According to the 1980 government papers revealed today , as part of the negotiations between Thatcher and Haughey, we seriously discussed possible/probable NATO membership for ROI . I was just wondering, considering the times that were in it, if we had joined, what do people think might have happened the Defense Forces, particularly the Aer Corp . In my opinion, the most likely scenario, was to see US foces based here . Most likely to include the following , a P-3 squadron, probably based in Shannon or Knock, and also an air defense squadron, F-15A s probably .Also we might have had part of the country used for low level training, and the likely regular naval visits to Cork etc, possibly including Carriers .
The other scenario is that the Aer Corp might have been expanded . If similar requirements to the above were included, we might have seen the supply of surplus F-4E s which were readily available from US stocks at the time, and also possibly the supply of C-130s . Im not sure we would have bought or being supplied with MR aircraft, as the US seemed to have had adequate numbers of aircraft, the baseing rights for a permanent deployment would have been more valuable i think . Perhaps we might have been supplied with surplus F-4 s in exchange for the baseing rights ? I ventured Knock as a possible base, because i do remember chat amongst the spotters in Dublin around that time, that the runway was of a lenght to accomodate B-52s and other US military aircraft, that Monsignour Horan, was hedging his bets regarding the viability of the airport ,. Also of course the yanks would have been interested in having fighter aircraft which could help to cover the UK-Iceland gap , i seem to recall there was a plan to deploy fighter to Macrahinish in the Hebridies to partly close this gap . Anyway, just wonder what the rest of ye think of this scenario?
