Full WW2 control tower details and photos for this wartime airfield are coming soon. Please check back later as this is work progress. If you would like to contribute information or photos please get in touch.
Overview
RAF Templeton was a wartime airfield at near Templeton, Pembrokeshire (Wales), as a satellite of RAF Haverfordwest. During the Second World War it served as a Coastal Command training and support airfield, including ferry training, reconnaissance training, and anti-aircraft cooperation/target towing. constructed in 1942 and opened in early 1943; operational mainly 1942-45; afterwards became a Dry Training Area.
Like most British wartime stations, RAF Templeton functioned as a small, self-contained town. Beyond the runways were technical areas for maintenance and armament, dispersed hardstandings to reduce losses during raids, and domestic sites where airmen, WAAFs or naval personnel lived, trained, and waited for the next tasking. On operational nights or intensive training days the routine revolved around briefings, meteorology, aircraft servicing, and a tight rhythm of take-off and recovery windows.
Squadrons, units and types
Aircraft commonly associated with wartime flying here: Beaufort, Beaufighter, Anson, Lysander, Master, Martinet, Spitfire, Mosquito.
Records for RAF Templeton show a mix of operational and support activity. Some units were long-term residents with a stable identity, while others arrived as detachments – often for conversion training, gunnery work-ups, dispersal, or to cover a specific operational requirement. That pattern is typical of the RAF’s wartime system: stations were constantly re-tasked as the air war shifted from defence to offence, from the Battle of the Atlantic to the bomber offensive, and later to preparations for the invasion of Northwest Europe.
- No. 306 Ferry Training Unit (Beaufort I/IIA, Beaufighter X)
- ‘O’ Flight of No. 3 (Coastal) OTU (Avro Anson)
- USAAF VIII 1st Gunnery & Tow Target Flight (Lysander, Master)
- No. 595 Squadron (Martinet target tugs; Spitfire) used the field in late 1944
- ‘A’ Flight of No. 8 (Coastal) OTU (photo-reconnaissance Spitfire and Mosquito) in early 1945
- No. 74 Gliding School (Air Training Corps) continued in 1944-45
Key moments
Training focus included maritime reconnaissance skills and equipment associated with Coastal Command’s anti-submarine campaign.
Notable for its triangular runway layout and the practical problems caused by a hill within the airfield area – solved by lookout and flag signalling procedures.
How the station ‘worked’: aircraft were usually kept on dispersal pans connected by a perimeter track. Crews moved between briefing rooms, parachute/oxygen sections, and the flight line; ground crew handled refuelling, re-arming and engine changes. The watch office coordinated flying, and on busy days the airfield operated like a factory – turning time, fuel and maintenance hours into sorties.
What’s left today
A surprising amount of wartime story survives in the ground features – runway stubs, dispersal sites and specialist sheds – now within a military training landscape.
Landscape and flying conditions: RAF Templeton’s geography influenced operations. Prevailing winds dictated runway selection, while local terrain and weather shaped training and safety. In winter, short daylight and low cloud increased the workload; in summer, longer hours enabled intensive training programmes and high sortie rates. These practical factors are often reflected in accident reports and ORBs, which mention crosswinds, icing, fog, and diversion landings.