 Looking south from the car park at 'Kete'. A present-day view of the site of HMSHarrier | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSHarrier |
| Commissioned | 1 February 1948 |
| Decommissioned | 2 January 1961 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Stone frigate |
HMSHarrier was ashore establishment of theRoyal Navy, located at Kete, Pembrokeshire. It wascommissioned on 1 February 1948 and was the home of the RN School of Aircraft Direction from the end of theSecond World War, opened on 1 January 1945, until 1961, when the Aircraft Direction Officer Training returned toRNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron). The site at Kete was ideal for air interception exercises, with the centre located 1 mile South ofRNAS Dale (HMS Goldcrest), from where the live interception flights were provided from, and it had a wide sector over the sea.
The Aircraft Direction Centre was situated on the coast 0.5 miles (0.80 km) South East of the village ofDale and 0.25 miles (0.40 km) North ofSt. Anne's Head, the Western entrance point ofMilford Haven waterway. The town ofMilford Haven lies 5 miles (8.0 km) East, withHaverfordwest lying 11 miles (18 km) North East and Pembroke Dock lying 10 miles (16 km) South East.[1]
The site was originallyRAF Kete, anearly warning radar,Chain Home Low,site, it was taken over by theRoyal Navy in 1943.[2] Construction began for a Fighter Direction School in 1944 and this was followed by the Royal Naval School of Meteorology. The whole site became a satellite of HMSGoldcrest (RNAS Dale) and opened on 1 January 1945 asHMSGoldcrest II. In 1948 it was commissioned asHMSHarrier. The site closed in 1961.[1][2]
During theNorwegian campaign in 1940, theaircraft carrierHMSArk Royal’s Air Signals Officer,Lieutenant Commander Charles Coke, had to rely onRDF detection and tracking reports for enemy aircraft activity, from the carriers’ accompanyingcruisers,HMS Sheffield orHMS Curlew, due toArk Royal not being fitted with anyradar. These reports were sent to the carrier viawireless telegraphMorse code. There were no fighter direction facilities aboard the carrier.
Coke used a corner of the aircraft carrier's Bridge Wireless Office, aTelegraphist who wrote down the RDF reports from the cruisers, and aBigsworth Board, a portable device used by air observers, which was roughly two feet across and hadpantograph-plotting arm fitted, which was a small mechanical device to solve thewind triangle. This was used by Coke to work out thecourse andairspeed to track, and later theheading and airspeed to intercept.[3]
Using Morse code, Coke sent his information to the carrier'sfighter aircraft via wireless telegraph. Initially, only the incoming enemy'slocation, course, and airspeed was passed to the aircraft carrier's fighters. Coke called this the "informative method" of interception and it was left to thefighter pilots to work out an intercept. However, Coke later worked out how he could track the carrier's fighters, withdead reckoning and a regular radar check, enabling him to order the course, airspeed and sometimes altitude to intercept. This was known as the "directive method".[4]
Coke attended theNaval Air Division in theAdmiralty in May 1941 to arrange for his next duty, after completing his tour onArk Royal. Following on from his experiences, he was posted toRNAS Yeovilton (HMSHeron), inSomerset, to set up fighter direction school with a programme and he devised a three-week training course of theoretical and practical tasks.[5] Promoted toCommander, Coke had planned to use aircraft services to enable students to get the experience of using the RDF in live intercepts, however, not enoughFleet Air Arm aircraft services were available. Therefore,ice creamvendortricycles were fitted out with an aircraftcompass,R/T equipment and ametronome, and screened to reduce visibility to a couple of yards so that the ‘enemy’ could only be seen when the target had been successfully acquired and control the speed at which the ‘pilot’ of the trike intercepted their target. This was done using the aircraft compass and instructions from the student Fighter Direction Officers (FDOs). They were situated in theairfieldcontrol tower and used apolar grid, a series ofconcentric circles centred on a common point, with a series of lines passing through it denoting angles, to calculate the direction and speed needed to intercept.[6][7]
At the end of 1941 Coke was replaced byLieutenant Commander Archie FlemingRN, then in July 1943, the Fighter Direction School moved across Yeovilton airfield and was located in Speckington Manor, with Commander Philip Yorke in charge.[7]
The Fighter Direction School had been operating at RNAS Yeovilton (HMSHeron), however, the existing school was unable to meet the demand for Air Direction Officers. It was a lodger unit at a full RNAS Yeovilton. A new Fighter Direction School for the Royal Navy was constructed at Kete, 0.5 miles (1 km) down the coast fromRNAS Dale (HMSGoldcrest), inPembrokeshire, on the coast. The new facility was known as the RN Aircraft Direction Centre (RNADC), RNADC Kete. On 30 August 1945790 Naval Air Squadron, the Fighter Direction Training Unit, relocated to RNAS Dale, to provide live interception flights for the Air Direction School. The squadron operated many different types of aircraft.
