RAF Hell's Mouth

RAF Hell's Mouth
RAF Hell's Mouth
Near Abersoch, Gwynedd in Wales
	RAF Hell's Mouth Shown within Gwynedd
Coordinates	52°48′25″N 004°32′14″W / 52.80694°N 4.53722°W
Type	Emergency Landing Ground; Air gunnery and bombing range
Site information
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force
Site history
Built	1940
In use	1940-1946
Airfield information
Elevation	18 metres (59 ft) AMSL
Runways
00/00	Grass

RAF Hell's Mouth is a former Royal Air Force Emergency Landing Ground at Hell's Mouth, (Porth Neigwl) on the Llŷn Peninsula near Abersoch, Gwynedd, Wales.

History

RAF Hell's Mouth was commissioned in February 1937 as a Relief Landing Ground, later an Emergency Landing Ground for RAF Penrhos. It was also an air gunnery and bombing range, with targets on the land, floated 1 mile offshore and towed drogues in the air. A small range railway was in use to provide moving targets.^{[citation needed]}

Typical aircraft using the airfield were Bristol Blenheim and Armstrong Whitworth Whitley. In August 1944 a Vickers Wellington was successfully landed by a Polish pilot following an engine failure. Despite the mismatch in size, the aircraft also was able to subsequently take off.^{[citation needed]}

No. 9 (Observers) Advanced Flying Unit RAF was posted here at some point.^[1]

Current use

The site was decommissioned in 1945 and returned to agriculture.

References

Citations

^ "Hell's Mouth". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 20 November 2014.

Bibliography

Annand, David. RAF Penrhos near Pwllheli 1937-45 and RAF Llandwrog near Caernarvon 1940-45. Tywyn : David Annand, 1986.

External links

Gilby, John. "RAF Hell's Mouth (Porth Neigwl)". Retrieved 10 February 2013.
Images at Geograph
Porth Neigwl; Wicipedia Cymraeg

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[ABCT-1] "Hell's Mouth". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 20 November 2014.

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