had a long talk with McSweeney and Russell and, after being satisfied of their loyalty to the republican cause, he sent them to England to buy a suitable aircraft. Russell’s time as an aviator in Canada gave him a ‘cover’ story – he would purport to be procuring an aircraft for a Canadian forestry department.
The aircraft had to be suitable for carrying passengers and freight, and with an eye to future use by Irish armed forces, it also had to be suitable for military purposes, including bombing missions. The two young men spoke to representatives of a number of aircraft manufacturers, Avro & Co., Martinsyde & Co., Short Bros., Vickers Ltd., and De Havilland & Co.6
The type of aircraft they ultimately purchased was a Martinsyde Type A, Mark 2, four-seater bi-plane. This aircraft was powered by a Rolls Royce engine, had a range of 550 miles, a cruising speed of 100 miles per hour, and cost £2,600.7 The transaction occurred during the Treaty negotiations, and it was held on stand-by at Croydon Aerodrome, the gateway for international flights to and from London. Russell and McSweeney took several practice flights to familiarize themselves with the machine. When the aerodrome people became impatient at the delay in removing the aircraft from their facilities, Russell, after each practice flight, kept complaining of ‘right wing low’ or ‘left wing low’ or ‘unsatisfactory rudder’ by way of explaining the delay.8
Dalton showed his usual meticulous attention to detail in planning how the aircraft could land safely in the greater Dublin area if Collins had to make a quick getaway. It was proposed that Russell would be the pilot for the flight to Ireland, while McSweeney would be deployed at the landing ground to prepare the runway and arrange re-fuelling. The plane would fly from London, across the Irish Sea, and ultimately land at Leopardstown racecourse.9
Collins, of course, did not have to make an emergency getaway from London, but the aircraft did serve a useful purpose. It was taken to Baldonnel, near Dublin, the airfield chosen to be the base of the air division of the new National Army, and was the first military aircraft acquired by new Irish state. Its purchase can be seen as the birth of the Irish Air Corps. Dalton later stated with pride, ‘From this beginning grew what is now known as the Irish Air Force.’10
Dalton Joins the IRB and Goes to London with Collins
Before Emmet Dalton departed for London with Michael Collins for the Treaty negotiations, he went through an important procedure. He was sworn into the secret, oath-bound organization, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). It was decided at a meeting of the Dublin County Board of the IRB on 6 October that Dalton should be accepted as a member.11 Founded in the nineteenth century, the IRB was dedicated to the establishment of an Irish republic by any means necessary. Collins had become President of the Supreme Council of the IRB in the summer of 1920, and perhaps he wanted Dalton to join the organization before assisting with the sensitive Treaty talks. The Catholic Church did not approve of secret, oath-bound societies such as the IRB. Dalton later told of being refused Confession by a priest on the basis of his IRB membership. However, during the revolutionary period a man refused the Sacraments by one priest could often find another willing to turn a blind eye. In Dalton’s case the obliging cleric who heard his Confession and gave absolution happened to be a Jesuit.12
Most of the Irish delegation, of which Arthur Griffith was chairman, arrived in London on 8 October for the Treaty talks that would decide the future relationship between Ireland and Britain. Collins, accompanied by Dalton and a small entourage, travelled on the mail boat from Dun Laoghaire the following evening. Collins had brought some of his most trusted intelligence operatives and members of the Squad. They would act as bodyguards and couriers. Collins, full of nervous energy, found it difficult to sit still on the voyage. Dalton remembered him pacing the ship deck, full of his own thoughts, and looking gloomy. Dalton spent time with him on deck, and one of Collins’s remarks stuck in Dalton’s memory: ‘How am I expected to get people out of the strait-jackets they have themselves secured?’13 No doubt Collins recognized that he would disappoint uncompromising republicans back home.
