Barney McMahon

Brigadier General Brian "Barney" McMahon DSM (1 December 1928 – 25 October 2010) was an Irish Defence Forces officer. He joined the Irish Air Corps in 1949 as a cadet and qualified as a pilot in 1952. In 1962 he was one of two pilots sent to collect from France the Corps' first helicopters, two Aérospatiale Alouette III aircraft. McMahon flew these for the Corps' Air Sea Rescue Unit including a cliff rescue mission for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. He was also awarded the Ordre national du Mérite for his work in promoting Franco-Irish co-operation in military aviation. From 1984 until his retirement in 1989 McMahon commanded the Irish Air Corps.

Early life and career McMahon was born on 1 December 1928 and grew up in Doonbeg, County Clare. He was educated at St Flannan's College in Ennis and joined the Irish Air Corps in 1949 as a cadet. McMahon's instructor recommended him for a commission, as "his energetic and enthusiastic approach to his work is bound to influence others", and he qualified as a pilot in 1952.

Air Sea Rescue

In 1962 McMahon was appointed chief flying instructor for the Air Corps, based at Gormanston Camp, County Meath. Around the same time he became flight commander of the corps' Air Sea Rescue Unit, with the rank of commandant (equivalent to major). A French fishing vessel, the Emerance, had lost power and was drifting towards rocks in heavy seas. Her 16-man crew had abandoned ship into inflatable life boats but their position was not known. McMahon, who flew the mission with Lieutenant O'Connor, later said that "we were a bit bloody mad to be taking the mission on... We had very limited communications and an atrocious radio which took the heads off us as we had no helmets. We had no life raft and 1916 life jackets". The mission was McMahon's first with the Air Sea Rescue unit and he and his crews had not yet flown regularly over the Irish Sea, let alone the wilder Atlantic.

McMahon conducted an unsuccessful search and returned to land when he ran low on fuel. A supply of aviation fuel had been sent to Renmore Barracks but McMahon found he had too little left to make it there.

McMahon died on 25 October 2010. He was by this time a widower, his wife Cecelia having predeceased him. He was a father of two sons and two daughters; one of McMahon's sons died of a heart attack two days after him.