RAF Pengam Moors

RAF Pengam Moors RAF Cardiff – 43 MU
RAF Pengam Moors from the air. The two Bellman hangars can be seen at top left of picture.
IATA: none ICAO: none
Summary
Airport type	Military airfield between 1938–1946. Also used for civilian flying – closed 1954
Operator	Royal Air Force
Serves	Cardiff, Wales
Location	Tremorfa
Elevation AMSL	7 ft / 2.00 m
Coordinates	51°29′08″N 03°07′56″W / 51.48556°N 3.13222°W / 51.48556; -3.13222
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m NE/SW 2,800 853 Concrete
Statistics
Battles/Conflicts World War II
Opened as a civilian airport in 1931. Also known at various times as Splott Aerodrome, Cardiff Municipal Airport, RAF Cardiff, 43 Maintenance Unit, Pengam Moors Airport.

RAF Pengam Moors (also known as RAF Cardiff) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station and maintenance unit (MU), located on the Pengam Moors area of Tremorfa, 2 miles south east of Cardiff city centre in Wales from June 1938 to January 1946.

Prior to RAF service the site served as a private aerodrome later called Cardiff Municipal Airport. After World War II the airfield reverted to private commercial flying until closure in 1954 when all services were transferred to the larger Rhoose Airport. The runway has since been removed and the site has been covered with industrial units, private housing and a school, with the names of many roads reflecting the previous history as an airfield.

The site had been associated with flying since as early as 1905 when Ernest Willows built his first airship at Pengam. His third airship Willows No. 3 - City of Cardiff flew from Cardiff to London on 6 August 1910. The flight established Willows as the first person to fly across the Bristol Channel and was the longest flight achieved in Britain at the time. He immediately followed this with a flight from London to Paris establishing the first airship flight across the English Channel at night.

The original privately operated airfield, on land in Splott purchased from Lord Tredegar, was opened for private club and leisure flying in September 1931, only later changing its name from Splott Aerodrome to Cardiff Municipal Airport when scheduled passenger flights began. The early accommodation was limited to wooden hutting and hangars. The aerodrome fronted on the Severn Estuary and to protect the single grassed runway from flooding, a sea wall was constructed.

British Air Navigation Co Ltd initially operated its services using de Havilland Fox Moths and de Havilland Dragons. In April 1933 Great Western Railway Air Services began flights to Haldon, Plymouth and Birmingham using Westland Wessex aircraft. In 1934, Great Western Railway Air Services was amalgamated with several other small airlines into the new Railway Air Services and upgraded to de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapides, the same aircraft type that was flown by Western Airways.