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Description
Aerial photograph of Brawdy Airfield. Taken on 02 March 2010.
A large amount of redevelopment of the wartime airfield was undertaken by the Admiralty in 1951-1956 and again in 1961-63. Three new interconnected hangars and a technical support facility were added in the 1950s. The wartime Romney huts were also replaced by brick buildings incorporating a mess hall and accommodation block. The original watch tower became the fire station, and a new watch tower was built to a naval pattern. It was modifed to a RAF pattern, but later topped with a modern control room. The structure has now been demolished. One of Brawdy's wartime runways has been closed, but the two others have been extended and large concrete aprons have replaced the former dispersal areas. There are a collection of former US Naval buildings next to the main gate.
Event and Historical Information:
Before it was officially opened on 2 February 1944, Brawdy airfield had been used a Satellite Landing Ground (SLG) by the Handley Page Halifaxes of 58 and 502 Squadrons when cross-winds made take-offs of fully fuelled aircraft impracticable at St David's. Brawdy was the wartime base of 517 Squadron which flew meteorological information gathering flights out over the Atlantic. The Squadron flew Handley Page Halifax Mk II and Mk V heavy bombers. Squadron 517 left Brawdy for RAF Weston Zoyland in September 1945. Other wartime units include a detachment of 595 Squadron flying Supermarine Spitfires towing target gliders. Thirty Spitfires and De Havilland Mosquitoes from 8 Operational Training Unit were detached from Haverfordwest to Brawdy from February 1945 for photographic reconnaissance training. On 1 November 1945, St David's station headquarters was transferred to Brawdy and from 1 January 1946, the airfield was taken over by the Admiralty. The airfield returned to RAF control in 1974. More recently, it has been taken over for army storage with the runways kept in operational readiness.
Sources include:
Defence of Britain Project
Jones, I, 2007, Airfields and Landing Grounds of Wales: West, pg152-163
Phillips, Alan, 2006, Military Airfields Wales, pg39-50
Smith, David J, 1982 Action Stations 3: Military Airfields of Wales and the North West, pg 46-7
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