Naval Air Station Whiddy Island

U.S. Naval Air Station Whiddy Island was a US naval air station operated during the last year of World War I. Located on Whiddy Island in Bantry Bay, County Cork, Ireland, it was also known as Bantry Bay Station. The base was used for anti-submarine patrols by flying boats for a number of weeks before the end of the war, and remained in operation until the closure of the base in February 1919.

The base was built by local contractors and the first US personnel arrived on 12 March 1918. Flight operations began with the arrival of the first aircraft on 25 September 1918.

The base was used by flying boats which monitored the area south of Kinsale (where the RMS Lusitania had been torpedoed) for submarine activity. The aircraft took off and landed in Bantry Bay and were pulled up a concrete ramp to the airfield for servicing and storage.

In all, five Curtiss Model H planes were based in Whiddy during 1918: Number A1072 (a Model H-16 which crashed on 22 October 1918), and numbers A1078, A1084, A3466, A4047, A4048. These were "pusher" type of aircraft with the engine and propeller behind the pilot. These H16 Large America, were equipped with four Lewis machine guns, a bomb load of four 230 pound bombs and a crew of five - a pilot, two observers, a mechanic and a wireless operator.

The base, located on the eastern end of the island, operated under wartime conditions for only seven weeks, and while patrols continued for some months after the armistice, the base was closed on 15 February 1919.