St.Davids airfield
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St.Davids airfield
I am seeking contact with anyone who served at St.Davids in any capacity at any time during its active life - both the RAF and Royal Navy/Airwork periods - or indeed any friends/relatives of people who did. This is for an on-going project to put together a decent history of the airfield.
Thanks in anticipation!
Thanks in anticipation!
I went to the February meeting of the Cambridge branch of the R.Ae.S yesterday evening and in the handout for the lecture there was reference to Flt.Lt John Davenport q.v. It appears he was posted to Coastal Command and after service in the Bahamas (sounds like a tough posting!) he was with 502 Sqdn flying Halifaxes from St David's during the Battle of the Atlantic. During this tour he attacked and damaged U-Boat U802 near Lorient in moonlight. He later received the DFC for his bravery. Hope this helps.
Certainly when I was on my TWU course at Brawdy in 1976, St. Davids was our 'crash' diversion. We had a brief on the place, which seemed to consist of landing, turning off and finding somewhere to park on a first-come, first-served basis - I can't remember whether there was any Air Traffic Control there, or whether we were supposed to land non-radio.
Fortunately the only time I had to divert was to St. Athan shortly after take-off when the late 'Puddy' Catt (flying as #2), returned with an engine snag, only to take his Hunter and the barrier almost into Pen-y-Cwm post office.
Fortunately the only time I had to divert was to St. Athan shortly after take-off when the late 'Puddy' Catt (flying as #2), returned with an engine snag, only to take his Hunter and the barrier almost into Pen-y-Cwm post office.
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I have a logbook entry taking a ULAS Chipmunk from RNS Brawdy to St David's in July 1960, all of 5 minutes! I suspect it was during the Air Squadron's annual summer camp held at Brawdy that year. There are many other entries during that July which were probably at St. David's given we used it as a satellite airfield for Brawdy.
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Partially yes- It was 906. I note many flights in the same beast but recorded only as 906 missing the 2 letter identifier.
This aircraft was clearly with ULAS for some time.
This aircraft was clearly with ULAS for some time.
St Davids was used intermittently by the TWU at Brawdy in two ways:
1. It was a last-ditch crash diversion but in my time as an instructor there (75-81) I do not recall it ever being used as such officially. St Athan was our primary crash diversion until Chivenor came back into the fold.re-opened.
2. We flirted with using using it as a base from where to operate the target-towing sorties to free up Brawdy's runway for training sorties. It was trialled but proved logistically impracticable although ATC was easily provided by Brawdy as the main runway could easily be seen from the Brawdy tower. Runway time at Brawdy was at an absolute premium in 75-77 so any option to free up space was welcome. In the end a second TWU was the only option.
1. It was a last-ditch crash diversion but in my time as an instructor there (75-81) I do not recall it ever being used as such officially. St Athan was our primary crash diversion until Chivenor came back into the fold.re-opened.
2. We flirted with using using it as a base from where to operate the target-towing sorties to free up Brawdy's runway for training sorties. It was trialled but proved logistically impracticable although ATC was easily provided by Brawdy as the main runway could easily be seen from the Brawdy tower. Runway time at Brawdy was at an absolute premium in 75-77 so any option to free up space was welcome. In the end a second TWU was the only option.
I landed at St Davids on 22 Feb 83 according to my logbook. We launched off on ACT 5 1v1 with the crosswind out of student landing limits at Brawdy on the understanding/metman-promise that the strong easterly wind would die off during the sortie. It didn't so the insructor landed at Brawdy whilst I made a lonely circuit to land at St Davids. It was a desolate place with a quarry in the over-run of that runway. After landing I cleared the runway onto the NW/SE runway shut down into wind and waited. I think there was a solitary fire engine there but all ATC was done through Brawdy tower which was visible from the airfield. After an hour or so an instructor, one Flt Lt J Newton, arrived and flew us back to Brawdy in 65 seconds (which I rounded up to 5 minutes). XX197.
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Two years on and time for another appeal for anyone who ever flew from St Davids, especially with the Airwork FRU/Jet Training School. There must be someone out there, surely?
