RAF Llandwrog

RAF Llandwrog was opened in January 1941 as a Royal Air Force Bomber Command airfield for training gunners, radio operators and navigators. It was located at Llandwrog, 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) southwest of Caernarfon, Gwynedd, Wales, and it remains in civil operation today as Caernarfon Airport.

World War II

It was the largest World War II airfield in Wales. The Air Observers School flew Avro Anson and Westland Lysander aircraft.

On October 10, 1941 two planes collided at RAF Llandwrog, killing seventeen people.

Mountain Rescue

Early in 1942, prompted by an increasing number of aircraft accidents in the North Wales mountains, the "RAF Llandwrog Mountain Rescue Section" was formed on a local, volunteer basis. [ [http://www.ww2units.ukhomefront.co.uk/2.html The formation of the RAF Mountain Rescue Service] ] . The initiative came from the medical officer at the base, Flight Lieutenant G V Graham [ [http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafleuchars/aboutus/mountainrescueteam.cfm MoD history of Mountain Rescue] ] . The team at Llandwrog, and other similar teams elsewhere, were officialy recognised towards the end of 1943. The Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service was formed in January 1944.

Chemical weapons storage

Almost 71,000 bombs containing the nerve agent tabun had been seized in Germany following WWII, and these were stored in the open at RAF Llandwrog, until 1954 when, in Operation Sandcastle, they were transported to Cairnryan for disposal aboard scuttling ships at sea 120 miles (190 km) north-west of Ireland.

References

*"The Legend of Llandwrog: The Story of an Airfield and the Birth of the RAF Mountain Rescue Service", by Edward Doylerush, published by Midland Counties, 1994, ISBN 0-904597-88-1

External links