Sir, We feel compelled to respond to minuscule points of correction made in a letter to The Irish Times headed "Wings over Shannon" (January 15th) in reference to Marsh to the Skies - a television history of Shannon Airport screened on December 27th, 1995 on RTE 1.
Firstly, as producers of the documentary, Marsh to the Skies, we would suggest that this programme successfully conveyed 50 years of trans Atlantic aviation at Shannon and did so with due respect to all involved in the building of the airport. And it should also be stressed that this programme had the almost impossible task of telling 50 years of aviation history at Shannon in just 65 minutes of programme time.
Mr Hennessy, in his letter, says that the impression was given that Aer Lingus built Shannon and that the film "completely ignored" the many other operators through the airport. This is clearly not true and I would suggest that Mr Hennessy should take another look at the documentary. Aer Lingus were clearly dealt with in the context of an Irish attempt to start an operation on the transatlantic. Since Shannon is Ireland's first trans atlantic airport it was only appropriate that we feature the efforts made by Aer Lingus to start, and eventually succeed, with an operation on the north Atlantic.
In stating that we ignored other carriers, did Mr Hennessy not see the myriad of DC4s, DC6s, DC8s, Constellations, Boeings of all shapes and sizes from a whole range of different flag carriers? In fact we had just about everything from flying boats to fly by wire.
With regard to the fact that some individuals known to Mr Hennessy were not featured or mentioned? All we can say is that there must be thousands of people who worked at Shannon down through the decades whose contributions go unacknowledged. It is simply impossible to acknowledge everyone by name. Instead, the key watersheds in the saga of Shannon's story were told by those people most associated with the airport - from the architects of the enterprise, government representatives and civil servants to baggage handlers and air traffic controllers and the people with whom passengers most identify - pilots and hostesses.
Finally, we thank Mr Hennessy for his interest and to paraphrase his own comment we hope that no history of Shannon would rest on such minuscule petty detail so as to obscure the creative vision of the many who created Shannon, but whose contributions are unacknowledged by name. - Yours, etc.,
Producers, Imagine Ltd.,
Ardmore Studios,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.