RAF Manorbier was a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

airfield near Manorbier,

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The site was first used in 1933 as a mixed civilian/military airfield and was the base for 'Y' Flight of No. 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit RAF in 1937, using de Havilland DH.82 Queen Bee unmanned radio-controlled target drone. The airfield was passed on to the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

in September 1946 and the site, now known as the Air Defence Range Manorbier, is currently used by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

as a testing range for high-velocity missiles.

History

RAF Manorbier started as a mixed

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

and

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

airfield in 1933. The 8th

Earl of Essex Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...

kept his aircraft there while the RAF used it as a landing ground for land-based aircraft visiting the

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

base of

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, however this ended in 1935. The site, consisting of a grass

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

and canvas tents, was then used as an anti-aircraft training school from the spring of 1937 with No. 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit RAF 'Y' Flight being based at the airfield. The unit operated the de Havilland Queen Bees, a pilot-less

radio-controlled Radio control (often abbreviated to RC) is the use of control signals transmitted by radio to remotely control a device. Examples of simple radio control systems are garage door openers and keyless entry systems for vehicles, in which a smal ...

version of the de Havilland Tiger Moth trainer, which was used for anti-aircraft gunnery practice. The runway was enlarged in 1940 and the airfield acquired catapults to launch Queen Bees from clifftops so gunnery practice could be continued when the grass runways were flooded. Defences were also fitted to the airfield, including the Pickett-Hamilton retractable pillbox, which can be fitted with different

calibre In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore match ...

guns and can be raised or lowered hydraulically. From 1939, the Pilotless Aircraft Unit (PAU) was based permanently at Manorbier, using a tender to retrieve drones from the sea and return them back to the base. The unit continued to use the airfield even after the war. The airfield was occupied by No. 11 Group RAF in 1944, it was also occupied by

No. 595 Squadron RAF No. 595 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force from 1943 to 1949. History The squadron was formed at RAF Aberporth, Wales on 1 December 1943, from nos. 1607, 1608, 1609 and 1621 Flight for anti-aircraft co-operation duties over cen ...

from 1 December 1943. The squadron flew a wide variety of aircraft, including the Hawker Henley Mk III,

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

Mks IIC and IV, Miles Martinet, Airspeed Oxford, Vultee Vengeance and the

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

Mks VB, XII, IX and XVI. The squadron left on 27 April 1946. The following units were here at some point: * No. 2767 Squadron RAF Regiment * No. 4109 Anti-Aircraft Flight RAF Regiment

Current use

The site is currently used as training and testing range for the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

known as Air Defence Range Manorbier, the testing range fires a maximum of 750

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

each year on 100 designated testing days. The principle weapon system fired at Manorbier was fitted for night operation in 2005, the only suitable site for testing new

night vision Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions, either naturally with scotopic vision or through a night-vision device. Night vision requires both sufficient spectral range and sufficient intensity range. Humans have poor night vi ...

technology at the time. The

also proposed a plan to launch a maximum of 100 missile for 20 nights a year. This was met with opposition from the locals who claimed that should the plan be approved, tourism will suffer and

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...

in the area will increase.

References

External links

Experience Pembrokeshire – RAF Manorbier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manorbier Bombing ranges Royal Air Force stations in Wales Military airbases established in 1933

History

Current use

See also

References

External links