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RAF Llandwrog, near Caernarfon in Gwynedd, opened in 1941 and quickly took on a wartime identity tied to training – specifically the production of competent air gunners for Bomber Command and the wider RAF. Built in response to the urgent need to expand training capacity, it was controlled within RAF Flying Training Command and became a major gunnery school at a time when the RAF was learning, often painfully, that defensive gunnery skill could determine whether a bomber crew survived.
The station is closely associated with No. 9 Air Gunners School, which formed at Llandwrog in July 1941. Air Gunners Schools were intensive training environments. Trainees were taught the theory and practice of machine-gun operation, sighting, stoppage drills, and the coordination required to track and engage moving targets from a turret. The syllabus combined classroom work with live firing and practical exercises. Aircraft used for training included retired or second-line bombers such as the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley (used to provide realistic turret training), alongside types such as the Avro Anson. Target towing was also essential to the programme, with aircraft such as the Westland Lysander and Fairey Battle used in towing and range work, allowing gunners to practise against moving sleeves rather than static targets.
Llandwrog’s geography helped. North Wales offered space and access to range areas, including moving target facilities used to create more realistic firing practice. In wartime training, realism mattered: a gunner who had only fired in ideal conditions was less prepared for the vibration, darkness, cold and fear of operational flight. Gunnery schools aimed to make correct procedure automatic, so that under stress the gunner did not waste time clearing stoppages, misjudging lead, or losing situational awareness.
The station community was large and varied. Instructors and armourers ran the training programme and maintained weapons. Engineering trades kept training aircraft serviceable, often under heavy usage. Operations staff coordinated flying in a training environment where multiple sorties might be launched continuously across the day. WAAF personnel supported the administrative and communications functions that kept a large school running. The output of the station was human: trained gunners who would join operational units across the RAF.
- Key wartime unit: No. 9 Air Gunners School (formed July 1941).
- Aircraft used for training included Whitley variants, Avro Anson, Westland Lysander (target towing) and Fairey Battle.
- Why it mattered: increased the competence and confidence of air gunners, improving bomber defensive effectiveness and survivability.
RAF Llandwrog’s WW2 significance is therefore deeply connected to the bomber offensive even though it was a training station. Every competent gunner it produced strengthened the RAF’s ability to fight and survive in the demanding night air war over Europe.
Gunnery training also had to keep pace with changing threats. As enemy tactics evolved and aircraft speeds increased, the need for rapid, accurate deflection shooting grew. Schools like Llandwrog kept the RAF’s defensive gunnery standards current, ensuring that lessons learned at the front were reflected in training syllabi.