RAF Llandwrog

RAF Llandwrog was opened in January 1941 as a RAF 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 10 October 1941 two aircraft 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. The initiative came from the medical officer at the base, Flight Lieutenant G V Graham. The team at Llandwrog, and other similar teams elsewhere, were officially 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.