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Belfast Magazine
OLD BELFAST NEWSPAPER REPORTS Lough Neagh Air Tragedy Elaine Hogg
prolific goal scorer and player in Inter P r o v i n c i a l competitions. For some time he had been the captain of his club and on many occasions was called upon by the Ulster senior selectors for trials. His father William Hannan had a miraculous escape as he noticed the plane falling and he lay flat in the James Hannan or boat and as a result was Jimmy Hannan as he uninjured. known was one of the best known hockey The pilot of the plane, forwards in Ulster. He Flying Officer William of 504 was a member of the Sharpe, Antrim Hockey Club, a squadron, was rescued n the 18th May 1931 a tragic and bizarre incident took place on Lough Neagh, as a result of which a local man, Mr James Hannan was killed by an aeroplane from Aldergrove. The plane fell into the water and struck the boat in which Mr Hannan and his father were fishing.
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by another boat and in July of that year was charged at a court martial of "manoeuvring an aircraft in a manner likely to cause an accident".
The eye witness accounts of what happened that day in May are shocking; the evidence and statements at the court martial give us a fascinating glimpse into air force training and procedures in the early days of the RAF.
Thomas Wallace and William Hannan, cousins of the dead man, were fishing in a boat some distance away and when they noticed the airplane falling they rowed quickly to the scene. William Hannan was extensively interviewed by local reporters after the accident and it was his graphic description of the affair which gripped the general public of the time. He explained that fishermen on the Lough were well used to airplanes flying over the Lough on training exercises and on that