Army Plane crash in Terenure, Dublin.

It was on 10th. September 1934. I was 11 at the time and was able to walk up to see where it had happened. Rathmines, where I lived then, is not far from Terenure.

The Air Corps was very small at that time, and were testing a new plane, a Fairey 111F. This was a biplane, as in the photo attached. 

It was flying very low along Terenure Road when it struck trees and fell in the front gardens between No’s. 113 and 115. It was left hanging  from a tree and caught fire. The pilot Lt. Arthur Russell, and one crew member, Pte. Daniel Twomey, were killed. A third crew member Sergeant Patrick Canavan, was thrown free but his parachute strap caught on the plane and he  was left hanging against the plane, where he received very bad burns but survived. The straps holding him up burned through and he fell to the ground where he was assisted by people wha were helping out.  He had to resign, from the Air Corps, due to his injuries but was able to return to work at Baldonnel airfield in a civic capacity. He reported that the lieutenant pilot was flying very low over his friends homes, trying to impress them.