 1932 to this month’s solar eclipse. In that time the men and women of 105 Squadron, the Air Corps’ photographic and airborne-imaging section, moved from glass plates to wet film and, now, digital capture. Their skills have been passed from one generation to the next; all of the squadron’s photographers have been trained by their peers and predecessors.

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St Stephens Green, Dublin city. Photograph: Air Corps 105 Squadron

The photography is not recreational; photographers play an important role in Ireland’s maritime and energy security, as their presence and their work help to assert the State’s sovereignty. By recording exactly what they see when they travel with maritime-patrol aircraft on surveillance trips, they create a legal record of maritime activities in our waters.

And sometimes they also just take great photographs. The range on this page offers a glimpse of what the crew see in the course of their work.