RAF Pengam Moors
Encyclopedia
RAF Pengam Moors was a Royal Air Force
station and maintenance unit (MU), located on the Pengam Moors area of Tremorfa
, 2 miles south east of Cardiff
city centre in Wales
from June 1938 to January 1946.
Prior to RAF service the site served as a private aerodrome later called Cardiff Municipal Airport. After World War II
the airfield reverted to private commercial flying until closure in 1954 when all services were transferred to Rhoose airport. The runway has since been removed and the site has been covered with industrial units, private housing and a school, with the names of many roads reflecting the previous history as an airfield.
built his first airship at Pengam. His third airship Willows No. 3 - City of Cardiff flew from Cardiff to London on 6 August 1910. The flight established Willows as the first person to fly across the Bristol Channel and was the longest flight achieved in Britain at the time. He immediately followed this with a flight from London to Paris establishing the first airship flight across the English Channel at night.
The original privately operated Splott Aerodrome
, on land purchased from Lord Tredegar, was opened for private club and leisure flying in September 1931, only later changing its name to Cardiff Municipal Airport when scheduled passenger flights began. The early accommodation was limited to wooden hutting and hangars. The aerodrome fronted on the Severn Estuary and to protect the single grassed runway from flooding, a sea wall was constructed.
British Air Navigation Co Ltd initially operated their services using de Havilland Fox Moth
s and de Havilland Dragon Moth
s. In April 1933 Great Western Railway Air Services began their flights to Haldon, Plymouth and Birmingham using Westland Wessex
aircraft. In 1934, Great Western Railway Air Services was amalgamated with several other small airlines into the new Railway Air Services
and upgraded to de Havilland 84 Dragon Rapide
s, the same aircraft type that was flown by Western Airways.
In 1933, Western Airways launched the service to Weston-super-Mare, with 13 flights each way daily at a charge of 6 shillings and 6 pence (thirty two and a half pence - or £16.70 in today's terms), only later extending to Bournemouth and France. Railway Air Services resumed peacetime flights in early 1946, now using their newly acquired fleet of Avro Anson
s and ex-RAF Douglas Dakotas.
In 1939, the UK's Air Transport Licensing Authority came into being and gave Western Airways the monopoly for all airline flights into and out of Cardiff.
At various times a range of commercial service flights were introduced:
station at Pengam Moors was made. Additional land was requisitioned to extend the length of the existing runway and provide space for a technical site. The buildings works were completed in 1938, with the provision of several brick built offices, hangars and with most accommodation housed in temporary Nissen
and Quonset
hutting. The headquarters site was in the north-west corner of the station and the technical site in the south-west corner located on the requisitioned former vegetable allotments.
In June 1938 No 614 (Glamorgan) Squadron RAuxAF
was formed and took up residence at RAF Pengam Moors. Established as an army co-operation squadron on target spotting and range finding duties they were equipped with Hawker Hind
s and Hawker Hector
s until July 1939 when the squadron was re-equipped with Westland Lysander
s. No. 614 Squadron remained at Pengam Moors until June 1940 when they were redeployed to RAF Inverness
in Scotland and retasked onto coastal patrol duties. When the squadron returned to Wales they were based instead at RAF Llandow
.
In January 1940 a flight of three crews from 815 Naval Air Squadron
relocated to RAF Pengam Moors from RNAS Worthy Down flying Fairey Swordfish
torpedo bombers on anti-submarine patrols in the Bristol Channel and English Channel. Their role was to locate German submarines and either sink them or prevent them from surfacing and attacking the large number of convoys arriving at Cardiff and Bristol with supplies from America and Canada.
In February 1940, The RAF established No. 43 Maintenance Unit (MU) at RAF Pengam Moors. The unit was tasked principally with dismantling, packing and despatching fighter aircraft to overseas locations. The Supermarine Spitfire
s, Hawker Hurricane
s, Westland Lysander
s and light bombers were flown into Pengam Moors from factories all over the UK. The staff at 43 MU dismanted the aircraft and crated them ready for loading onto freighters at Cardiff Docks, where they sailed to restock squadrons in Gibraltar, Malta and North Africa and other far flung theatres of war. The 43 MU facility remained in operation throughout the remainder of the war and was closed in October 1945.
In November 1940, No. 8 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit (AACU) were based at the airfield with a variety of aircraft, but mainly Miles Martinet
target tugs, to provide towed airborne targets for anti-aircraft gunnery training. The unit was amalgamated into No. 587 Squadron RAF
in December 1943 and remained at Pengam Moors until the station closed in 1946.
