South Wales Aviation Group: EVENTS for 23rd October

S.W.A.G. History "Message Board"

PLEASE SEND US YOUR OLD LOGS FOR INCLUSION ON THE SITE

All logs can be sent to me IanG at iangrinter@btinternet.com ..the cut off date is December 31st 2005 as the BLOGS started in the following year ...many thanks

To access the main S.W.A.G. Site please click on the image below

For Stu's S.W.A.G. Trip site please click on the image below

Message to Contributors/readers - I have received and am receiving a lot of information that i'm finding very time consuming to input. If you have sent in a log and it hasent appeared yet please dont worry it will at some point by the end of the year. A few have asked about and sent in photos and again i will add these as and when i have time.

Once the bulk of the information has been added by the 31st Dec 2009 i will be able to add more detail and the thousands of photos i have on slides and prints ..thanks for your patience

You can now join this site as a "follower" ..please see the bottom of the sidebar ..regards IanG

Requests

Here i will place requests for help that are received by the editors via email etc (IanG)

REQ.1
MikeyF recieved this request and if anyone can add any info please get in touch
"I am currently filling a lot of my time researching for the Vickers Viscount Network and would like to pose a question for perhaps some of your local members of similar age.
A book was recently published by Air Britain on the Viscount, and there is a reference to c/n 265 registered G-AOYP which states that it was painted in Nile Valley Air Services colour scheme and rolled out at Cardiff Airport 11th October 1982. The proposed lease was not subsequently taken up, and it returned to British Air Ferries service. Would you know of anyone who possibly remembers this event, or better still managed to photograph it?
I would be extremely grateful for any information you or your members could provide."
any info please email mikeyf@talktalk.net

REQ2
Request :- ..I'm after peoples logs from yesteryear to enter on the this site ..if you have anything logged for "todays" date from years gone by please send it to one of the editors so it can be entered on the BLOG ...no log is too small!!!regards and a Happy New Year to all - IanG

REQ3
I would like to add some photographs to compliment Stu's excellent article on the Wales Air Museum, if you have any and would like to see them on the site please contact me via email ..Ian G iangrinter@btinternet.com

REQ4
I was told in the mid 70's of a Heinkel 111 that had come down in the sea off the coast of Gileston during WWII (near the current location of the Power Station). The tail of the aircraft so i'm told could be seen on days when the tide was at it's lowest ..Anyone have any more information about this please ..IanG

Rhoose Airport - Airfield History

Below is a brief history of Rhoose Airport.

The Airport officially opened on April 7th 1942 and was occupied by 53 Operational Training Unit/RAF operating Supermarine Spitfires. It was soon apparent that the site had commercial potential and a service to Dublin with Aer Lingus commenced in 1952. Soon a new terminal was built on the Southside of the airfield and flights to France, Belfast and Cork were on offer to the paying public.

In the 1970’s the airport changed it’s name from “Rhoose Airport” to “Glamorgan Rhoose Airport” however the airport was limited to the size of aircraft it could operate due to the length of the runway. In 1986 another 750ft of asphalt was added which now gave the airport the capability to handle Transatlantic flights, by this time the name had changed again to “Cardiff-Wales Airport”, a new terminal on the Northside was also completed during this period.

Flights to Canada had been avilable since the 70's with CP Air, and Worldways using DC-8's and with the runway extention becoming available later larger aircraft such as the Boeing 747 could operate direct, even Concorde made a few visits operating pleasure flights over the Bay of Biscay.

Many different Airlines have used the airport over the years, Cambrian Airways, Dan Air, Britannia Airways, Aviaco, Transeuropa, and Jersey European (now Flybe) are just a few of them.

The Airport is now known as “Cardiff International Airport” and its primary operators are bmi Baby, Flybe, Aer Arann, KLM and Thomson Airways.

British Airways has a base here on the North West side of the airfield where they carry out maintenance on Boeing 767, 777 and 747 aircraft.

A more detailed look at individual Airlines/Operators etc will be the subject of articles posted to the BLOG.

