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Unfortunately the State visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland although historic and memorable offered little in the way of interesting aircraft. It did however showcase the Defence Forces who had over 500 military personnel participating in a variety of ceremonial events in addition to providing the all important security back up to the Gardai. From the time the Queen accompanied by her husband, His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh arrived at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel at 12 noon on 17th May the ceremonial aspect was apparent. The Royal party was met by An Tánaiste, Mr Eamon Gilmore TD, Major General Dave Ashe (Deputy Chief of Staff - Support) and Brigadier General Paul Fry (OC the Air Corps). The Queen inspected an Air Corps Courtesy Guard of Honour under the command of Captain Kevin Phipps while in the background lurked her aircraft, the rather non descript BAe 146-200, G-RAJJ, an Avro Business Jet of Cello Aviation. The aircraft is a former CityJet aircraft (previously EI-CWD) now kitted out with only 46 seats. Cello Aviation is a new executive charter and aviation management company based in Birmingham which commenced operations on 8th July 2010. The company markets the executive-fit 146 as a low-cost business-jet “with the cabin size of an airliner and compliant with the strictest noise regulations”. The aircraft had arrived earlier that morning at RAF Northolt at 08:28 from Luton as the 'Chello 252'. She departed at 10:47 for Baldonnel as 'Chello 523'.

The Royal party was then driven to Áras An Uachtaráin with a 29 person motorcycle escort provided by the 2nd Cavalry Squadron and under the command of Captain Laura Keane. At the Áras there was a full Ceremonial welcome followed by a meeting with the President and Dr McAleese and tree planting ceremony. The ceremonial included a 21-gun salute and the inspection by the Queen of a joint (Army, Naval Service and Air Corps) Captains Guard of Honour, under the command of Captain Thomas Holmes (5th Infantry Battalion) with an Air Corps fly past of four PC-9 aircraft with Captain Paul Kelly leading the flight. Queen Elizabeth and President McAleese then travelled to the Garden Of Remembrance at Parnell Square for a wreath laying ceremony. That evening the Royal party visited Trinity College to view the Book of Kells and attend a reception in the Long Room.

On the second day of her visit, 18th May the Queen visited the Guinness Storehouse for the 'Windows' tour of Dublin followed by a visit Government Buildings where she was greeted by Taoiseach Enda Kenny). From there it was on the Irish National War Memorial Gardens at Islandbridge where wreaths were laid at the Cenotaph by the two Heads of State. It was then on to Croke Park to meet with Gaelic Athletic Association members. That evening a State dinner was held at Dublin Castle. The British Prime Minister David Cameron and foreign secretary William Hague also attended. An RAF HS-125 CC3, ZE396, callsign ‘Ascot 1000’ arrived in Baldonnel at 17:25 while another BAe 125, the 700B, G-IFTE followed at 18:30 as ‘Interflight 1’, both in connection with the VIP visitors. The RAF 125 didn't stay too long and was airborne again at 18:00 using the same callsign as inbound. G-IFTE left the following morning.

Thursday 19th May was taken up with visits to the National Stud Kildare, Farmleigh House and a concert at the National Conference Centre. The final day of the visit (20th) involved visits to St Patrick's Rock, Cashel, the English Market in Cork and Tyndall Institute also in Cork. The visit to Cork provided the only real opportunity for the Queen to meet people and impromptu walkabout in the heart of the ‘Rebel County’ was the first time the Queen came so close to well-wishers on this tour. Some 25,000 people, including hundreds of schoolchildren lined the streets of Cork city to greet her. Earlier, the Queen had arrived by helicopter from Farmleigh for a brief tour of the famous ‘Rock’ shortly before 11:00. The helicopter used, G-XXEB, a Sikorsky S-76C Spirit, is operated the Queens Helicopter Flight. The helicopter was also used for the short flight to Cork airport where it landed on Runway 25 in formation with Air Corps AW139 ‘278’ with the 139 doing the r/t and using the callsign 'Buzzard 78'. On arrival at the airport she was greeted by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD, The Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Sean McCann, and the GOC 1 Southern Brigade, Brig Gen Paul Pakenham. She was again given a Captains Courtesy Guard of Honour, drawn from the 4th Infantry Battalion Cork, under the command of Captain Tim Egar. She then boarded G-RAJJ shortly after 16:00 (which had departed Baldonnel as 'Chello 254' at 12:45) and returned to RAF Northolt using the callsign 'Chello 255'. G-XXEB left Cork Airport using the reg as callsign. After her departure, it looked like most of the Air Corps had decamped to Cork, with four PC-9s (‘260’ ‘262’, ‘263’ and  ‘267’), the Garda Defender ‘254’, two AW139s (‘278’ and ‘279’) and the Learjet all parked on the ramp. By any standards, the visit was a tremendous success and the Irish people and their security forces had pulled it off.

Photos supplied by Gerry Barron, Paul Daly, Terry Murphy and Gabriel Desmond