The famous RAF pilot Guy Gibson
, commander of The Dambusters
was a visitor to RAF Pengam Moors in 1940. Gibson met the Penarth
born actress and show dancer Eve Moore at a party in Coventry during early December 1939 while he was on three days rest leave at his brother’s house. The following year Guy and Eve were married at All Saints Church in Eve's home town of Penarth. Gibson was based at RAF Digby
in Lincolnshire at the time and for the wedding he flew a Bristol Blenheim
bomber from RAF Wellingore
satellite field in Lincolnshire to RAF Pengam Moors, returning three days later with his new wife as a passenger.
In 1941 two Bellman hangar
s were built on the site, together with additional hardstanding and a Sommerfield perimeter trackway. In 1942 the grassed strip was replaced with a 853m (2,800ft) concrete runway.
Throughout World War II RAF Pengam Moors was used as an emergency landing field for Spitfires, Hurricanes and other aircraft from RAF Colerne
, RAF Fairwood Common
. RAF Filton
and RAF Pembrey
damaged in air battles over the Bristol Channel ports during nightly air raids by German raiders.
, although it never regained the number of routes that had existed pre-war, as passenger aircraft were now larger and the short runway inadequate. The airfield became redundant when all civilian flying was transferred on 1 April 1954 to the expanding facility at the new Cardiff Airport that was being developed on the site of the former RAF Rhoose
. The longer runways at Rhoose were more suitable for jet passenger aircraft and its remote location meant less noise problems over built up city areas.
The Pengam Moors airfield site has largely been turned over to residential or industrial uses including a Rover car parts factory, a Tesco Extra supermarket and the Willows High School
; there is almost no signs remaining of its former use, although a few of the original buildings and road layouts still remain. Residential streets on the site bear names that hint at its past history - eg. Runway Road, Handley Road and Avro Close.
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
station and maintenance unit (MU), located on the Pengam Moors area of Tremorfa
Tremorfa
Tremorfa is a district of the city of Cardiff, Wales. It falls into the Splott ward of Cardiff.-Transport:Tremorfa is the terminus of the 12/13 routes operating to Culverhouse Cross via Splott, Central Stn, Canton and Ely...
, 2 miles south east of Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
city centre in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
from June 1938 to January 1946.
Prior to RAF service the site served as a private aerodrome later called Cardiff Municipal Airport. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the airfield reverted to private commercial flying until closure in 1954 when all services were transferred to Rhoose airport. The runway has since been removed and the site has been covered with industrial units, private housing and a school, with the names of many roads reflecting the previous history as an airfield.
Pre World War II
The site had been associated with flying since as early as 1905 when Ernest WillowsErnest Willows
Ernest Thompson Willows was a pioneer Welsh aviator and airship builder the first person in the United Kingdom to hold a pilots certificate for an airship when the Royal Aero Club awarded him Airship Pilots Certificate No. 1....
built his first airship at Pengam. His third airship Willows No. 3 - City of Cardiff flew from Cardiff to London on 6 August 1910. The flight established Willows as the first person to fly across the Bristol Channel and was the longest flight achieved in Britain at the time. He immediately followed this with a flight from London to Paris establishing the first airship flight across the English Channel at night.
The original privately operated Splott Aerodrome
Splott
Splott is a district in the south of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, just east of the city centre. It was built up in the late 19th century on the land of two farms of the same name: Upper Splott and Lower Splott Farms. Splott is characterised by its once vast steelworks and rows of tightly...
, on land purchased from Lord Tredegar, was opened for private club and leisure flying in September 1931, only later changing its name to Cardiff Municipal Airport when scheduled passenger flights began. The early accommodation was limited to wooden hutting and hangars. The aerodrome fronted on the Severn Estuary and to protect the single grassed runway from flooding, a sea wall was constructed.
