'A Wing and a Prayer' - The Story of Knock Airport
"We're building an airport", Monsignor James Horan tells Jim Fahy of RTÉ News, in 1981. "And I hope the Department of Transport doesn't hear about it. Now don't tell them ... We've no money, but we're hoping to get it next week, or the week after." The bold story of a 'simple' country priest, 'an old man in a hurry' - with a dream to build a 7500ft runway, for an international airport on a 'foggy, boggy hill' in and around Barnacahoge and Barnalyra, Co. Mayo, is documented beginning to end. A feat few thought possible. It began as a one off news item, and develops into a charming documentary, written by Fahy and directed by Blackman over the years. The changing governments, all get caught up in the chaos, and almost nobody in power wanted the airport to go ahead. The controversial campaign to put Connacht on the map, faces setback after setback. But none great enough, to stop the Monsignor from getting his gold standard airport for the province, opened to the public by 1986.
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