It’s a flying visit – in classic Swiss style.
Swiss business magnate and historic aircraft enthusiast Hugo Mathys turned heads along the south coast this week after flying in for a private holiday in his fleet of gleaming Second World War era aircraft.
After spending a few days relaxing in East Cork with close family and friends, Mr Mathys and his Classic Formation crew took off from Cork Airport in their DC-3 and two of their three Beechcraft aircraft on Thursday, before flying in formation over Cork Harbour, and then along the south-east coast towards Waterford, before returning to Cork that evening.
The trip included a stunning formation pass over Ballycotton, where the group had been staying in the scenic Bayview Hotel.
Hotelier Stephen Belton, the managing director of the Garryvoe and Bayview Hotels, was invited to join Mr Mathys as a guest passenger on board his DC-3.
“It was the trip of a lifetime,” Mr Belton said.
“Mr Mathys and his party have been staying with us for the week in the Bayview Hotel, exploring East Cork and eating in some of the region’s great restaurants.
“They visited Cobh, Midleton, and Youghal, and then they asked if I’d like to join them on this day trip to Waterford, on their DC-3, and it was just fantastic.
“They flew in formation over Ballycotton Bay, over the island, and along the coast in front of the Garryvoe Hotel.
“The weather was amazing. It was a perfect day to showcase the beauty of the region.
“And to do it in a DC-3, with the original engines, it was just incredible and unique.
“You could feel the flying. It felt like such a strong aircraft, but so smooth and stylish. It really was the perfect day.”
Mr Mathys is a major shareholder and president of Mathys AG Bettlach, a Swiss med-tech company founded in 1946 and led by the Mathys/Marzo family which has a net worth in the region of 1.5bn to 2bn Swiss francs.
He owns and runs Classic Formation, a Swiss formation display team which flies the 1943-built Douglas DC-3 and three Beechcraft B-18s at airshows across Europe.
An experienced pilot, he finances the operation of the vintage aircraft, which fly about 30 to 50 hours annually.
He was at the controls of the DC-3 when it and the three Beechcraft landed at Cork Airport last weekend.
With their prop engines roaring and airframes glinting in the summer sun, it felt like the golden age of civil aviation had returned.
Aviation buffs flocked in their droves to the airfield perimeter to catch a glimpse of the aircraft that looked as if they had flown straight out of a 1940s newsreel.
With its metallic/vintage Swissair colour scheme, the DC-3 attracted huge attention.
The DC-3 is one of the most significant aircraft in aviation history.
First flown in 1935, it became known as the first aircraft to make money “by just hauling passengers”. It went on to revolutionise air travel in the 1940s.
Rugged and reliable, its military version played a key role in the Second World War, transporting cargo and troops, and dropping thousands of paratroopers over France to support the D-Day invasion.
More than 13,000, both civil and military versions, US and foreign-built, were produced. It’s estimated that less than 170 are still flying.
Swissair ordered five DC-3s before the Second World War and used one on its non-stop Zurich to London route, one of the longest routes at the time. It also adopted a special colour scheme, symbolising neutrality.
Post-war, the market was flooded with cheap DC-3s, and they were snapped up by airlines around the world, becoming for many the most important airplane in their post-war fleets.
When Cork Airport opened in 1961, they were a familiar sight on the apron as Aer Lingus and Cambrian Airways both used the 32-passenger capacity aircraft to operate services from Cork to London, Bristol, and Cardiff in the early years.
But both airlines eventually phased the aircraft out, with Aer Lingus last using it in 1964.
Mr Mathys’s DC-3 was built in Long Beach, California in 1943, and delivered to the US Air Force that same year, operating as a wartime military transporter.
It had a long and varied history until 2010, when it was re-sprayed in Swissair colours, and became the flagship of his Classic Formation historic flying team.
The fleet is due to depart Cork Airport at around 9am on Sunday for a refuelling stop in France, before returning home to Switzerland.