British Air Navigation Co Ltd initially operated their services using de Havilland Fox Moth
De Havilland Fox Moth
|-References:NotesBibliography* Hotson, Fred W. The de Havilland Canada Story. Toronto: CANAV Books, 1983. ISBN 0-07-549483-3.* Jackson, A. J. British Civil Aircraft 1919-1972: Volume II. London: Putnam , 1988. ISBN 0-85177-813-5....
s and de Havilland Dragon Moth
De Havilland Dragon
|-See also:-References:Bibliography ISBN 0-85177-813-5...
s. In April 1933 Great Western Railway Air Services began their flights to Haldon, Plymouth and Birmingham using Westland Wessex
Westland IV
-See also:- References :* Jackson, A.J. British Civil Aircraft 1919-1972: Volume III. London, Putnam, 1988. ISBN 0 85177 818 6.* accessed 2 Feb 2007 -External links:*, Flight, October 3, 1930...
aircraft. In 1934, Great Western Railway Air Services was amalgamated with several other small airlines into the new Railway Air Services
Railway Air Services
Railway Air Services was a British airline formed in March 1934 by four railway companies and Imperial Airways. The airline was a domestic airline operating routes within the United Kingdom linking up with Imperial's services....
and upgraded to de Havilland 84 Dragon Rapide
De Havilland Dragon
|-See also:-References:Bibliography ISBN 0-85177-813-5...
s, the same aircraft type that was flown by Western Airways.
In 1933, Western Airways launched the service to Weston-super-Mare, with 13 flights each way daily at a charge of 6 shillings and 6 pence (thirty two and a half pence - or £16.70 in today's terms), only later extending to Bournemouth and France. Railway Air Services resumed peacetime flights in early 1946, now using their newly acquired fleet of Avro Anson
Avro Anson
The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm and numerous other air forces prior to, during, and after the Second World War. Named for British Admiral George Anson, it was originally designed for maritime reconnaissance, but was...
s and ex-RAF Douglas Dakotas.
In 1939, the UK's Air Transport Licensing Authority came into being and gave Western Airways the monopoly for all airline flights into and out of Cardiff.
At various times a range of commercial service flights were introduced:
- 1932 - British Air Navigation Co Ltd Twice daily return flights Cardiff to Whitchurch Aerodrome, BristolBristol (Whitchurch) AirportBristol Airport, also known as Whitchurch Airport, was a municipal airport in Bristol, England, three miles south of the city centre, from 1930 to 1957. It was the main airport for Bristol and area...
- 1933 - Great Western Railway Air Services Triangular service between Cardiff, Little Haldon, DevonHaldonThe Haldon Hills, usually known simply as Haldon, is a ridge of high ground in Devon, England. It is situated between the River Exe and the River Teign and runs northwards from Teignmouth, on the coast, for about until it dwindles away north west of Exeter at the River Yeo, just south of Crediton...
and PlymouthPlymouth City AirportPlymouth City Airport is an airport located within the City of Plymouth north northeast of the city centre in Devon, England. The airport opened on this site in 1925 and was officially opened by the Edward VIII, as Prince of Wales, in 1931... - 1933 - Western Airways Cardiff to Weston-super-MareRAF Weston-super-MareRAF Weston-super-Mare was a Royal Air Force station on a civilian airfield in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England.It was set up as a municipal civilian airport in the 1930s before being taken over by the RAF in World War II for training and technical services. It was also the site of an aircraft...
(and later to Christchurch Aerodrome, Bournemouth) - 1934 - Great Western Railway Air Services Cardiff to Elmdon Aerodrome, Birmingham
- 1934 - Railway Air Service Company to Roborough Aerodrome,PlymouthRoboroughRoborough is a village in the South Hams of Devon, England. It lies just outside the northern boundary of the city of Plymouth on the main road to Tavistock, and is a popular dormitory village....
and Speke Aerodrome, LiverpoolLiverpool John Lennon AirportLiverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport serving the city of Liverpool and the North West of England. Formerly known as Speke Airport, RAF Speke, and Liverpool Airport the airport is located within the City of Liverpool adjacent to the estuary of the River Mersey some southeast... - 1935 - Western Airways Cardiff to Le Touquet Airport and Le Bourget Aerodrome ParisParis – Le Bourget AirportParis – Le Bourget Airport is an airport located in Le Bourget, Bonneuil-en-France, and Dugny, north-northeast of Paris, France. It is now used only for general aviation as well as air shows...
Wartime RAF use
The site was surveyed by War Department engineers and in August 1936 a decision to build a Royal Auxiliary Air ForceRoyal Auxiliary Air Force
The Royal Auxiliary Air Force , originally the Auxiliary Air Force , is the voluntary active duty reserve element of the Royal Air Force, providing a primary reinforcement capability for the regular service...
station at Pengam Moors was made. Additional land was requisitioned to extend the length of the existing runway and provide space for a technical site. The buildings works were completed in 1938, with the provision of several brick built offices, hangars and with most accommodation housed in temporary Nissen
Nissen hut
A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure made from a half-cylindrical skin of corrugated steel, a variant of which was used extensively during World War II.-Description:...
and Quonset
Quonset hut
A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel having a semicircular cross section. The design was based on the Nissen hut developed by the British during World War I...
hutting. The headquarters site was in the north-west corner of the station and the technical site in the south-west corner located on the requisitioned former vegetable allotments.
