In the 19th Century, Ireland Was the Perfect Place to Land a Plane

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Western ireland, it turned out, was the perfect place to land a plane. The real reason why shannon is here was aircraft had los range. Most long range seaplanes only carried enough fuel to fly about 33 hundred miles. And right there on the western edge of england was this whole other country, ireland which was just that much closer to the America seaboard.

On the west coast of Ireland, on the banks of an estuary dividing county Limerick from county Clare, lies a small town called Shannon. But Shannon is not a quaint fishing village or farming community. Its industry is its airport. And Shannon Airport is big. It handles up to 1.7 million passengers and 20,000 flights a year, most of them from other countries. It looks like a cosmopolitan international airport, but it has a unique claim to fame: the world's first airport duty-free store.

Today, the store has what you would expect -- designer perfumes, jewelry and various fine foods, with a lot of local (in this case Irish) products in particular. But like the area around the airport, the shop started out small, with a local boy from the area who would go on to change the world of tax-free commerce in and beyond Shannon.

Call of Duty: Free