5 April 2018
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Lecture on 75th anniversary of ‘Taint a Bird
Tonight’s (Thursday) Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage lecture on the story of “’Taint a Bird” – the day the war came to Clonakilty”, will be held at 8pm at O’Donovan’s Hotel (not at the usual venue where the monthly lectures are held). This is because the hotel is synonymous with the story of the forced landing of the US B17 bomber on 7th April 1943, 75 years ago this Saturday at White’s Marsh, on the Inchydoney Road.
The 10 young crewmen, a civilian passenger and a spider monkey called “Tojo” has no idea what country they were in when the plane ran out of fuel and luckily for all on board, landed in the soft boggy field.
But they spent a few hectic days and nights with locals while “detained” at O’Donovan’s Hotel during which “Tojo” died and was buried in the back garden of the hotel – where the hall in which the lecture will be held now stands!
Writer, Tina Pisco will deliver the lecture, backed up by slides and photos. She is an authority on the “‘Taint a Bird” landing of 7th April 1943, and visited some of the crew members 40 years later in the US, and wrote a novel called “Only a Paper Moon” about 20 years ago, based on the events of the ‘Taint a Bird landing.
People are advised to arrive well before the 8pm starting time, and all are welcome.
