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| RAF Manorbier Royal Artillery Range Manorbier Air Defence Range Manorbier  | |
|---|---|
| Part ofDefence Training Estate | |
| NearManorbier inPembrokeshire in Wales | |
 Auxiliary Territorial Service workers operating a kinetheodolite (used to record on film the accuracy of anti-aircraft shells) at the Royal Artillery anti-aircraft training school at Manorbier | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Royal Air Force airfield |
| Owner | Air Ministry 1933 - 1946 War Office 1946 - 1964 Ministry of Defence 1964 - present |
| Operator | Royal Air Force 1937 - 1946 British Armed Forces |
| Controlled by | RAF Fighter Command *No. 11 Group RAF 1944 Defence Infrastructure Organisation |
| Open to the public | Yes, but when the ranges are used for live firing, red flags (day) or red lights (night) are displayed: access is prohibited |
| Condition | Operational Range |
| Website | GOV.UK (Manorbier range firing/flying notice) |
| Location | |
  RAF Manorbier Location within Pembrokesire Show map of Pembrokeshire RAF Manorbier RAF Manorbier (the United Kingdom) Show map of the United Kingdom | |
| Coordinates | 51°38′45″N004°47′00″W / 51.64583°N 4.78333°W /51.64583; -4.78333 |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1933 (1933) |
| In use |
|
| Battles/wars | European theatre of World War II |
Royal Air Force Manorbier, or more simplyRAF Manorbier, was aRoyal Air Force airfield nearManorbier,Pembrokeshire,Wales. The site was first used in 1933 as a mixed civilian/military airfield and was the base for 'Y' Flight ofNo. 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit RAF in 1937, usingde Havilland DH.82 Queen Bee unmanned radio-controlledtarget drone. The airfield was passed on to theWar Office in September 1946.[1]
Air Defence Range (ADR) Manorbier is located within thePembrokeshire Coast National Park. It is currently used by theMinistry of Defence and is the sole UK range used for theHigh Velocity Missile in theanti-aircraft role.[2] The range comes underDefence Training Estate Pembrokeshire, and was formed out of merging the anti-aircraft school of Artillery at Larkhill and the field at Manorbier in 1972. It is now the main UK Close Air Defense (CAD) range for theBritish Army.[3]
RAF Manorbier started as a mixedcivil andmilitary airfield in 1933.Algernon Capell, 8th Earl of Essex kept his aircraft there while the RAF used it as a landing ground for land-based aircraft visiting theflying boat base ofRAF Pembroke Dock, however this ended in 1935.[1]
The site, consisting of a grassrunway andcanvas tents, was then used as an anti-aircraft training school from the spring of 1937 withNo. 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit RAF 'Y' Flight being based at the airfield. The unit operated thede Havilland Queen Bees, a pilot-lessradio-controlled version of the de Havilland Tiger Moth trainer, which was used for anti-aircraft gunnery practice. The runway was enlarged in 1940 and the airfield acquiredcatapults to launch Queen Bees from clifftops so gunnery practice could be continued when the grass runways were flooded. Defences were also fitted to the airfield, including thePickett-Hamilton retractablepillbox, which can be fitted with differentcalibre guns and can be raised or lowered hydraulically.[4]
The Pilotless Aircraft Unit (PAU) was based permanently at Manorbier, using atender to retrieve drones from the sea and return them back to the base. The unit continued to use the airfield even after the war.[4]
The airfield was occupied by No. 11 Group RAF in 1944, it was also occupied byNo. 595 Squadron RAF from 1 December 1943. The squadron flew a wide variety of aircraft, including theHawker Henley Mk III,Hawker Hurricane Mks IIC and IV,Miles Martinet,Airspeed Oxford,Vultee Vengeance and theSupermarine Spitfire Mks VB, XII, IX and XVI. The squadron left on 27 April 1946.[5]
‘Y' Flight ofNo. 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit RAF (1 AACU) was equipped with thede Havilland DH.82 Queen Bee a pilotless radio-controlledtarget drone variant of the Tiger Moth aircraft, used from RAF Manorbier for training artillery gunners, at the nearby Royal Artillery Camp, with theirAnti-aircraft target practice.[6] The unit initially operated at RAF Manorbier between the 29 June and the 4 October 1938, before arriving for a second time, on the 15 May 1939.[7] 'Y' Flight of 1 AACU disbanded on the 16 August 1942 at RAF Manorbier.[6] (see Pilotless Aircraft Unit below )
No. 595 Squadron RAF operated a detachment at RAF Manorbier from December 1943.[8] It provided anti-aircraft co-operation for the School of Artillery, helping to calibrate their equipment by flying at a fixed course and speed and target tugs.[9] The detachment left RAF Manorbier, when the parent squadron moved from RAF Aberpoth to RAF Fairwood Common.[8]
