During the Second World War, a small airstrip stood next to Gosford Castle near Markethill, Co. Armagh. The airstrip, sometimes referred to as Gosford Airfield or the Mullaghbrack Airstrip, saw use by the American Forces based at Gosford Castle. Planes landing there sometimes brought supplies for the troops and sometimes brought prisoners for Camp No. 10 in the castle grounds.
On 23rd January 1942, 5 acres of farmland in the Coolmillish Townland with a view over Gosford Demesne was to go up for auction. Fisher and Fisher Solicitors of Markethill, Co. Armagh would oversee the sale on the instructions of Mr. Samuel McConnell. As well as the land, the terminable annuity of £3, 16s, 8d aid to the Ministry of Finance included a byre for 3 cows and the recently erected Hillcrest Cottage. It is unclear whether this is the plot of land given over to the airstrip. However, the United States Army arrived in Ulster only 3 days after the auction was due to take place.
Locals recall the American Airmen
In 2003, Joey McStay spoke to ‘Bygones and Byways’ – a Markthill and District Local History Project and gave his memories of the airstrip and the American Forces. You can listen to his interview and read the transcription below.
During the war years, the American Forces were stationed in Gosford and they had these wee spotter planes and they originally landed them in a field called Cabragh Field. We used to go down on Sundays see them land and sometimes, they’d have give you a ride in them.
But then they were transferred from Cabragh Field to the Mullaghbrack Road in that field that James McCombe owns now and Singans(?) owned another field and the runway was made there. And they landed and took off all the time there. That’s 1942 and ’43. The people used to al flock there of a Sunday to see these. You know, they weren’t used to aeroplanes at that time and they thought it was something great to see these planes taking off.
Then when the Yanks went away in 1943, the time of the invasions, you know, the big invasions, and they all went away, to D-Day, yes. The troops were confined to camp for about a week or two before they went away. They weren’t allowed out of camp but there’s a river up there called Drumlack beside the aerodrome and the women was taking their shoes off and walking up the river up to the Yanks. Big queues of women all heading into the demesne to see the boyfriends, you know. I’m telling you, they liked the Yanks and the cigarettes, the cartons of Lucky Strikes, Camels, and Chesterfields, all big cartons, you know. And the Yanks brought us down for Christmas dinner too, do you mind.
In 2013, Frank McWhirter also spoke to ‘Bygones and Byways’ telling the interviewer more tales of American Forces and “Flying Jeeps” at Gosford. You can listen to his interview and read the transcription below.
When we were going to school, the American soldiers gave a party in Gosford Demesne and my brother and I – there was only about 5 or 6 of us out of (?) – went to it. But eh, there was a soldier took you for the day and showed you around the camp and they wined you and dined you and give you a box of candy home with you, maybe 5 or 6 pounds of sweets home with you. And chewing gum, my mother blessed the chewing gum, for it was everywhere!
But the fella who brought, that my older brother was with, he was, we’ll call him now a sort of a lay preacher. There was 10 boys in the family and they all went to the war and they all came home. And he came back here and stayed with me and I took him to see… He was stationed in Gosford, and I took him down to Gosford. And then we went over and stayed with him. The 101st Airborne, yes, at the wee airstrip, yes. I remember, they were nearly all, the regiment that built that airstrip, were all coloured people, and they came… they were recruited, well Clifford told me this when I was in America, they were recruited down in the southern states, and they done all the work there, and then they came and took over.
They had wee planes, “Flying Jeeps”, they called them. I don’t know what the right name was but I can remember the flying jeeps coming in. You’d see them out over, around here. I couldn’t see the spotter planes for I’ll tell you why. They made too much sound, like a Landrover just going into the sky, that’s what they were, and they called them “Flying Jeeps” but that’s what they were like, they were like a Jeep. They weren’t like a helicopter, they were driven by propeller.
There was 10 of his brothers, there was only 1 of them came to Northern Ireland. The rest of them were in England and Wales, and he was the only one came to Northern Ireland and he came to our church every Sunday, Drumaness Church, there’s a new church built there now. And he would have come to the church every Sunday and then he come here and I showed him around Gosford. He got seeing where had spent, what he was 9 months in. They were here a year. They were there 3 months and built the airport. They took over that ground and then they sold it back. I can remember them building the airport and I can remember that from going to Markethill market and maybe bringing cattle to it and you’d see them on the road. I’d never seen a black man before.
Following the Second World War, there was no need for an airstrip to serve Gosford Castle. Now, little remains of the old airstrip on the Mullaghbrack Road in the townland of Coolmillish other than a small stretch of 1940s concrete.