Irish Historic Flight Foundation is a fantastic initiative for the aviation industry to celebrate Ireland’s rich aviation heritage. The Foundation has wide industry support from the likes of the Irish Air Corps, Department of Defence, Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Stobart Air, the Irish Aviation Authority and a team of dedicated volunteers.

Now we’re entering an exciting phase as we build a dedicated ‘Aviation Experience’ facility. Visitors will be immersed in aviation as they’ll be able to view historic aircraft up close and gain an in-depth scientific understanding of aviation and flight. We’re looking forward to the opening of this state-of-the-art, interactive facility to the public in the coming years.

The Irish Historic Flight Foundation (IHFF) is an initiative for Ireland’s aviation industry, established in December 2014 to promote the historical aspects of aviation in the State.

The first is the restoration, maintenance and public flying of historic aircraft: IHFF has a fleet of three De Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk aircraft flying in Air Corps colours and the historic DH 84 Dragon (the Aer Lingus ‘Iolar’). Click here to learn more about the restoration project.

The second is the establishment of a dedicated ‘aviation experience’ facility, allowing the public to both view historic aircraft up close and gain an in-depth scientific understanding of aviation and flight. Rather than a static display museum, it will be a state of the art interactive facility, where visitors will be immersed in aviation. Funding has been identified from across the industry for the facility. The Foundation intends to submit a formal planning application by year-end with a view to having the facility in place in 2017. Already, the IHFF is supported by the Irish Aviation Authority, Irish Air Corps, Department of Defence, Ryanair, Aer Lingus, and Stobart Air and a team of volunteers. Click here to learn more about our future

The third is to establish a heritage collection of paraphernalia connected to key moments in the history of Irish aviation and the IHFF has acquired a collection of unique and original documents and maps related to pioneering Irish aviation feats beginning in 1919. This collection will be used to provide educational, tourism and aviation industry events that augment the operation of the fleet.