29 February 2008
A team made up of directors of Kemble airfield in Gloucestershire has taken over Llanbedr Airfield, near Harlech in Gwynedd, Wales. The airfield is situated within the Snowdonia National Park on the north west coast of Wales.
The team tells <b><i>FLYER</i></b> that negotiations have been going on over the site for two years. Although the legalities of the transfer have yet to be tied up, the hope is that private flying will be able to take place on the site within a few months. An inaugural airshow event has been pencilled in for 20 August this year.
The airfield was created in 1938 and was active in the Second World War. It was eventually closed in 2004. Before it closed, the airfield had been used to operate and evaluate pilotless target aircraft. This part of Wales is still used for UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) testing as well as for RAF low flying exercises; David Young from Kemble says that the team is well aware of this, and informal negotiations with the RAF and other local airfields are already underway to ensure that airspace issues do not become a problem.
The Welsh Assembly took possession of the site in 2006, and it is from them that the Kemble team has been offered a 125 year lease for the airfield. The site contains a number of hangars and operational buildings, many of them of historic value.
The new team also hopes that a small business park on the site will generate income and help insure the future of the airfield.
