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businessmen to film stars, as well as active servicemen
and wartime refugees. The site had been surveyed as early
as 1933 by Colonel Charles Lindbergh when he traveled
to Ireland and landed in Galway Bay flying his Lockheed
Sirius.
By 1935, the Irish Times announced that Foynes had been
chosen to be the site for the European Terminal for transatlantic
air services. Lindbergh returned again to represent Pan
Am in 1936 to inspect the facilities. He returned once
more in 1937 to witness the departure of the Clipper III.
1942 was the year First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited
Foynes under the alias Mrs. Smith. Earlier that same year,
Captain Charlie Blair made the first nonstop passenger
flight between New York City and Foynes, which took an
amazing 25 hours and 40 minutes. Incidentally, Captain
Blair later became the husband of one of Ireland's most
elegant actresses, Maureen O'Hara.
Captain Blair was again at Foynes in 1945 when he returned
to pilot the last American Export flying boat out of Foynes
on its return trip to New York. On his return, Captain
Blair piloted the first land plane, a DC-4, back to the
newly opened airport at Rineanna, which later became the
Shannon International Airport. Pan Am made 2,097 Atlantic
Crossings between America and Foynes. Pan Am was America's
principal airline from the 1930s until it collapsed in
December 1991. The company was founded as a seaplane service
out of Key West Florida and became a major company that
was credited with many innovations that shaped today's
international airline industry.
Today, visitors are welcome into the original terminal,
which nor serves as a museum dedicate to the history of
the "flying boat" and seaplane service in Ireland.
The original weather and radio room is open and particularly
evocative of the era. Don't miss the 1940's style tea
room or the audio/visual theater.
Creator of the original Irish Coffee
So the story goes, it was in 1942 when Brendan O'Regan
opened his restaurant and coffee shop in the Foynes terminal.
He employed a chef called Joe Sheridan. It was Joe who
realized that passengers who had come into the terminal
from cold and rainy weather needed something to keep them
warm and set about to make his special coffee, which became
known as the Irish Coffee.
Foynes now celebrates the Irish Coffee with an annual
Irish Coffee Festival, which takes place every July. In
2002, the festival celebrated the 50th anniversary of
the creation of the Irish Coffee. Patron of the festival
Maureen O'Hara-Blair was in attendance, as the festival
date also fell on her birthday.
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