Two senior officials from Dublin Castle, Under-Secretaries Sir John Anderson and Alfred Cope, crossed on the same mail boat. When Cope found Collins could not get a sleeping compartment on the train from Holyhead to London (the party did not book in advance), he insisted Collins take his. Dalton and Cope spent the night in the reserved compartment of a first-class carriage. Dalton said he often wondered who had learned most from the other during the long journey to London.14 Cope probably knew already about Dalton’s background as a British Army officer and holder of the Military Cross – perhaps during the night he found out more about the motivation of a young man who had fought for the British and then changed sides. They arrived in Euston, London about five o’clock on the morning of 10 October, the day before Collins was to meet British Prime Minister David Lloyd George at his residence, 10 Downing Street.
The Irish had rented two houses for the Treaty talks. Most of the delegation and the staff were based at 22 Hans Place, near the renowned Harrods department store. Collins and key members of his own circle, including Dalton, were based at Grosvenor House, 15 Cadogan Gardens, Kensington, a short walk away from Hans Place. Though he had been reluctant to attend the London talks, Collins appeared pleased to be surrounded by men who were part of his close circle. A member of the Irish delegation, Robert Barton, said that meetings of the delegation were held in Hans Place but Collins carried out his functions as Director of Intelligence in Grosvenor House. He recalled that those based with Collins at this location were Emmet Dalton, Diarmuid O’Hegarty, Tom Cullen, Ned Broy ‘and a number of others’. In his statement to the BMH, Barton said: ‘Collins took all these over himself, partly by way of protection and partly by way of keeping in touch with things at home. They were passing backwards and forwards with information all the time. Remember, you could not trust even the postman, the King’s messenger.’15
Collins availed of Dalton’s military expertise in side-talks with the British on defence matters. Dalton also acted as adviser on IRA and British compliance with the Truce, which was still in place. On the opening day of the Treaty negotiations, the Irish delegation, with their staff members, set off for 10 Downing Street, in a fleet of Rolls Royce cars. Most of the delegates were in the first car. Collins travelled in the second car with Dalton and key members of the intelligence staff – Liam Tobin, Tom Cullen, Joe Dolan and Joe Guilfoyle. When Collins and the other delegates arrived at the barricaded entrance to 10 Downing Street, they found a big crowd of Irish exiles assembled, many of them on their knees praying. Dalton received special attention from some of the press cameramen. He did not realize that they had noticed the butt of his revolver protruding from his hip pocket.16 Observing the arrival of Collins and his men was one of the Irish delegation secretaries, Kathleen Napoli McKenna, who remembered seeing ‘Emmet Dalton, handsome as a Wild West cinema star, the butt of a service rifle [sic] peeping from his hip pocket, all alert.’17
It might have been assumed that Dalton, in addition to his advisory duties, was acting as a bodyguard for Collins, in light of the fact that he was armed with a .45 service revolver. However, according to Dalton’s daughter Audrey, Dalton always insisted that he was not there as a bodyguard, but as a member of the defence committee. Nevertheless, Dalton was concerned about Collins’s security while in London, as evidenced by his role in the air escape plan. Even as an adviser, Dalton would have been useful to have around in the event of a threat to Collins. Dalton was frequently at Collins’s side. One of the photographs from the period shows Dalton and Collins, smiling shyly for the camera, sitting in the open-topped back of a motor car, looking like dashing, well-dressed young men about town.
Talks with the British
As they negotiated on the future of Ireland, the Irish delegates were up against a British side headed by Prime Minister David Lloyd George, genial, charming but ruthless. Collins had side meetings with the British on finance, defence and observance of the truce. For the defence talks, apart from Dalton, Collins’s team included other senior military men, Eoin O’Duffy and J.J. ‘Ginger’ O’Connell, and the Irish delegation secretary, Erskine Childers. The latter wrote the best-selling thriller Riddle of the Sands, had delivered the Volunteer rifles to Howth in 1914 and also had considerable expertise from his service as a Royal Navy officer. Dalton and Collins came to distrust Childers, who later took an anti-Treaty stance.