RAF Aberporth

RAF Aberporth lay near the village of Blaenannerch on the west Wales coast in Ceredigion, a few miles north of Cardigan. The site came into use around 1939 and was formally established as an RAF station in the early 1940s, working under Army Co-operation Command. Rather than a bomber or fighter base, it functioned as an anti-aircraft co-operation and target-facilities station, supplying the airborne targets against which coastal gun batteries practised.

Throughout the Second World War aircraft from the grass airfield towed drogues and flew as targets for gunnery training. Early target-towing was carried out by types such as the Westland Wallace and Hawker Henley, joined later by Miles Martinets and Vultee Vengeances, while radio-controlled de Havilland Queen Bee drones provided pilotless targets. No. 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit worked from the field, and No. 595 Squadron formed there in December 1943 to continue the co-operation role.

The RAF placed the station on care and maintenance on 15 May 1946 and closed it on 1 September that year; for a time afterwards it served as a Polish Army Resettlement Corps depot. The Royal Aircraft Establishment took control in 1951, building a hard runway in 1956, and the site became a guided-weapons and missile range testing Bloodhound and Rapier systems. Bought privately in 2001, it now operates as West Wales Airport, a centre for unmanned aerial vehicle development.