RAF Hell's Mouth
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Royal Air Force Hell's Mouth, or more simply RAF Hell's Mouth, is a former
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
air gunnery and bombing range. It was initially redeveloped into a Relief Landing Ground, and then became an Emergency Landing Ground. It is situated at Hell's Mouth (
Porth Neigwl Porth Neigwl, also known in English as Hell's Mouth, is a broad bay, about 3 miles (5 km) wide, on the south coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales. The bay faces south-west and lies between the headlands of Mynydd Rhiw to the west a ...
), on the
Llŷn Peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( or , ) is a peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, with an area of about , and a population of at least 20,000. It extends into the Irish Sea, and its southern coast is the northern boundary of the Tremadog Bay inlet of Cardigan Ba ...
, near the small village and
community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...
of
Llanengan Llanengan is a small village and community (Wales), community around Abersoch in Gwynedd in north-west Wales. It had a population of 2,024 at the 2001 census, which had been reduced to 1,989 at the 2011 Census. The popular seaside resort villag ...
, and about from
Abersoch Abersoch () is a village in the community of Llanengan in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a popular coastal seaside resort, with around 2,600 residents, on the east-facing south coast of the Llŷn Peninsula at the southern terminus of the A499. It is a ...
,
Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...
,
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
. It was opened in 1937 on land acquired by the
Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...
. Just before the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
the range was used for
training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...
by No. 5 Armament Training Camp RAF and subsequently No. 5 Armament Training Station RAF, at
RAF Penrhos Royal Air Force Penrhos, or more simply RAF Penrhos, is a former Royal Air Force airfield located near Penrhos, Gwynedd, Penrhos, Gwynedd and west of Porthmadog, Gwynedd, Wales, in the community of Llanbedrog. It was operational from 1 Feb ...
. The range was also used by a variety of operational units. The use of the range had reduced by early 1940. The RAF had larger and faster aircraft in operational service, which required a change in training techniques. Also, the weather at Hell's Mouth sometimes made it difficult to use the range, especially when shrouded in sea mist. The range was then developed into a Relief Landing Ground for No. 9 (Observers) Advanced Flying Unit RAF, or (O)AFU. The redevelopment included a moving target range, which saw the
USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
take an interest in it, due to its success. By the time the (O)AFU was disbanded, RAF Hell's Mouth had become more of an emergency landing ground. The airfield remained open for flying until early 1947, but was then abandoned.


History

RAF Hell's Mouth was commissioned in February 1937 as a Relief Landing Ground, later an Emergency Landing Ground for
RAF Penrhos Royal Air Force Penrhos, or more simply RAF Penrhos, is a former Royal Air Force airfield located near Penrhos, Gwynedd, Penrhos, Gwynedd and west of Porthmadog, Gwynedd, Wales, in the community of Llanbedrog. It was operational from 1 Feb ...
. It took its name from the local coastline which is known as Hell's Mouth due to the 'hellish' conditions for sailors with little shelter from the sea. It was also an air gunnery and bombing range, with targets on the land, floated offshore, and towed drogues in the air. A small range railway was later in use to provide moving targets.


Air gunnery and bombing range

There was a requirement for
bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...
and gunnery ranges to support the Armament Practice Station newly built at RAF Penrhos, around north-east.
Compulsory purchase Compulsion, Compulsive, Compelling, or Compulsory may refer to: Psychology * Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so. * Obsessive–compu ...
of seven
farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...
s, the
bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
and the long beach from Rhiw Mountain (Mynydd Rhiw) at its north western end down to Cilan Head, was completed. Offshore bombing practice targets were a couple of anchored
raft A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barre ...
s, at which trainees would aim 8.5 lb (4 kg) smoke bombs. However, training with live bombs had to take place outside the three-mile out from shore limit. For air gunnery practice, target rings on canvas sheets, situated along the beach line, were used. The range opened in 1937 and was used by various Flying Training Schools. These were month-long training detachments operating out of RAF Penrhos.
Westland Wallace The Westland Wallace was a British two-seat, general-purpose biplane of the Royal Air Force, developed by Westland Aircraft, Westland as a follow-on to their successful Westland Wapiti, Wapiti.Philpott, pp. 431-432. As the last of the interwar ...
, a British two-seat, general-purpose
biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
, and later
Hawker Henley The Hawker Henley was a British two-seat target tug derived from the Hawker Hurricane that was operated by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Design and development In 1934 Air Ministry Specification P.4/34 was issued which cal ...
, a British two-seat
target tug A target tug is an aircraft which tows an unmanned drone, a fabric drogue or other kind of target, for the purposes of gun or missile target practice. Target tugs are often conversions of transport and utility aircraft, as well as obsolescent c ...
, were the target towing aircraft used.
High level High Level is a town in northern Alberta, Canada. It is located at the intersection of the Mackenzie Highway (Highway 35) and Highway 58, approximately north of Edmonton and south of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. High Level is located wi ...
,
low level High-level and low-level, as technical terms, are used to classify, describe and point to specific goals of a systematic operation; and are applied in a wide range of contexts, such as, for instance, in domains as widely varied as computer scienc ...
and (shallow)
dive bombing A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...
were all practised at the range, along with air-to-ground firing and air-to-air gunnery practice, all subject to the weather conditions at RAF Hell's Mouth. Aircraft commonly seen using the range were
Hawker Hart The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircraf ...
, a British two-seater biplane light bomber; Hawker Demon, a fighter variant of the Hawker Hart; and Hawker Audax, a Hawker Hart variant, designed for army cooperation, followed later by
Gloster Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed privat ...
, a British biplane fighter aircraft, and
Fairey Battle The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and Ha ...
, a British single-engine light bomber aircraft.


