A CAMPAIGN to have Kerry Airport named after Tom Crean has been up and running for a number of years but now Norwegian Air has stolen a march with an iconic image of the legendary Antarctic explorer emblazoned on the tailfin of its Boeing 737-8MAX jets.
The fleet is embarking on transatlantic routes from the Republic this summer and the Annascaul explorer becomes the first non-Norwegian to be included in the airline’s “Tailfin Heroes” series.
Norwegian Air this month commenced flights to the east coast of America from Cork, Dublin and Belfast and the first of the Crean tribute Boeings arrived into Dublin from Stewart International Airport in New York this week.
There is also an extensive and informative profile on the life and times of Tom Crean in the Norweigan Air in-flight magazine.
There has been strong support for the campaign to dedicate Kerry Airport to Tom Crean and in recent days a petition of signatures was submitted to the Minister of State for Defence, Paul Kehoe, in support of naming an Irish Navy vessel in Crean’s honour.
The Annascaul man, who died in 1938, at the age of 61, took part in three British navy expeditions to Antarctica with Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton and he won several medals for bravery.
On one mission, after trekking 1,500 miles across the frozen continent, one of his party became unwell and. Crean volunteered to solo trek the final 18-hour leg of the journey to get help to save his comrade’s life.
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