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Llanbedr Airfield (), formerly RAF Llanbedr (ICAO: EGOD), is an operational
general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...
aerodrome located in the
Snowdonia National Park Snowdonia, or Eryri (), is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales Welsh 3000s, over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (), which i ...
near the village of
Llanbedr Llanbedr () is a village and Community (Wales), community south of Harlech. Administratively, it lies in the Ardudwy area, formerly Meirionnydd, of the county of Gwynedd, Wales. In 2011 the community had a population of 645. History Ancient ...
,
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 ...
, northwest
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 ...
.


History

It opened in 1941 as part of
RAF Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It operated throughout the Second World War, winning fame during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The ...
's 12 Group. During its life, the base has been known as: * RAF Llanbedr until 1957 * RAE Llanbedr until 1992 * T&EE Llanbedr (Test & Evaluation Establishment) until 1995. * DTEO Llanbedr (Defence Test & Evaluation Organisation) until 1997 * DERA Llanbedr until 2001, when most of DERA became
QinetiQ QinetiQ ( as in '' kinetic'') is a British defence technology company headquartered in Farnborough, Hampshire. It operates primarily in the defence, security and critical national infrastructure markets and run testing and evaluation capabili ...
. The site was (from Spring 1942) an operational base for Towed Target (and in 1943, became the home of the RAF's No. 12 Armament Practice Camp), and later,
Target Drone A target drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, generally remote controlled, usually used in the training of anti-aircraft crews. One of the earliest drones was the British DH.82 Queen Bee, a variant of the Tiger Moth trainer aircraft operation ...
services to the UK Armed Forces. Target provision services were typically to the
Cardigan Bay Cardigan Bay () is a large inlet of the Irish Sea, indenting the west coast of Wales between Bardsey Island, Gwynedd in the north, and Strumble Head, Pembrokeshire at its southern end. It is the largest bay in Wales. Geography Cardigan Bay ha ...
Ranges (UK Danger Area EGD201, under the control of
Aberporth Aberporth is a seaside village, community (Wales), community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales. The population at the 2001 Census, was 2,485, of whom 49 per cent could speak the Welsh language. At the 2011 Census, the population of the co ...
) but Llanbedr targets also worked other UK ranges, including the
Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
range off the
Hebrides The Hebrides ( ; , ; ) are the largest archipelago in the United Kingdom, off the west coast of the Scotland, Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Ou ...
and occasionally overseas. During the Second World War, RAF Llanbedr was home to thirty-two different RAF Squadrons on rotation who flew a variety of aircraft (Spitfire, Mustang, Typhoon, Anson, Lysander and Martinet). The longest serving Squadron was No. 631 Squadron (RAF) who arrived at Llanbedr in May 1945 from RAF Towyn and stayed until February 1949. The Squadron was re-numbered as No. 20 Squadron RAF. The following squadron was here at some point: * No. 20 Squadron RAF between 11 February and 10 July 1949 with the Martinet TT.1, Vampire F.1, Spitfire LF.16E and Harvard T.2B * No. 41 Squadron RAF at various times between 11 August 1942 and 25 February 1943 with the Spitfire VB * No. 66 Squadron RAF between 22 February and 1 March 1944 with the Spitfire LF IXB * No. 74 Squadron RAF between 3 October 1941 and 24 January 1942 with the Spitfire IIA & VB * No. 129 (Mysore) Squadron RAF between 30 March and 3 April 1944 with the Spitfire IX and Mustang III * No. 131 (County of Kent) Squadron RAF at various times between 9 February and 14 May 1942 with the Spitfire VB * No. 164 (Argentine–British) Squadron RAF between 12 and 21 April 1944 with the Typhoon IB * No. 168 Squadron RAF between 21 January and 4 February 1944 with the Mustang IA * No. 183 (Gold Coast) Squadron RAF between 11 and 22 April 1944 with the Typhoon IB * No. 193 (Fellowship of the Bellows) Squadron RAF between 6 and 11 April 1944 with the Typhoon IB * No. 198 Squadron RAF at various times between 30 March and 30 April 1944 with the Typhoon IB * No. 232 Squadron RAF between 16 May and 3 August 1942 with the Spitfire VB * No. 268 Squadron RAF between 7 and 20 February 1944 with the Mustang IA * No. 302 (City of Poznan) Polish Fighter Squadron between 1 and 7 March 1944 with the Spitfire IX * No. 306 (City of Toruń) Polish Fighter Squadron at various times between 19 December 1943 and 20 March 1944 with the Spitfire VB * No. 308 (City of Kraków) Polish Fighter Squadron between 8 and 15 March 1944 with the Spitfire IX * No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF between 2 and 15 December 1943 with the Spitfire VC *
No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF No. 312 Squadron RAF was a Czechoslovak-manned fighter squadron of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War. History The squadron was formed at Duxford on 29 August 1940. It was crewed mostly by escaped Czechoslovak pilots, but its first ...
between 2 and 18 December 1943 with the Sptifire VC * No. 315 (City of Dęblin) Polish Fighter Squadron between 19 December 1943 and 1 January 1944 with the Spitfire VB * No. 322 (Dutch) Squadron RAF between 15 and 30 November 1943 with the Spitfire VB * No. 329 (GC I/2 'Cicognes') Squadron RAF between 19 and 23 May 1944 with the Spitfire IX * No. 331 (Norwegian) Squadron RAF between 5 and 21 January 1944 with the Spitfire IXB * No. 332 (Norwegian) Squadron RAF between 5 and 21 January 1944 with the Spitfire IXB * No. 340 (GC IV/2 Île-de-France) Squadron RAF between 15 and 19 May 1944 with the Spitfire IXB * No. 341 (G.C.III/2 'Alsace') Squadron RAF between 11 and 16 May 1944 with the Spitfire IXB * No. 349 (Belgian) Squadron RAF between 6 and 11 April 1944 with the Spitfire LF IXE * No. 350 (Belgian) Squadron RAF between 8 and 19 February 1944 with the Spitfire IXB * No. 485 Squadron RNZAF between 21 March and 7 May 1944 with the Spifire IXB * No. 504 (County of Nottingham) Squadron RAuxAF between 28 January and 4 February 1944 with the Spitfire VB * No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron RAuxAF between 13 and 20 March 1944 with the Spitfire LF VB * No. 609 (West Riding) Squadron RAuxAF between 22 and 30 April 1944 with the Typhoon IB * No. 631 Squadron RAF between 10 May 1945 and 11 February 1949 with the Hurricane IIC, Oxford, Martinet, Vengeance IV, Spitfire VB & XVI and the Vampire F.1 * Detachment of 776 Naval Air Squadron between 4 February and 28 June 1943 The following units were also here at some point:


Post RAF

From 1957, civilianisation of the base services (typically airfield operation) began with
Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...
holding a series of contracts until 1979, when
Airwork Services Airwork Limited, also referred to during its history as Airwork Services Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary company of VT Group plc. It has a long and rich history in providing a variety of defence support services to the Royal Air Force (RA ...
took over and held them until 1991. In 1991, contracts and scope of work changed again and FR
Serco Serco Group plc is a British multinational corporation, multinational military, defence, Healthcare, health, Space industry, space, private prison, justice, Human migration, migration, customer service, customer services, and transport company ...
took over its running. Secondarily, it served as a
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 ...
V bomber The "V bombers" were the Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom, United Kingdom's strategic nuclear strike force known officially as the V force or Bomber Command Mai ...
dispersal airfield, more recently used for military weapons training. The site closed in October 2004. Navigational and ATC equipment was removed by the military and the site put up for sale. In May 2014 the aerodrome re-opened, catering for the needs of
general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...
activities in the area.


Recent events

In recent years, the site has been used for agricultural purposes under the terms of an agreement with the Welsh Government, the current site owners. It was reported in February 2008 that Welsh Ministers had awarded preferred bidder status for a 125-year lease to the operators of Kemble Airport near
Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...
. In May 2008, the
Snowdonia Society The Snowdonia Society () is a members based environmental charity working to protect and enhance the beauty and special qualities of Snowdonia and to promote their enjoyment in the interests of all who live in, work in or visit the area both now ...
, the Brecon Beacons Park Society and the Friends of Pembrokeshire National Park formed an alliance against the development of a new civilian airport at the site without a full public debate "best achieved by making an application for planning permission". This campaign has been opposed by members of the local population who are in favour of the reuse and redevelopment of the site. A paper-based petition in favour of Kemble's plans for the airfield attracted over a thousand signatures, while an e-petition from the Snowdonia Society received 156. In December 2008, the Welsh Government gave the go-head for Kemble to take over the airfield, subject to Kemble obtaining the "relevant permissions and consents." In November 2009, the Snowdonia National Park Authority took external legal advice and refused to issue certificates of lawful use to Kemble. In August 2011, a certificate was granted to Llanbedr Airfield Estates for use of the airport to test and develop
unmanned aerial vehicles An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...
. In August 2012, permission was granted to turn the airfield into a yard for the dismantling of airliners. In January 2013 the Welsh Government included the site in the Snowdonia Enterprise Zone. In June 2014 Fly Llanbedr Limited were awarded their licence to run a flight training and air experience operation from Llanbedr Airfield. In July 2014 it was named as one of 8 possible locations for the UK spaceport the British government is looking to establish by 2018. The shortlist was reduced to 6 airports in March 2015, with Llanbedr still a candidate. As " Aerospace Wales", the operating company conducts research into future flight systems, including fixed-wing extended-duration drones, to provide
cellular network A cellular network or mobile network is a telecommunications network where the link to and from end nodes is wireless network, wireless and the network is distributed over land areas called ''cells'', each served by at least one fixed-locatio ...
phone coverage to the Welsh Mountain Rescue Service. In June 2015 one of the hangars at Llanbedr Airfield was used for the Red Bull Air Race Barnstorming stunt, where Red Bull Air Race pilots Paul Bonhomme and Steve Jones flew two modified Xtreme Air Sbach XA41's in formation through the hangar itself. In September 2015 the London Gliding Club based in Dunstable, Bedfordshire held an expedition to the airfield in order to take advantage of the unique soaring opportunities that the Site has to offer, which are often not accessible to soaring gliders originating from inland. In three weeks the club achieved 254 movements, with 436 flying hours recorded. In September 2016 the London Gliding Club held another expedition to the airfield. In three weeks the club achieved 262 movements, with 455 flying hours recorded. In October 2018 FlySnowdonia started operating as a flying school from the airfield operating two Robin DR400 aircraft.


Blokarting

The airfield will be hosting the 2026 blokarting international championships The airfield has hosted European Blokart Championships in October 2023 and many National Championships.


List of types flown from Llanbedr


Notes


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * *


External links

* {{Airports in the United Kingdom Transport in Gwynedd Buildings and structures in Gwynedd Parachuting in the United Kingdom