RAF St Athan - Airfield History

The Station opened in September 1938 and was built on a site known locally, since the time of Henry I, as the East and West Orchards. The site was purchased by the Air Ministry in 1936, with the intention of establishing a permanent RAF station; however, the urgent requirement for new training accommodation necessitated the construction of a hutted camp as an interim measure. Those 'interim measures' were still standing on the East Camp until the end of the 1990's. The erection of permanent buildings began in 1939 and these included a cinema, a heated swimming pool (the first in Wales), a huge gymnasium and an indoor drill hall. The airfield, initially with a grassed landing area, was situated in the middle of the site, the hard runway system being laid down in 1942.
Station Headquarters opened on 1 September 1938, under the command of Group Captain E B Brice, the Station being administered by No 24 Group Training Command. The first unit to take up residence was No 4 School of Technical Training (4SofTT), which was responsible for the training of flight mechanics, riggers and MT drivers. The School is still situated on the East Camp. In 1939, the scope of the Station's activities began to expand with the arrival of other units, including a fighter group pool, a maintenance unit (MU) and a school of air navigation. The increase in the size and importance of the Station led to the position of Commanding Officer being upgraded to air rank, and Air Commodore the Honourable J D Boyle was the first air officer to fill the position.
In 1940, RAF St Athan was subjected to air attack several times, sustaining casualties and damage; during one air raid, the large and well-equipped Station Hospital was bombed. As the war progressed, many more units, of diverse nature, were transferred to and from St Athan. Among those were various training units, which were responsible for turning out 22,000 flight engineers and thousands of other trained personnel, including ground mechanics, wireless and radar operators, physical training instructors and navigators. Nos 19 and 32 MUs handled a great variety of stores and undertook repairs to vast numbers of aircraft and other equipment. For a time, the Czechoslovak Air Force Depot was also situated at RAF St Athan. At its wartime peak, the Station's working population totaled over 14,000 men and women.
With the transfer of ownership of the St Athan site to Welsh Assembly Government, the introduction of commercial businesses and arrival of the Special Forces Support Group, the Royal Air Force St Athan title was given up on 1 July 2006 in favour of naming the site MOD St Athan. This title more accurately represents the diversity of the personnel based here. No4 SofTT, which is part of the Defence College of Electro-Mechanical Engineering, has taken over the RAF Support Unit role, with CO 4 SofTT taking on the post as Senior RAF Officer St Athan or CO MOD St Athan (RAF).
Based Units:
No 9 Aircraft Storage Unit (1938 - 7 Feb 1939)
No 19 Maintenance Unit (7 Feb 1939 - 1 Nov 1968/7 Apr 1999)
No 32 Maintenance Unit (1 Jul 1939 - 1 Nov 1968/7 Apr 1999)
No 11 Group Pool (1 Jul 1939 - 9 Mar 1940)
No 4 Air Stores Park (26 Aug - 15 Sep 1939)
No 5 Air Stores Park (26 Aug - 16 Sep 1939)
School of Air Navigation (2 Sep 1939 - Jun 1940)
No 1 School of Air Navigation (Jun - 12 Oct 1940)
No 5 Salvage Centre (18 - 24 Sep 1939)
Special Duty Flt (14 Nov 1939 - 27 Apr 1940)
No 417 Flt (15 Jul - 1 Oct 1940)
'U' Flt, No 1 AACU (15 Aug - 15 Sep 1940)
No 1417 Flt (1 - 18 Mar 1941)
No 4 School of Technical Training (1 Sep 1938 - Current)
No 12 Radio School (1 Sep 1943 - 7 Mar 1946)
No 14 Radio School (1 Jun 1944 - 7 Mar 1946)
Signals Instructor School (1 Jun 1944 - ?)
No 68 Gliding School (Mar 1947 - 1 Sep 1955)
Special Installation Flt (29 Feb 1948 - 5 Oct 1953)
No 634 Volunteer Gliding School (1 Sep 1955 - 1 May 1964, 1 Oct 64 - Current)
University of Wales Air Sqn (26 Aug 1963 - Current)
Repair and Salvage Squadron (1991 - Current
Aircraft Recovery and Transportation Flt (1991 - Current)

