RAF Llandwrog

RAF Llandwrog
Near Llandwrog, Gwynedd in Wales
RAF Llandwrog Shown within Gwynedd
Coordinates
Type	Royal Air Force station
Site information
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force
Site history
Built	1941 (1941)
In use	1941-1946 (1946)
Airfield information
Elevation	3 metres (10 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 02/20  Concrete 08/26  Concrete 14/32  Concrete

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:

• 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. The initiative came from the medical officer at the base, Flight Lieutenant G R Graham. 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.

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.

See also

• List of former Royal Air Force stations