Dale Airfield

It opened in June 1942 and immediately had a frontline role when the Wellington bombers of No 304 Squadron, RAF, arrived, mostly manned by Polish airmen. They were soon involved in convoy protection duties and anti-submarine patrols and later took part in bombing raids on ports in Occupied France. In September 1943 the airfield was transferred from the RAF to the Royal Navy and for the rest of the war and up until 1947 it was used by a number of RN flying training units. Aircraft operating from here included Beauforts, Beaufighters and Mosquitoes. After the war Dale became home to a fighter direction school, but the air station closed in December 1947.

Dale was a large airfield with several hangars - both ‘Mainhills’ which could accommodate smaller aircraft and the larger ‘Pentads’. Many of the airfield buildings were demolished in 1980/81 as part of a derelict land reclamation scheme administered by the National Park, but the skeleton of one Mainhill still remains.

Seafire Mk.III parked in front of a Mainhill Hangar at RNAS Dale

A feature of all airfields was the profusion of ‘dispersed sites’ - groups of temporary buildings erected in fields and farmhouses, sometimes a good distance from the airfield. Dale has perhaps the best preserved ‘dispersed site’ in Pembrokeshire and one which is unique in that it has examples of both RAF and Royal Navy architecture. The site, like the rest of the airfield, is in private ownership, and apart from the Pembrokeshire Coast Path and rights of way is inaccessible to the public.