RAF Llandow - Airfield History

Below is a brief history of RAF Llandow

Opened 1940, closed 1957
3 tarmac runways
Tower - Watch Office with Met section, Type 518/40
36 Hangars - 7x L, 11x Super Robins, 2x K, 1x J, 2x T2, 1x A1, 12x Blister
Based Units:
38MU 01/04/40 - 15/03/57 Reception, storage & despatch of RAF a/c
53 OTU 24/06/41 - 09/05/43 ('B' Flt at Rhoose)
1310 Transport Flt 10/04/44 - 18/05/44 Anson I Transportation of urgent personnel to Normandy landings area
1311 Transport Flt 19/04/44 - 21/05/44 Anson I Transportation of urgent personnel to Normandy landings area
1312 Transport Flt 10/04/44 - 21/07/44 Anson I x6 Transportation of urgent personnel to Normandy landings area
3 Overseas Aircraft Preparation Unit 05/07/44 - 15/08/45
91 (Forward) Staging Post 06/09/44 - 27/09/44
93 (Forward) Staging Post 06/09/44 - 02/11/44
93 Staging Post 02/11/44 - 05/12/44
614 (Co of Glamorgan) Sqn 10/05/46 - 10/03/57
1952 (AOP) Flt 663 Sqn 01/07/49 - 15/10/50, 29/06/53 - 10/03/57 Auster AOP.6 Spotting for local TA Artillery Units
4 CAACU 01/08/51 - 01/07/54 Mosquito, Spitfire Targets and target towing for Army units in South Wales and surrounding area
RAF Burmese Conversion Sqn 1953 Familiarize Burmese pilots with recently acquired Spitfires

614 'County of Glamorgan' (Auxiliary) Squadron

Originally formed at Pengham Moors, near Cardiff on 01/06/37 as the only Welsh Auxiliary Squadron, 614 operated Hawker Hinds, Hectors and Westland Lysander II's and III's as an Army Co-operational unit. Re-equipped with Blenheim IV's in July 1941 as a Light Bomber Squadron. Converted to Blenheim V's at Odiham in August 1942 and posted to Blida, Algeria in November 1942 for operations in North Africa and Italy to finally disband at Bo Rizzo, Italy on 25/01/44.
462 Sqn was renumbered as 614 Sqn on 15/02/44 whilst enroute to Celone, Italy with Halifax II a/c, and later re-equipped with Liberator VIII's at Amendola, Italy until 27/07/45 when it in turn was renumbered as 214 Sqn.
614 Sqn reformed at Llandow on 10/05/46 though its first a/c, Harvard T.2B KF149, was not received until September 1946. Harvards continued to serve the unit until July 1954. The units principal equipment, however, was to be the Spitfire LF.16e and the first of these, TD403, duly arrived in late October 1946. Build-up with Spitfires was slow and it was not until July 1947 that the Sqn was up to strength. Spitfire F.22's replaced the LF.16e's from July 1948 and soldiered on until April 1951.
The Sqn received its first jet equipment in the summer of 1950 in the form of two Meteor T.7's. These accompanied eight Spitfires on that years summer camp to Sylt to give pilots jet experience. The first Vampire F.3s arrived in July 1950, followed by FB.5's in September 1951, with 614 Sqn flying these from Llandow until it disbanded, along with the other Auxiliary Squadrons, on 10/03/57. Actual flying operations had finished a couple of weeks earlier.
When reformed in 1946/47 the Reserve Command code "RAU- " was used until the Sqn was transferred to Fighter Command in 1949 when the code "7A- " was adopted. The codes were superceded by red/green interlocking triangles on the boom of the Vampires, either side of the roundels.
In September 1950 the Sqn was allocated a Spitfire LF.16e, RW394 7280M, for display purposes. It was placed on display adjacent to the Glue Pot Lane entrance at Llandow. Its subsequent fate is something of a mystery, but it had disappeared well before 614 Sqns disbandment and Llandows closure in March 1957.

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Friday, October 23, 2009

EVENTS for 23rd October

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