A small Royal Air Force “scout” plane crashed into the roof of a Waterford city pub and an adjacent house on Wednesday, 18 November 1920 when carrying mail despatches from Fermoy to the nearby military barracks on Ballybricken Hill. Miraculously, neither of the occupants were killed.

A January 1958 obituary in the Munster Express on the passing of Mr Martin Carroll, Butlerstown, mentioned this unusual “forced entry” at Aspels Pub, Barrack Street, which he ran with his wife Betty (née Aspel) at the time of the accident.

The plane crashed just yards from its destination, right opposite the barracks gate. It was noticed to be flying very low over the city and appeared to have engine trouble.

After clipping the wireless apparatus over the barrack square, it flipped and landed upside down on the buildings. Unsurprisingly, the impact, heard around a wide area, caused a commotion, with a huge crowd gathering on the street below.

Soldiers from the Devon Regiment rushed to the scene and scaled ladders onto the rooftop. One fell through the slates and was seriously shaken.

After great efforts, and affected by the fumes from the escaping petrol, they, with the appreciated assistance of some civilians, eventually extracted the two unconscious aeronauts from the wreckage. They were removed on stretchers to the barracks hospital and later taken by ambulance to Cork.

RAF records show the plane was manned by flying officer Briggs and his observer McKeechan, both of Fermoy aerodrome. They suffered a broken arm and a fractured leg & toe respectively, with the latter also sustaining head and facial injuries.

The private house (on the right) was owned by Mrs Catherine McSweeney, who had a narrow escape, as did a child in the house. They had been in the front room on the upper storey. Had they been in the back, they would most likely have been killed. Martin and Betty Carroll subsequently moved to Ballycashin to farm.

Photo: National Library of Ireland