RAF Pembrey

Royal Air Force Station Pembrey or RAF Pembrey was a Royal Air Force station located 3 mi north west of Burry Port, Carmarthenshire and 10.3 mi south of Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Wales.

Station history
The airfield opened in March 1939 and 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 (for training AA gunners) still existing in the UK. During World War II, RAF Station Pembrey was the airfield for many of World War II's flying aces including Wing Commander Guy Gibson of Dambusters fame. In 1942 a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 landed there in error after a dog fight over the Bristol Channel. It was captured by the air traffic controller using the only weapon at hand, a very pistol.

Current use
It is now split into a number of facilities. The Welsh Motor Sports Centre occupies most of the area, part of the land has reverted to agriculture, part contains a hangar housing the Dyfed-Powis Police Air Support Unit helicopter whilst 805 metres of the north east portion of the former RAF Runway 04/22 was opened as Pembrey Airport in August 1997 (ICAO code is EGFP).

RAF/RN/RM/British Army aircraft use Pembrey Airport (EGFP) to support the nearby range, known as RAF Pembrey Sands Air Weapons Range. The range was built on land that was not part of RAF Station Pembrey and opened in 1966 (ICAO code for RAF Pembrey Sands Air Weapons Range is EGOP).

Pembrey Airport remains a working airfield but the short runway retained for this purpose restricts its capacity to light aircraft. However, the runway is to be extended to 1,200m + and to become known as 'Pembrey West Wales International Airport'. Development has already started for the country's newest major airport.