Relief / Emergency Landing Ground

The grass strip was created in 1937 as a range for No. 5 Armament Training Camp RAF, based at nearby RAF Penrhos. The initial accommodation was under
canvas Canvas is an extremely durable Plain weave, plain-woven Cloth, fabric used for making sails, tents, Tent#Marquees and larger tents, marquees, backpacks, Shelter (building), shelters, as a Support (art), support for oil painting and for other ite ...
, and
Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British e ...
s were provided for workshop space. The plan was to extend the small grass airfield, and on the south-east corner of the site three
Bellman hangar The Bellman Hangar was designed in the United Kingdom in 1936 by the Directorate of Works structural engineer, N. S. Bellman, as a temporary aircraft hangar capable of being erected or dismantled by unskilled labour with simple equipment and to b ...
s were constructed along with
aprons An apron is a garment worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body to protect from liquids. They have several purposes, most commonly as a functional accessory that protects clothes and skin from stains and marks. However, other typ ...
. Situated between these and the sea, a large moving target railway was laid out, and by July 1940 these were completed, however the extensions to the airfield were not ready until May 1941. From then it was open as a relief landing ground for No. 9 (Observers) Advanced Flying Unit from RAF Penrhos. The moving target range was an oval-shaped course. It was a
narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter cur ...
which used a pulley system and a target vehicle which was powered by a `V' twin
JAP ''Jap'' is an English abbreviation of the word " Japanese". In the United States, some Japanese Americans have come to find the term offensive because of the internment they suffered during World War II. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, ''Jap ...
engine. The target vehicle was a motorised flat truck which carried a wooden model of an aircraft. This was fired at by the trainee gunners, from a replica
gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanis ...
, as the wooden model travelled the light railway. Targets off shore were provided by floats moored in the bay. Personnel based at RAF Hell's Mouth to operate the bombing range and gunnery targets included an
officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...
, a
flight sergeant Flight sergeant (commonly abbreviated to Flt Sgt, F/Sgt, FSGT or, currently correctly in the RAF, FS) is a senior non-commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and several other air forces which have adopted all or part of the RAF rank structur ...
, around 30 airmen and a few other RAF personnel types, and Nissen and wooden huts were added for accommodation. The most common aircraft used for training at the range was the
Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), R ...
, a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft. 12 lb (5.5 kg) smoke bombs were now used which ignited on hitting the sea. The range had three
observation tower An observation tower is a tower used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, and woo ...
s: one was situated in the south-west corner, a second was located in the middle, next to the camp, and the third tower was in the far north-west. Using
telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...
s to view the smoke bomb hits, observers within the three towers would record the
compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...
bearing on a fixed brass ring. Typical aircraft using the airfield were
Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. ...
and
Armstrong Whitworth Whitley The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium/heavy bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the World W ...
. In August 1944 a
Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson, a key feature of t ...
was successfully landed by a Polish pilot following an engine failure. Despite the mismatch in size, the aircraft later successfully took off.


Current use

The site was decommissioned in 1945 and returned to
agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
.


See also

*
List of former Royal Air Force stations This list of former RAF stations includes most of the stations, airfields and administrative headquarters previously used by the Royal Air Force. They are listed under any former county or country name which was appropriate for the duration of ...


References


Citations


Bibliography

* Annand, David. ''RAF Penrhos near Pwllheli 1937-45 and RAF Llandwrog near Caernarvon 1940-45.'' Tywyn : David Annand, 1986. * * * *


External links

*
Images at Geograph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hell's Mouth Royal Air Force stations in Wales Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom