RAF Llandwrog
RAF Llandwrog | |||||||||||
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| Near Llandwrog, Gwynedd in Wales | |||||||||||
  RAF Llandwrog Shown within Gwynedd | |||||||||||
| Coordinates | 53°06′15″N 004°20′25″W / 53.10417°N 4.34028°WCoordinates: 53°06′15″N 004°20′25″W / 53.10417°N 4.34028°W | ||||||||||
| Type | Royal Air Force station | ||||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||||
| Built | 1941 | ||||||||||
| In use | 1941-1946 | ||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
| Elevation | 3 metres (10 ft) AMSL | ||||||||||
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Royal Air Force Llandwrog or more simply RAF Llandwrog is a former Royal Air Force station located at Llandwrog, southwest of Caernarfon, Gwynedd, Wales.
The site opened in January 1941 as a RAF Bomber Command airfield for training gunners, radio operators and navigators. It remains in civil operation today as Caernarfon Airport.
History
Second World War
The Air Observers School flew Avro Anson and Westland Lysander aircraft.
On 10 October 1941 two aircraft collided at RAF Llandwrog, killing seventeen people.
- Units
The following units were here at some point:[1]
- No. 2 Air Crew Holding Unit RAF
- No. 9 Air Gunnery School
- No. 9 Air Observers School
- No. 9 (Observers) Advanced Flying Unit RAF
- No. 11 Service Flying Training School RAF
- No. 31 Maintenance Unit RAF
- No. 277 Maintenance Unit RAF
Mountain Rescue
Early in 1942, prompted by an increasing number of aircraft accidents in the North Wales mountains, the RAF Llandwrog Mountain Rescue Section was formed on a local, volunteer basis.[2] The initiative came from the medical officer at the base, Flight Lieutenant G R Graham.[3] The team at Llandwrog, and other similar teams elsewhere, were officially recognised towards the end of 1943. The Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service started operations in May 1943 but due to the administrative lag of wartime was not officially promulgated until January 1944.[4]
Chemical weapons storage
Almost 71,000 bombs containing the nerve agent tabun had been seized in Germany following WWII, and these were stored in the open at RAF Llandwrog, until 1954 when, in Operation Sandcastle, they were transported to Cairnryan for disposal aboard scuttling ships at sea 120 miles (190 km) north-west of Ireland.
Current use
The main site is now Caernarfon Airport. Other parts of the site have been repurposed as workshops and small businesses, whilst many buildings remain largely untouched since the end of the war.[5][6]
See also
References
Citations
- ↑ "Llandwrog (Caernarfon)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
- ↑ "RAF Mountain Rescue". UK Home Front. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
- ↑ MoD history of Mountain Rescue Archived 4 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Doylerush 1994, p. 00.
- ↑ "Geograph:: Blythe Farm (C) Alan Fryer". www.geograph.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
- ↑ "Contact | Celtic Computers". www.celtic-computers.com. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
Bibliography
- Doylerush, E (1994). The Legend of Llandwrog: The Story of an Airfield and the Birth of the RAF Mountain Rescue Service. Midland Counties. ISBN 0-904597-88-1.
External links
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