RAF Pembrey

51.7080, -4.3160 — view on OpenStreetMap ↗

About

RAF Pembrey opened on the Carmarthenshire coast of South Wales in 1939. It served as a fighter station in the Battle of Britain — No. 92 Squadron flew Supermarine Spitfires from it, and the Polish No. 316 Squadron was formed there — before becoming an air-gunnery training school for the rest of the war. It was here, in June 1942, that a German pilot mistakenly landed his Focke-Wulf Fw 190 intact, handing the RAF its first example of the type. After post-war use for jet conversion the station closed in 1957; part of the site is a light airfield, and the adjoining sands remain an active weapons range.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Pembrey — Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust and RAF Pembrey — Wikipedia. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Photographs

RAF Pembrey Battle Headquarters This bunker lies just outside the motor racing circuit at Pembrey and during the war would have been the command centre for the defence of RAF Pembrey. The trees are recent, and the bunker is placed on high ground to give an excellent view of the whole of the airfield.
ⓘ licence & creditDave Farmer / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RAF_Pembrey_Battle_Headquarters_-_geograph.org.uk_-_346525.jpgView source & full licence →
Observation Block The thick concrete roof is supported by rusting metal girders and the slit provides 360 vision for the occupants. Observers would have directed the defence of the airfield from here.
ⓘ licence & creditDave Farmer / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Observation_Block_-_geograph.org.uk_-_346535.jpgView source & full licence →
Emergency Exit to Battle HQ This exit leads from the observation block and would have provided alternative access to the bunker.
ⓘ licence & creditDave Farmer / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emergency_Exit_to_Battle_HQ_-_geograph.org.uk_-_346537.jpgView source & full licence →
Observation Block The thick concrete roof is supported by rusting metal girders and the slit provides 360 vision for the occupants. Observers would have directed the defence of the airfield from here.
ⓘ licence & creditDave Farmer / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RAF_Observation_Post_Bunker.jpgView source & full licence →
Disused RAF training facility and a Spitfire What can I say? I only stopped to take a picture for my own records of this training dome (a forerunner of today's flight simulators) as a result of Mike Williams' first Geograph of this architectural relic. At first I assumed the plane that flew into focus of my first picture taken of the dome was an RAF training plane but the aircraft's distinctive profile suggested it looked remarkably like a Spitfire. Indeed, that's what it turned out to be. There was a Battle of Britain Memorial Flight taking place from nearby Pembrey airfield just as I was passing and happened to stop to take my picture. What a lovely looking and agile aircraft the Spitfire was!
ⓘ licence & creditHywel Williams / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Disused_RAF_training_facility_and_a_Spitfire_-_geograph.org.uk_-_507432.jpgView source & full licence →

No people are cross-referenced to this airfield yet. Links appear as squadron postings, crews and service records are added.