Pembrey
 

I happened to be meandering (in a car) along the South Wales coast last week (some sort of nostalgia trip - don't ask), when on the stretch between Llanelli and Carmarthen saw quite a bit of Hawk activity; I can only assume that they were departing Pembrey.

Is the range still as much utilised as when 2 TWU was at Chivenor (I was for a time Stn Nav there, but won't say when in an attempt to preserve anonimity!)? I recall that at times (depending on course phase) the action was hectic, as most sorties started with an FRA, interspersed with dedicated range detail - laydown or strafe.

H

I was Wing Weapons Officer at R.A.F. Pembrey when the Duncan Sandys defence white paper of 1957 closed it :ouch:

Ah! Pembrey
 

Yes, I was one of those 2TWU studes...in 1983.

I remember one pleasant summer's afternoon wandering into the 63 Sqn ops room just at the right moment to be told that a spare jet had come up and would I like to go and do some solo strafe at Pembrey? Don't recall my exact response but I think it contained references to bears and woods.
My first 30mm round went down the range seventeen minutes later. Is that a record?

Of course not...(throws down gauntlet and retires to a safe distance).

Gadget :ok:

My parents live on that part of the Welsh coast, just to the North of Pembrey.

Weaponeering Hawks are an almost daily feature on the range there, as well as more infrequent GR4's.

The beach at Pembrey has also recently been used by Albert.

Most years RAFAT display at the Kidwelly Carnival ('twixt Carmarthen and LLaneli), as a PR "thank you" to the local community.

Like you, Cap'n Gadget, I also wandered twixt the sqns - depending on which was in a mud-moving phase (couldn't be doing with all that grunting and swelling neck size required for ACM); managed about 100 hours in under two years - not bad for a ground tour (but nowhere near as much as the guy I replaced, and I got to use nearly all my leave entitlement).

My idle curiosity as to range usage was sparked by a snapshot of what looked like the same level of activity as I experienced in the early eighties; is it about the same now that the Hawks are at Valley.

H

Always hated doing level; running over a beach covered with about a billion feathered Adour smashers was never high on my list of things to do.
They didn't smell nice minced and cooked, either :ooh: