THE Air Corps is 75 years old this year and celebrates its birthday this weekend with a gathering that promises to be a veritable who's in the national, international and civilian aviation fields. This afternoon Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel will be full of Top Gun-like figures (flight jackets included) when General Officer Commanding, Brig Gen Patrick Cranfield, holds a reception which will be attended by the aerodrome's base commander, Cot John O'Brien; US military attache Colonel Bill Torpey, as well as his equivalents from Britain, Cot Sean Lambe, and France, Lieut Cot Robert Le Chanteaux.
In addition there'll be a fair sprinkling of ambassadors, as well as David Andrews, the new Minister for Defence; the Army chief-of-staff, Lieut Gen Gerry McMahon, Michael Coughlan, Eddie Keane and Declan Fallon from Irish Shell; Pat Byrne from CityJet; and Pierce Cahill and Darby Kennedy from General Aviation, The occasion promises to be a flying success.