No. 614 Squadron RAF
614 Squadron was originally formed on 1 June 1937 as an army co-opeation squadron unit of the Auxiliary Air Force. It served during the Second World War first in this role and later as a bomber squadron...
was formed and took up residence at RAF Pengam Moors. Established as an army co-operation squadron on target spotting and range finding duties they were equipped with Hawker Hind
Hawker Hind
-See also:-Bibliography:* Crawford, Alex. Hawker Hart Family. Redbourn, Hertfordshire, UK: Mushroom Model Publications Ltd., 2008. ISBN 83-89450-62-3....
s and Hawker Hector
Hawker Hector
-See also:-Bibliography:* Air Transport Auxiliary Ferry Pilots Notes . Elvington, York, UK: Yorkshire Air Museum, 1996. ISBN 0-9512379-8-5....
s until July 1939 when the squadron was re-equipped with Westland Lysander
Westland Lysander
The Westland Lysander was a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft used immediately before and during the Second World War...
s. No. 614 Squadron remained at Pengam Moors until June 1940 when they were redeployed to RAF Inverness
RAF Inverness
- World War II :RAF Inverness was a Royal Air Force base by the Moray Firth in Inverness-shire, Scotland. It was also known as RAF Longman.Under the command of No. 13 Group, It served as Headquarters to No...
in Scotland and retasked onto coastal patrol duties. When the squadron returned to Wales they were based instead at RAF Llandow
RAF Llandow
RAF Llandow was a Royal Air Force airfield situated near the village of Llandow, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, 15 miles west of Cardiff. It opened in 1940 and closed in 1957....
.
815 Naval Air Squadron
815 Naval Air Squadron is a squadron of the Fleet Air Arm, part of the Royal Navy. The squadron is currently based at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset, United Kingdom and it is the Navy's front line Lynx Naval Air Squadron. It currently comprises more than 30 Lynx helicopters of various types...
relocated to RAF Pengam Moors from RNAS Worthy Down flying Fairey Swordfish
Fairey Swordfish
The Fairey Swordfish was a torpedo bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company and used by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Second World War...
torpedo bombers on anti-submarine patrols in the Bristol Channel and English Channel. Their role was to locate German submarines and either sink them or prevent them from surfacing and attacking the large number of convoys arriving at Cardiff and Bristol with supplies from America and Canada.
In February 1940, The RAF established No. 43 Maintenance Unit (MU) at RAF Pengam Moors. The unit was tasked principally with dismantling, packing and despatching fighter aircraft to overseas locations. The Supermarine Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
s, Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
s, Westland Lysander
Westland Lysander
The Westland Lysander was a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft used immediately before and during the Second World War...
s and light bombers were flown into Pengam Moors from factories all over the UK. The staff at 43 MU dismanted the aircraft and crated them ready for loading onto freighters at Cardiff Docks, where they sailed to restock squadrons in Gibraltar, Malta and North Africa and other far flung theatres of war. The 43 MU facility remained in operation throughout the remainder of the war and was closed in October 1945.
In November 1940, No. 8 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit (AACU) were based at the airfield with a variety of aircraft, but mainly Miles Martinet
Miles Martinet
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Amos, Peter. and Brown, Don Lambert. Miles Aircraft Since 1925, Volume 1. London: Putnam Aeronautical, 2000. ISBN 0-85177-787-0....
target tugs, to provide towed airborne targets for anti-aircraft gunnery training. The unit was amalgamated into No. 587 Squadron RAF
No. 587 Squadron RAF
No. 587 Squadron RAF was an anti-aircraft co-operation squadron of the Royal Air Force from 1943 to 1946.-History:The squadron was formed at RAF Weston Zoyland, England on 1 December 1943, from 1600 Flight, 1601 Flight and 1625 Flight for anti-aircraft co-operation duties over Wales and the south...
in December 1943 and remained at Pengam Moors until the station closed in 1946.
Guy Gibson
Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson VC, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, RAF , was the first CO of the Royal Air Force's 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam Busters" raid in 1943, resulting in the destruction of two large dams in the Ruhr area...