Ground instruction for trainee Direction Officers was still based on Coke's tricycle method. AWren on a tricycle represented an enemy and pedalled in time to a metronome. A trainee Fighter Direction Offer on another tricycle, represented a Fighter. Another trainee Fighter Direction Offer used a radio, to direct the tricycle-based trainee Fighter Direction Offer, to intercept the tricycle-based Wren. This approach continued in use, until controllableartificial radar echoes became available, during the 1950s.
On 1 February 1948 the facility was officially commissioned as HMSHarrier. However,790 Naval Air Squadron had already relocated toRNAS Culdrose (HMSSeahawk),Cornwall, in December 1947 and following this, in March 1948RNAS Dale (HMSGoldcrest) and it's satellite airfieldRNAS Brawdy (HMSGoldcrest II) were placed into Care & Maintenance Status.[1] At the end of 1949, 790 Fighter Direction Training Unit disbanded at RNAS Culdrose. The civilian company,Airwork Services Ltd, was then contracted to provide the live interception flights from January 1950, operating out of RNAS Brawdy and its satellite,RAF St Davids. This was known as the Air Direction Training Unit (ADTU) and it initially operated withde Havilland Sea Mosquito andTaylorcraft Auster V aircraft. Later on, acquiringde Havilland Sea Hornet,Supermarine Attacker andde Havilland Sea Venom aircraft.[8]
The RN School of Meteorology, moved from theRoyal Naval College, Greenwich to HMSHarrier in October 1946.[9] Upon opening at Kete, the school had only three members of staff. The first course was three months long and was also the last course to trainmidshipman.In 1947 the Naval Airman (Met)branch formed part of theFleet Air Arm, and theWomen's Royal Naval Service, andrating (Met) courses, moved to Kete fromRNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMSDaedalus),Hampshire.[10]
The meteorological training relocated to RNAS Culdrose (HMSSeahawk), where it later includedOceanography, after fourteen years at Kete.[9] Rating training moved in 1959 and the rest of the school and officers in the following year.[1]
The third Royal Naval school to be based at Kete, was the RN Radar Plotter Training School, which in September 1949 moved fromHMS Wildfire (1964 shore establishment), inSheerness, to HMSHarrier. Over the next decade the school operated at Kete until July 1960, when it transferred toHMS Dryad (shore establishment).[1]
In 1959 the Royal Naval School of Meteorology started to relocate by training course. The rating training moved toRNAS Culdrose (HMS Seahawk) in 1959, and this was followed by the officers’ courses, along with the rest of the school, during 1960. In July 1960 the Radar Plotter Training relocated toHMS Dryad (shore establishment), and by the end of the year the Aircraft Direction Officer Training had returned, after fifteen years at Kete, toRNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron).RNADC Kete was paid off on 2 January 1961.[1] The site was later sold to theDale Castle estate.[11]
There is very little left of the complex, which had many buildings and huts. Rubble can be found by the coast path in a field, but these are now back to pasture and the boundaries have been restored. A couple of existing residences, 'Glenshane' and 'Kete House' are associated with the previous establishment.[2]
51°41′30″N05°10′50″W / 51.69167°N 5.18056°W /51.69167; -5.18056