The Pilotless Aircraft Unit arrived at RAF Manorbier in May 1942, relocating fromRAF St Athan.[1] It was originally known as Pilotless Aircraft Section, redesignating from Section to Unit around December 1940. Although it mainly used the de Havilland Queen Bee, the unit operated a number of pilotless aircraft, and also used various support aircraft alongside:[10]
'Y' Flight,No. 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit RAF (1 AACU), which was operating de Havilland Queen Bee at RAF Manorbier, was absorbed by the Pilotless Aircraft Unit on the 16 August 1942.[6]
The Pilotless Aircraft Unit disbanded at RAF Manorbier on the 15 March 1946.[10]
The following units were here at some point:[1]
The site is currently used as training and testing range for theBritish Army known as Air Defence Range (ADR) Manorbier, the testing range fires a maximum of 750surface-to-air missile each year on 100 designated testing days.[11] Established in 1972, it is the British Army’s mainUK Close Air Defence (CAD) range and is used to fire a variety of CADmissiles andmachine guns. Both Army and Commando CAD units utilise the training facilities, along with theDefence Air Warfare Centre.[3]
While Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Welsh Office, Nicholas Bennett,Member of Parliament forPembrokeshire, confirmed for 1989 that the range at Manorbier was used byRoyal Artillery units for practice firings ofMan-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS or MPADS) includingJavelin andBlowpipe.British Army andArmy Reserve use totalled 11,067 and 11,294 man training days respectively.[12]
The principle weapon system fired at ADR Manorbier was fitted for night operation in 2005, the only suitable site for testing newnight vision technology at the time. TheMinistry of Defence also proposed a plan to launch a maximum of 100 missiles for 20 nights a year. This was met with opposition from the locals who claimed that should the plan be approved, tourism will suffer andair pollution in the area will increase.[13]
The range is part ofDefence Training Estate Pembrokeshire. The installation covers 102 acres (41 hectares), however, the danger area is around 220 sq mi (570 km2), extending up to 13 mi (21 km) out to sea and 50,000 ft (15,000 m) upwards.[3]
As well as the Manorbier range, DTE Pembrokeshire (DTE P) consists of theCastlemartin Training Area and ranges atCastlemartin, Pembrokeshire, thePenally Training Camp just outsideTenby inPembrokeshire, and the Dry Training Area atTempleton about 2 miles (3.2 km) south ofNarberth, Pembrokeshire.[3]
ADR Manorbier is located betweenPembroke, Pembrokeshire to the north west,Tenby,Pembrokeshire to the north east, and the formerRoyal Air Force station,RAF Carew Cheriton, nearCarew, Pembrokeshire to the north.
The range is located within thePembrokeshire Coast National Park,[2] and also includes thePembrokeshire Coast Path which is a designatedNational Trail.[14]
The Royal Marines Air Defence Troop, from 30 Commando (IX) Group, specialise in using the High Velocity Missile (HVM), known asStarstreak. Within one second of launching, the HVM reachesMach 3. Missile firing camps at ADR Manorbier are highly technical and require months of planning. In order to live fire a HVM, an operator must do hundreds ofsimulator shots and targetdrone tracking with alaser. Banshee drones are used and are operated by technicians fromQinetiQ. Designed to survive the missile engagement, the drones have aradar which enables estimation if the HVM would have successfully hit an aircraft. A specialist team at the range, from theRoyal ArtilleryGunnery Training Team (GTT) based atLarkhill inWiltshire, co-ordinatesafety. The missiles are fired from land out to sea and range staff ensure allair and sea traffic is monitored.[15]
In 2019 theRoyal Marines tested the Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM) system, known asMartlet, to take out airborne targets at Air Defence Range Manorbier. Air Defence Troop ofPlymouth-based30 Commando (IX) Group were the first sub unit to use the system. Drones were launched and thecommandos used thelaser-guidedmissiles to fire at their targets. The Martlet, which has a range of more than 6km, is intended to complement theHigh Velocity Missile (HVM).Banshee target drones were used in the exercise, withRoyal Artillery instructors andThales Air Defence technicians to gauge the success of the engagement.[16]
During March 2019,Thales Air Defence undertook ground firingtrials of 6 x Lightweight Multirole Missiles fired from the Thales designedlauncher system, at a smallboat target at sea adistance of 4.5 km (2.8 mi) away, at Air Defence Range Manorbier. This formed part of the Integration testing phase of the Future Anti Surface Guided Weapon (Light), FASGW(L) programme. The programme included testing of all parts of the weaponsystem including the missile itself, the launcher system to be fitted to theAW159 Wildcat military helicopter and relative equipment. The missiles used were fitted with telemetry software and had nowarhead. The data gathered enabled analysis of the launcher, the guidance system and missile performance.[17]
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