Target Rolling

Llanbedr airfield near Harlech in North Wales was established in 1941. It was one of a number of RAF establishments set up in the area at this time. Its wartime role involved providing air firing facilities for visiting front line squadrons. After the end of the conflict RAF Llandbedr continued to specialise in aerial target operations, and this unusual role continues to this day. The airfield has always held a special interest for the aviation fraternity because of the aircraft types which have been seen there over the years and their imaginative colour schemes. The brightly painted drones and control aircraft, which have been based at Llanbedr included Meteors, Canberras, Hawks, Sea Vixens, Jindiviks and other target types. More recently the AlphaJet has been operating from there. RAF Llanbedr, on the coast of Cardigan Bay, is in an area which attracts many holidaymakers each year. The viewing of Llanbedr’s operations from vantage points around the airfield is an additional attraction for many visitors. This book, written by a journalist, who has also been a flying instructor and was for 12 years the first and only woman controller of unpiloted target aircraft at the base, covers the whole history of the airfield, but places the emphasis firmly on the target flying with which the airfield has been associated for such a long time.