, commander of The Dambusters
No. 617 Squadron RAF
No. 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron based at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. It currently operates the Tornado GR4 in the ground attack and reconnaissance role...
was a visitor to RAF Pengam Moors in 1940. Gibson met the Penarth
Penarth
Penarth is a town and seaside resort in the Vale of Glamorgan , Wales, 5.2 miles south west from the city centre of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff and lying on the north shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay...
born actress and show dancer Eve Moore at a party in Coventry during early December 1939 while he was on three days rest leave at his brother’s house. The following year Guy and Eve were married at All Saints Church in Eve's home town of Penarth. Gibson was based at RAF Digby
RAF Digby
RAF Digby is a Royal Air Force station which, since March 2005, has been operated by the Ministry of Defence's Joint Service Signals Organisation, part of the Intelligence Collection Group. Formerly a training and fighter airfield, it is currently a tri-service military signals installation located...
in Lincolnshire at the time and for the wedding he flew a Bristol Blenheim
Bristol Blenheim
The Bristol Blenheim was a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company that was used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. It was adapted as an interim long-range and night fighter, pending the availability of the Beaufighter...
bomber from RAF Wellingore
Navenby
Navenby is a village and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England. Lying south of Lincoln and north-northwest of Sleaford, Navenby has a population of 1,666 and is a dormitory village for Lincoln...
satellite field in Lincolnshire to RAF Pengam Moors, returning three days later with his new wife as a passenger.
In 1941 two Bellman hangar
Bellman hangar
The Bellman Hangar was designed in the United Kingdom in 1936 by the Directorate of Works structural engineer, N. S. Bellman, as a temporary hangar capable of being erected or dismantled by unskilled labour with simple equipment and to be easily transportable. Commercial manufacturing rights were...
s were built on the site, together with additional hardstanding and a Sommerfield perimeter trackway. In 1942 the grassed strip was replaced with a 853m (2,800ft) concrete runway.
Throughout World War II RAF Pengam Moors was used as an emergency landing field for Spitfires, Hurricanes and other aircraft from RAF Colerne
RAF Colerne
RAF Colerne now known as Colerne Airfield or AEF Colerne is a former World War II RAF Fighter Command and Bomber Command airfield located on the outskirts of the village of Colerne, Wiltshire...
, RAF Fairwood Common
RAF Fairwood Common
RAF Fairwood Common was a World War II aerodrome located at Fairwood Common on the Gower Peninsula to the west of Swansea. It is now the location of Swansea Airport.-History:...
. RAF Filton
RAF Filton
RAF Filton was a World War II, Royal Air Force Sector Airfield situated at Filton Aerodrome about 5 miles north of the city centre of Bristol, England....
and RAF Pembrey
RAF Pembrey
RAF Pembrey was a Royal Air Force station, home to 233 Operational Conversion Unit which flew de Havilland Vampires and Hawker Hunters until its closure in 1957. Site of one of only five Dome Trainer Buildings still existing in the UK...
damaged in air battles over the Bristol Channel ports during nightly air raids by German raiders.
Post-war
In January 1946 RAF Pengam Moors was closed as a military establishment.The facility was handed back to Cardiff City Council and civilian flying recommenced from the airfield with the principal operator being Cambrian Air Services (later renamed Cambrian Airways)Cambrian Airways
Cambrian Airways was a Welsh airline based in Cardiff, Wales, which started operations in 1935. It was incorporated into British Airways in 1976.-Company history:...
, although it never regained the number of routes that had existed pre-war, as passenger aircraft were now larger and the short runway inadequate. The airfield became redundant when all civilian flying was transferred on 1 April 1954 to the expanding facility at the new Cardiff Airport that was being developed on the site of the former RAF Rhoose
RAF Rhoose
RAF Rhoose was a World War II Royal Air Force airfield, opened 7 April 1942 as an RAF training base for Supermarine Spitfire pilots.No 53 Operational Training Unit Llandow was the parent station, and Rhoose was a satellite landing ground.-See also:...
. The longer runways at Rhoose were more suitable for jet passenger aircraft and its remote location meant less noise problems over built up city areas.
The Pengam Moors airfield site has largely been turned over to residential or industrial uses including a Rover car parts factory, a Tesco Extra supermarket and the Willows High School
Willows High School
Willows High School is a secondary school located in the Tremorfa area of Cardiff, Wales. It's an English medium community school which caters for children aged 11 to 16. As of September 2011, the New Headmaster is Joy Ballard....
; there is almost no signs remaining of its former use, although a few of the original buildings and road layouts still remain. Residential streets on the site bear names that hint at its past history - eg. Runway Road, Handley Road and Avro Close.
