Flying Fifty

[parkman]

Anyone got any idea where I might get info on an armoured car called the Flying Fifty which saw service with the Irish Army during the civil war.A great uncle of mine lost his life in it in an accident in the Phoenix Park in 1923.

[Goldie fish]

Flying Fifty was a Rolls Royce 1914 pattern Silver Ghost, similar to the "Slievenamon".
Reg Number YI 6458, army number ARR10.

I suggest you seek an article in an Cosantoir from December 1975,"The Rolls Royce Whippet armoured car" by Denis J McCarthy and Adrian English.
No Photos are known to exist of this vehicle.

[DeV]

Karl Martin's book gives a good description of the Rolls Royce armoured cars and gives picture of other Rolls Royces in Irish service. According to the book the chasis number was 30PG and is either a 1914 pattern car or one from an interim batch built circa 1918/19. It appears to have been purchased separately from other other vehicles in Irish service.

http://www.geocities.com/irisharmoredvehicles/Rolls_Royce.html

Quote from the book, "ARR 10 'Flying Fifty' overturned on 28th January 1923 in the Phoenix Park killing Sgt. Tom Walsh, the gunner in the turret. His widow and three children were awarded £10 compensation".

RIP

[parkman]

Many thanks for that Dev Goldie most informative.

[vintary]

by eliminating the other rolls royce a/c names and with a good deal of eye squinting i belive this is the FLYING FIFTY,, i have looked at this photo top/bottom/left/right/up/down and im sure it is,, when you flip it left to right theres a number h457 this is how these photos are log in the archive ( see photo 3 & 4 ) and it is the right way round as you see it now,,, rolls royce names & info are from karl martin's book

but i am always open to debate

[apc]

looks like Danny Boy to me but then I wouldn't bet my life on it

[railwaylad]

magazine An cosantoir

An cosantoir magazine is mentioned a lot with regard to back issue for referance, {as above}im up to date with the latest issue and i see some on their web page but can back issus be ordered, IE has anyone ever order back issues and is it possible.

[Goldie fish]

Some libraries carry back issues. I know Cork City Library does. A number of their back issues are available online also. cosantoir.ie

[railwaylad]

cork library

Some libraries carry back issues. I know Cork City Library does. A number of their back issues are available online also. cosantoir.ie

thanks goldie fish, had a look on the net cork library have some of them alrite so far their the only one , i will be passing pearce street library over the next fue weeks i must call in and ask..

thanks again........

[vintary]

flying fifty

I viewed the original glass plate image of that photograph and it convinced me even more that it is the flying fifty no doubt about it. I spent some time searching for a photograph of danny boy taking during the irish civil war to use as comparison and not suprisingly i had not got much luck. i did find one that gave a little glimpse of danny boy taking in limerick august 1922 its not a great photo and some detail is lost with zooming and posting but its good enough to notice that the name danny boy is in capital letters all the letters are capitals and are all the same size which is different to the main photograph and there are some more difference between the two cars mainly the front mudguards the danny boy has standard 1920 patern mudguards whereas the flying fifty mudguards apear to be similar to a 1914 patern rolls royce armoured car. I could not find any futher info on the flying fifty photo, only that its part of the irish independent news paper collection in the national photograph archive which has no date or location on the photograph.. my search is ongoing and any input or comments are welcome

[GoneToTheCanner]

Vintary,
No offence intended,please use full stops. The lack of them make reading what is otherwise very interesting very difficult.
regards
GttC

[vintary]

Admittedly my identification of the Flying Fifty is not 100% convincing based on the images alone. There is more factual evidence to prove that this image is most definitely not “Danny Boy”.

The first attachment is from the Magazine/newspaper An T Óglác and is dated 30/06/1923 which shows that on this date the car was known as “Tom Keogh”.

The second attachment is from the Irish independent newspaper and is dated the 21/03/1924, which shows the image in question at least Nine Months after the name “Danny Boy” was no longer been used.

[trellheim]

Don't forget Military Archives in the Brugha as well may have a set.

Also worth asking national photographic museum in Temple Bar

[railwaylad]

danny boy was also a 2 gunner

vickers in front and hotchkiss in the rear