RAF St David's

The county's position on the western extremity of Wales meant that it was a prime location for stationing aircraft engaged in the Battle of the Atlantic - the protection of Britain's maritime trade and in the unceasing battle against the German U-Boats.  Some of the finest coastal locations in Pembrokeshire were chosen as airfield sites, and today there are many reminders of this wartime legacy.

St David's Airfield opened in the autumn of 1943 under Royal Air Force Coastal Command.  Orginially intended to operate US Navy Liberator bombers, a change of plan led to RAF squadrons moving in.  Initially detachments of Fortress four-engined bombers of Nos 206 and 220 Squadrons used St David's and they were succeeded by two squadrons of Halifaxes - the four-engined type which would call St David's 'home' for several months.

Nos 58 and 502 Squadrons moved to St David's in December 1943, and carried out intensive patrols during the winter and spring.  They were soon joined by No 517 Squadron operating Halifaxes in the meteorological role - but this led to overcrowding and the new squadron moved to Brawdy in February, 1944.

St David's had the classic wartime  three-runway layout along with a control tower and three corrugated iron-clad hangars.  The Brawdy runways were better aligned with the prevailing westerly winds and, in certain wind and weather conditions, Halifaxes from St David's - fully bombed up but with light fuel load - would make the short 'hop' to Brawdy.  There the heavily laden bombers would be 'topped up' with fuel before taking off into the prevailing wind.

The long patrols over the ocean wastes were mostly uneventful but occasionally there was intense action - against U-Boats or surface vessels - and there was always the chance of encountering marauding German fighters.  In February, 1944, a Halifax returning to St David's was shot down by German intruders off the Pembrokeshire coast, only a wheel being found.  In the dangerous skies over the Western Approaches seven St David's-based Halifaxes were lost on operations between January, 1944 and the following September when the two squadrons moved to other bases.  Other Halifaxes were written off in crashes or accidents on or near the airfield.

In the last months of the war a detachment of 220 Squadron's Liberators was stationed for a time at St David's, followed by the last operational squadron, No 53, also with Liberators.  ironically, after the European war ended 53 Squadron lost a Liberator and its four-man crew in a crash near Emlych Farm, on the Whitesands road.  This site is now marked by a slate memorial, unveiled in July 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the accident, the commemoration organised by the Pembrokeshire Aviation Group.

St David's began as the parent station to Brawdy but the roles were reversed in later years.  And unlike most of the other Pembrokeshire airfields, St David's had a flying role in the post-war years.  it was for several years operated by the Airwork company in a fleet support role for the Royal Navy, and in particular the air directional school at HMS Harrier on the Dale peninsula.

Sea Mosquito and Sea Hornet twin-engined aircraft flew from St David's - and later Sea Venom jets - but all this came to an end in 1960.  When the RAF operated its Tactical Weapons Unit at RAF Brawdy (1974 - 1992) one of the runways at St David's was kept in use as a relief landing area, and Air Cadets had summer air experience flights from here.

Most of the wartime buildings are long gone, and a recent survey revealed that only 11 structures remain out of 470.  A small cluster of buildings at Llanungar Fawr are now used for agricultural purposes and the former wireless telegraphy station is now a workshop.  A brick-built blast shelter and a few huts survive near Nine Wells and can be viewed from the footpath leading down to the Coast Path.