Letter: Irish armaments

Sir: I was intrigued to read that Sir Edward Heath had disclosed contingency plans for the RAF and the Navy to have "launched an attack on Northern Ireland" in the face of the threat of civil war in the 1970s, and that this "would have been the first assault of its kind since Cromwell" (report, 5 October).

The article has proved something of a revelation to me. I had been aware of Oliver Cromwell's activities in creating a professional army during the Civil War and under the Protectorate, but little did I realise his amazing contribution in the field of aviation. Surely his use of air power in Ireland, hinted at in the article, should be recognised as the innovation that it must have been.

I would also have to question why William of Orange's activities in Ireland appear to have been overlooked. It had always seemed to me that his actions, although devoid of any trace of the use of air support, fell into the same tradition as those of Cromwell, namely the securing of English hegemony over Ireland.

HUGH MURNAGHAN

Lonsdale College

Lancaster University